Dr. Cialdini’s fifth principle of influence is consensus.  Simply put, this principle states that people generally want to follow the lead of similar others, particularly when they are unsure.

Dr. Cialdini gave a few examples of how this principle has been and can be used in business.

The first example is one of how this principle has been used in a scenario that we are all familiar with - infomercials.  Apparently there is one woman that is considered the “Queen of Infomercials”; all of the big infomercial companies use her to write the scripts we see and hear on tv.

Her understanding of the Principle of Consensus is what really established her in the industry.

If you can recall from the many infomercials I’m sure you’ve seen, there always comes a point in the infomercial when the salesperson has finished making their pitch and they begin the closing process - trying to get you to pick up the phone to place an order.  At this point, the industry standard script read:

“Operators are waiting, please call now”.

The “Queen of Infomercials” made a small change in alignment with the Principle of Consensus.  The new script read:

“If operators are busy, please call again.”

This small change registered in the consumer’s mind the visual that operators were busy taking orders from the many people that were already buying versus the image of operators waiting patiently for a call, playing on people’s natural tendency towards consensus.  This small change consistently created results that were far superior to the other script, and has since become the industry standard.

So how can you use the Principle of Consensus to help grow your business?  Dr. Cialdini gave a couple of very practical examples:

1. Name a “most popular” product:  apparently just naming a product your most popular is statistically proven to increase sales of that product.  If other people like it that much, it must be a good choice.  Right?
2. Put testimonials in proper order:  many of you are probably selling in business-to-business situations, where it’s common to give testimonials during the sales process.  By being thoughtful to the particular background and needs of the prospect you are selling to, you can choose specific testimonials that are a match for your prospect versus generically handing out the X number of testimonials that you think are generally best.  By doing so you are more likely to create the desire for consensus in your prospect.

So put this to use in your business.  Come on…everybody’s doing it.