Tag Archive for: Influence PEOPLE the book

Quarterly Newsletter

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It’s hard to believe 2019 is over and we’re into 2020. I hope 2019 was great for you on a professional and personal level. It was for me and I look forward to an even better 2020. I hope you do too. As always, I appreciate you giving me a few moments of your time to catch you up on what’s happening with Influence PEOPLE and to share resources that can help you become a more persuasive person.

Sincerely,
Brian

 

What’s Influence PEOPLE all about?

Why – Help you enjoy more professional success and personal happiness.
How – Teach you the science of ethical influence.
What – Speak, write, train, coach and consult.
Who – We work primarily with sales-people, business leaders, coaches and attorneys.

The move to Influence PEOPLE full time was tougher than I expected in some respects but much more satisfying than I ever would have imagined! The autonomy, and opp-ortunity to focus on what I deem most important every day,  is wonderful.

It’s very different working for yourself with no one to be accountable to except you. Several things stand out when I think about it vs. my time in corporate America.

First, removing the distractions and meetings that come with a big company increases your ability to accomplish meaningful work. If I spend three or four hours at Starbucks I easily accomplish more than what I would have done in eight hours at the office.

Second, having to do everything yourself is hard but highlights how much waste there is when you work for a big company. Work has a very different feel when it’s your time, money and effort on the line. It’s the difference between thinking like an owner versus being an employee.

Third, time feels different. This was highlighted around the holidays. I used to get excited about extended breaks for the holidays. Not having an office to go to, and not “taking time off” were strange feelings.

Here’s to a great 2020. I hope it’s your best year so far and that each one only gets better and better.

Here’s What’s New

TED Talk in March!

I’m thrilled to tell you I’ve been selected to present at the TEDx New Albany event on Sunday, March 22, 2020. Giving a TED Talk is something I’ve aspired to for more than a decade so I’m beyond excited! My talk will be about how to set the stage for more success and happiness using pre-suasion. If you’d like to attend in person click here for details on time, location and tickets.

Audio Book will be available this month!

Influence PEOPLE: Powerful Everyday Opportunities to Persuade that are Lasting and Ethical came out in paperback and eBook in August. My goal in writing the book was to give you tangible ideas you can use immediately to enjoy more professional success and personal happiness. I was thrilled when it made the top 10 in Amazon’s Casualty Insurance and Insurance categories. It also cracked the top 50 in Sales & Selling. Now I’m excited to let you know the audio version should be available by the end of January. In the meantime, if you prefer paperback of eBook click here to order your copy.

New Podcasts

I was a guest on a dozen podcasts in the fourth quarter and nearly three dozen during the year. I’ve learned getting on podcasts is like compound interest – the more you’re on, the more you get on because podcasters listen to other podcasts. If you want to catch any episodes from 2019, there are links to each on my website. Click here to find the ones you’d like to listen to.

New LinkedIn Courses

In 2019 I had three new LinkedIn Learning courses go live:

  • Persuasive Coaching
  • Building a Coaching Culture
  • Advanced Persuasive Selling

I cannot say enough great things about the folks at LinkedIn. They’re awesome people to work with! Click here to check out short previews for each course.

Best of…

Do you enjoy learning but find it difficult to locate good content? Time is your most valuable commodoty so don’t spin your wheels searching. To help you save some of that precious resource below are some great books to read, podcasts to listen to and TED Talks to watch.

Books

Messengers: Who We Listen to, Who We Don’t and Why by Steve Martin and Joseph Marks. Two people can say the very same thing and get very different results. Coming from the mouth of one person a message may fall on deaf ears but from another that same message changes the world! Why? This book helps you understand that it’s more than what’s communicated, it’s who is communicating. The authors don’t just leave you with an understanding of why; they give you the how. They tell you how you can become a messenger more people listen to. The book is good for anyone who wants to be more influential but it’s critically important for salespeople, coaches and leaders in every field.

Entrepreneurial You by Dorie Clark. Here’s what I wrote in my Amazon review: Stepping out on your own is scary and exciting, energizing and draining, and so many other polar opposites so it’s good to have a resource to come back to for grounding and to realize you’re normal with these feelings. I just finished this book and I’m working through the 80+ page workbook Dorie provides for free. Don’t short change yourself – read the book then complete the workbook because both have immense value. I had a very good general idea of how I wanted to approach my business but Dorie’s book and the actual exercises in the workbook have opened my eyes to even more possibilities. The book has many ideas I had not considered and writing in the workbook stimulated lots of new ideas. My initial challenge will be to narrow my focus as opposed to trying to do too much. Both activities will be worth your while IF you make time to do them. I’m glad I did and I bet you will be too.

