I’m going to go all scientific-y with you today, because this one thing could help you get better results!
Back in the olden days of 1978, Ellen Langer, who was a super smart & clever Professor of Psychology at Harvard did an interesting experiment.
Picture the scene …..
In a college library, there was a busy line of people patiently waiting in a busy queue at a photocopier.
The researcher had 3 different groups of people & their aim was to skip right up to the front of the queue!
Everything was the same except what each of the groups said when making their request.
1: ‘Excuse me, may I use the Xerox machine?’
2: ‘Excuse me, may I use the Xerox machine because I need to use the machine?’
3: ‘Excuse me, may I use the Xerox machine because I am in a rush?’
Guess what happened …. Yep the different requests got different results.
Which of them do you think worked best?
Well you don’t have to guess anymore, because here are the results of what percentage of people said YES to the request ….
1: 60%: ‘Excuse me, may I use the Xerox machine?’
2: 93% ‘Excuse me, may I use the Xerox machine because I need to use the machine?’
3: ‘94%: Excuse me, may I use the Xerox machine because I am in a rush?’
Yes seriously!
But what was the difference between them? They simply followed up their ask with a reason!
And according to another smart cookie, Robert Cialdini, our human brains go on auto-pilot when we hear something that follows the words, ‘because’ … because we’re primed to hear that word & it can influence our reaction.
So why am I sharing this with you today? It’s not so you start repeating the word ‘because, because, because’, like a broken record (ohh remember those things … records!)
And it’s not to think you can pull the wool over people’s eyes or fool them into doing what you say or want them to say.
Of course not because that’s just not nice & I’m all about playing good!
It’s simply because all too often, you may not be giving people a reason to act upon your request. That could totally be impacting your results in your business, don’t you think?
The next time you pick up the phone & ask someone, ‘Is now a good time to speak?’ … how about adding, … ‘… because _________” & give them a reason to want to speak with you.
Or the next time you’re writing a social media post, how about giving a reason why your reader doesn’t just skim past it but instead takes the time to read & engage with it.
I could go on & on & on about how you could use this positively in many ways, but I won’t. Because instead, I’ll leave you to see how you can best use this in your business today.
Did you find this useful? If so, add a quick comment below because I’d love to know.
Enjoy the rest of your day & best wishes as always.
