Nandita Kochar
All advertising agencies, from telemarketers to door-to-door salespeople to the ads buzzing on the internet, works on the concept of special compliance techniques. These are strategies put in place to make you say yes when you actually want to say no. However, by making yourself aware of these techniques you’ll be in a better position to understand when they are being used against you. Here are a few of them:
The extraordinary yet simple norm of reciprocity demands that when others treat us well, we should also return the favour. Thus, when customers walk into a shop, you speak politely to them, offer them beverages, make them feel relaxed so that later they feel somewhat obligated to help you by buying what you are selling. Happyho also provides best Meditation and Tarot classes in Noida and Delhi NCR India area
Next comes the door-in-the-face technique. The persuader makes a hefty large request, already aware of the fact that you’ll reject it (or slam the door in his/her face) and then presents a smaller request. Think about it this way – it feels as if the persuader is making a compromise by reducing the size of his/her request greatly and complying with this request makes you feel less guilty about you rejecting the first request or makes you feel socially responsible. So the next time someone first asks you to make an extremely large donation to a charity and then reduces the amount once you reject the first one, you’d know what’s happening.
Now the opposite of the above mentioned technique is the foot-in-the-door technique. The persuader gets you to comply with a small request (getting the foot in the door) and shortly after presents you with a larger request. Your friend asks you to give him some advice about a computer processor and after you comply, he asks you to help him with a 15 minute questionnaire for his class submission. Will you comply with the second request or not?
With this final technique of lowballing, the persuader gets you to commit to some action and just when you are about to perform the behaviour, he or she increases the cost of that same behaviour. You go to buy a watch at a store. While negotiating the price, you give your final offer at Rs. 4000. The salesman says that the price is low but that he’d still go and speak to the manager. He returns and says that you can have that watch for Rs. 500 more. You are more likely to buy it then, thinking to yourself “What’s another five hundred bucks?” , than if the watch was originally priced at Rs. 4500. Having made a commitment already, you might find it easier to rationalise the additional costs or you might feel guilty towards the person to whom you have made the commitment.
By recognising when compliance techniques are being used to manipulate you, you are better able to resist them. The idea is not to become suspicious and reject every social influence attempt but to avoid feeling forced to do something when you do not wish to do it.
