Why People Do What You Tell Them To Do? Authority

Continuing on from last week’s topic of “Social Proof”, this week we’re talking about another one of Dr. Robert Cialdini’s 6 Pillars of Influence – Authority.

Just a refresher, the other 6 pillars are:

1: Social Proof 

2: Authority (see below)

3: Scarcity

4: Liking 

5: Consistency

6: Reciprocity 

People often just do what you tell them to do, if you are in a position of authority.

One of the most notable examples was the Milgram experiment where the volunteer was told to give shock treatments to a “student” who incorrectly answered memorized questions. Even after the student screamed and begged for mercy and long after he no longer spoke or replied at all, the volunteer “teacher” continued to increase the shocks because an authority insisted they continue.

Another famous case was that of Jim Jones who was the leader of The People’s Temple and had his followers, including women and children voluntarily drink poisoned Kool Aid and kill themselves.

Now of course we don’t want you to shock people or get them to drink poisonous Kool Aid, but you can leverage authority to your advantage in GOOD ways.

Going back to last week’s Social Proof post, if you can get someone who is an expert or a thought leader to encourage people to buy your products or services, then the masses will follow.

Or, by publishing relevant content that is consistent, creative and compelling, YOU will be considered a thought leader and people will buy just because you tell them to!

Remember – people buy from those they know, like and trust.

Be knowable. Be likeable. Be trustable.

TAKE ACTION!

First: Write down at least 1 person who can help add the “Authority” element to your marketing material.

Do you have access to an industry leader? To a celebrity? Are YOU positioning yourself as an expert?

Second: Share your solution below (even better if you link to your website or blog to show us what you’ve done!)

Third: If you’re not signed up for the newsletter already, enter your email.

And finally, if you like this post – be sure to use the Social tools below (tweet it, share it on Facebook or LinkedIn)

Be sure you stay tuned to next week….all about creating scarcity.

 

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