How to Turn a NO into a YES!

Can an initial rejection actually help you get the “yes” you really want? Surprisingly, if you create the right first and second requests, it can. Persuasion expert Robert Cialdini conducted a classic experiment that demonstrates the technique by soliciting volunteers to work with troubled kids.

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How to Write Taglines That Double Sales

Two Customer Types Taglines for products and brands are everywhere, but often they don’t get the attention they deserve. A variety of research shows that one phrase slogans can have a profound effect on how customers see the product. One key factor in crafting that phrase is matching its content to the customer’s mindset, and [...]

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How “Loss” Can Be a Winning Strategy

If I gave you $50 with the following two choices, what would you do? Keep $30. Gamble, with a 50/50 chance of keeping or losing the whole $50. An experimenter posed that question to subjects, and found that 43% of the subjects chose to gamble. Then the options were changed to:

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Cookie Framing

Years ago, when The Tonight Show ruled late-night TV and when all the guests weren’t celebrities promoting their latest book, movie, or TV show, host Johnny Carson interviewed the Girl Scout who sold the most cookies that year. This young lady, Markita Andrews, set a cookie-sales record that has yet to be broken. What was [...]

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Why Percentages Don’t Add Up

Which is scarier – undergoing a potentially fatal surgical procedure that has a 95% survival rate, or one that causes death in 1 out of 20 patients? If you are like most people, you would find the latter statistic far more worrisome, even though mathematically the two statements are the same. A variety of research [...]

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