Ok you've read the summary of this article and you're intrigued by it, so now you are probably quite eager to know what this word is because after all it seems quite unlikely that one word, one simple every day word could have that much power - right?
I admit it does sound too good to be true and because of that it works. It works even where it makes no sense. That's how powerful this word is. Slip it in a conversation and you will be amazed at the results when you use it purposefully.
Because, that's the word. Yes, I know it seems too easy but using the word 'because' can and will increase your persuasiveness greatly.
Research has been done by Harvard social psychologist Ellen Langer and the experiment that shows the power of this word so strongly was done at a Xerox (Photocopier) station with a queue of people waiting to use the machine.
Langer joins the end of the queue and asks if she can move to the front of the queue. "Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the Xerox machinebecauseI'm in a rush?" The result of this was that a staggering 94% of people said "yes"!
A second time the experiment was run the question was changed to "Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the Xerox machine?" This time the results were markedly poorer with only 60% agreeing. (This points up another sales techniques which I'll touch on briefly later.)
The third experiment was to ask the question "Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the Xerox machinebecauseI have to make some copies?" This question elicited a totally amazing "yes" response of 93%. Now I understand you may not quite realise the significance at first glance, I certainly didn't. But if you read the first question through again you'll see that the reason given for her wanting to jump the queue was that she was in a rush. Which was a reason not shared by all the people in the queue.
The third question however only gives as a reason for wanting to jump the queue. "BecauseI have to make some copies" and is exactly the same reason that
everyone else is in the queue! Remembering that 93% of people said "yes" to her jumping the queue for exactly the same reason that they were in the queue, to make some copies.
That is the power of the word 'because'! Now think about how and when it's used. We use it to children who repeat it back to us. How many times have you said or heard "Because I said so!" said to a child questioning an adult. In the reverse, when a child wants something and is asked why, they will often reply "Because, because I want it." Not only that; in both cases the use of 'because' will often get the response required. In the case of the adult the child will comply. In the case of the child the adult will comply.
This of course does not mean that just using 'because' will automatically get you a "yes" response but reseach does show that used purposefully it can and will increase the number of "yes" responses you get from people in all areas of your life.
Consider how the effective use of this word makes advertising so powerful. L'Oreal use it with the phrase "Because we're worth it." or "Because you're worth it." It was at first only aimed at women, then when they brought out their mens line of skin care, it became "Because we're worth it too."
They don't have to say why or how we're worth it, they just use the word without any reason behind it and still it works!
Now, back to the middle question in that experiment. In sales one of the things a lot of salespeople in all walks of life have difficulty with is in actually asking for the order. Others find it difficult to ask for a raise, or to ask their partner, parent, friend, work colleague, child or stranger to do something or give something, whether a physical object or help, or emotional support. Yet this experiment shows that just by asking the question, even without the word 'because' attached, the majority will still say "yes".
So the lesson here is to always ask. Ask more than once but in different ways - not just a repetitive question. As an example; you've finished your sales pitch and ask for the order. "Can we go ahead and place the order?" The client says no, you ask why, he replies and you resell an aspect of the product/service. You would then ask for the order again but in a different way. "Now that we've covered that Mr Prospect is there any reason we shouldn't go ahead?"
If 60% of people would let someone jump the queue simply because they asked, doesn't it make sense that actually asking for the order will increase your sales?