Podcasts

Applied Curiosity Lab Radio is cohosted by sisters Becki Saltzman and Jennifer Felberg. I’ve known Becki for many years and have been a guest on the show a couple of times. She is also a LinkedIn Learning instructor. Becki and Jennifer apply their curiosity muscles to a variety of topics. I guarantee two things: you will laugh and learn. Hard to beat that so why not check them out?

Brainfluence is hosted by Roger Dooley. Roger is the author of Brainfluence, The Persuasion Slide and Friction. If you want to get to the neuroscience of sales, marketing and customer experience then this is the podcast for you. Roger has hundreds of episodes to choose from and has some of the biggest names in social psychology and behavior economics on the show including Robert Cialdini and Dan Ariely.

TED Talks

How Great Leaders Inspire Action from Simon Sinek. There’s a reason this talk from 2009 has nearly 48 million views; it’s inspirational and the message is timeless. Bottom line; people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. This talk helped spur on the concept of “Why?” and skyrocketed Simon Sinek to fame as a business thought leader. Even if you’ve seen it, it’s worth watching again as you start the new year.

The Power of Vulnerability from Brene Brown. With 45 million views Brene Brown’s message obviously hit home for lots of people. A humorous talk based on research, she defies the notion “never let them see you sweat.” Being vulnerable is what people want because it’s the basis for connection. You may have been one of the 45 million who’ve already watched it but take a moment to do so again.

Brian Ahearn

Brian Ahearn, CMCT®, is the Chief Influence Officer at Influence PEOPLE, LLC. An author, international trainer, coach and consultant, he’s one of only 20 people in the world personally trained by Robert Cialdini, Ph.D., the most cited living social psychologist on the planet on the science of ethical influence and persuasion.

Brian’s book, Influence PEOPLE: Powerful Everyday Opportunities to Persuade that are Lasting and Ethical, was a top 10 selling Amazon book in several insurance categories and top 50 in sales & selling. His LinkedIn Learning courses on sales and coaching have been viewed by more than 85,000 people around the world!

Brian.Ahearn@influencepeople.biz
614.313.1663

PAVE the Way for New Year’s Resolutions

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The following is a chapter from my new book Influence PEOPLE: Powerful Everyday Opportunities to Persuade that are Lasting and Ethical. The book explores the practical application of the psychology of persuasion. This chapter is particularly appropriate for this time of year. I hope it helps you start 2020 the right way.

If you’re like many people, then you make New Year’s resolutions; and, if you’re like most people, you break your resolutions within a week or two. According to one study, more than half the people who make resolutions are confident of achieving them, yet only about 10% do so.

That’s unfortunate because most resolutions are good! Here are some of the most popular New Year’s resolutions:

  • Prioritize family
  • Lose weight
  • Begin exercising
  • Quit smoking
  • Reduce debt
  • Get organized
  • Stop drinking

The list is admirable so why are these goals so difficult to achieve for nine out of 10 people? There are as many reasons as there are resolu- tions and dwelling on those reasons would not be as beneficial as giv- ing you scientifically proven ideas that can help make next New Year’s different. I’ll share an influence technique that can help you PAVE the way to success in the New Year.

In the study of persuasion there’s a powerful motivator of behavior known as the principle of consistency. This proven rule tells us people feel internal and external psychological pressure to act in ways that are consistent with their prior actions, words, deeds, beliefs and val- ues. When we act in consistent ways we feel better about ourselves and other people perceive us in a more favorable light. Mahatma Gandhi put it this way, “Happiness is when what you think, what you say and what you do are in harmony.”

There are four simple things you can do with consistency to help you keep your resolutions. These easy to implement ideas will help you PAVE the way to success because they’ll dramatically increase the odds that you’ll follow through on your New Year’s resolutions – or any other personal changes you want to make.

Public – Whenever you make a public statement, whether verbally or in writing, you put yourself and your reputation on the line. The mere fact that another person knows your intentions and might ask you how you’re doing, often motivates you to follow through.

This came to light in a study with a group of students who wanted to improve their college grades. One group was asked to share their goal with some people. One group kept their goals in their heads and a third group made no specific goal whatsoever. As you might guess, the group with the publicly stated goals succeeded, with nearly 90% of students increasing their grades by a full letter grade! With the other two groups the results were identical and poor. In each group fewer than one in six students improved by a full letter grade. It’s worth noting, they were all given the same study materials so they all had the same opportunity to better their GPA.

Recommendation #1 – Publicize! Share your New Year’s reso- lution with another person, or group of people, and ask them to hold you accountable.

Active – You have to actively do something. Merely thinking about a resolution, just keeping it to yourself as some sort of secret, will lead to the same results as people who don’t make any resolutions. In other words, nothing will change. However, when you do a few things, you build momentum towards your goal. Each active step gets you closer to success.

Recommendation #2 – Make sure you have to take some active steps. It could be as simple as buying a book about the changes you hope to make or writing your goals down and posting on your mirror.

Voluntary – This has to be your goal, not someone else’s goal for you. If you’re trying to do something – quit smoking, lose weight, get in shape – it’s not likely your motivation will last if someone basically forced you to do it. The goal has to come from you because if it’s imposed it’s not likely your willpower will last long. Samuel Butler said it best when he wrote, “He who complies against his will is of the same opinion still.”

Recommendation #3 – Make sure it’s something you really want to do – of your own free choice.

Effort – It was already noted that you have to actively do something. In other words, making the commitment should require some effort on your part and the more effort you expend setting up your goal, the more likely you are to succeed. Something as simple as writing down your resolution in a journal can make a difference but don’t stop there. Share it with others to fulfill the public requirement, which gives you more bang for the buck!

Recommendation #4 – A little more effort, like committing pen to paper in a daily journal, will increase your chances for success significantly.

How can you Influence PEOPLE? Sometimes the person you need to influence is yourself! Try to PAVE the way to your success and enjoy the results. If you’ve failed at your resolutions, or other types of personal change, then why not give the PAVE approach a try?

  1. Public – Share your resolutions with others.
  2. Active – Take some active steps.
  3. Voluntary – Make it your goal and own it.
  4. Effort – Remember, more effort equals more commitment.

Brian Ahearn, CMCT®, is the Chief Influence Officer at Influence PEOPLE, LLC. An author, international trainer, coach and consultant, he’s one of only 20 people in the world personally trained by Robert Cialdini, Ph.D., the most cited living social psychologist on the planet on the science of ethical influence and persuasion.

Brian’s book, Influence PEOPLE: Powerful Everyday Opportunities to Persuade that are Lasting and Ethical, was a top 10 selling Amazon book in several insurance categories and top 50 in sales & selling. His LinkedIn Learning courses on sales and coaching have been viewed by more than 85,000 people around the world!

Professional Success and Personal Happiness – Perfect Holiday Gifts

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Starting with the next paragraph is the opening to my book Influence PEOPLE: Powerful Everyday Opportunities to Persuade that are Lasting and Ethical. If you’ve not gotten your copy yet I hope a quick read this week will stimulate your appetite for more. The book is available in eBook and paperback on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other online book retailers. Last last month I recorded the audio version so if that’s your preferred learning route keep an eye out for it on Audible in January.

Professional Success and Personal Happiness

Much of your professional success and personal happiness depends on getting others to say Yes to you. Do you believe that? I’ve certainly found that to be the case in life. My business career started in the insurance industry immediately after college and I quickly learned my value to my employer was contingent on my ability to make good business decisions. But, no matter how good I thought my decisions were, I always had to convince someone else what I was proposing was the right course of action – a customer, my manager, the field associates I trained, someone in “the home office” and more! Bottom line, I needed to persuade others my ideas would help grow the business profitably.

After marrying Jane and starting a family, I began to see persuasion was helpful on a personal level because I saw how it could lead to more peace and happiness in our home. Wouldn’t it be nice to know how to communicate with your kids – especially teenagers – with less friction while dramatically increasing the odds of hearing Yes? Avoiding the pushback that so often comes with adolescence can make for a more peaceful, happy home.

If you agree getting to Yes will help your professional success and personal happiness, then this book is for you because you’ll learn the mental shortcuts people use to make quick decisions. This is especially important in the information and marketing-overloaded society we find ourselves in. In this book you’ll learn how people think and behave. More importantly, you’ll find concrete examples to help you apply the psychology of persuasion – ethically – to everyday situations. By the end of this book my goal is to have you think: “I see how I could use this at work and at home.”

Let’s start by telling you what this information isn’t – a magic wand. No one can guarantee everyone will do what you want all the time. Even behavior experts like Robert Cialdini and Dan Ariely can’t make that claim. However, their work and the work of countless other social psychologists and behavioral economists clearly shows you can move significantly more people to do what you want if you apply the science of influence ethically and correctly.

One more disclaimer – I’m not a social psychologist nor behavioral economist although I was personally trained by Robert Cialdini, the most cited living social psychologist in the world today on the subject of influence and persuasion. While not an academic, I have something every bit as important: real world application. I’m proud Dr. Cialdini wrote this about me;

“When Brian Ahearn speaks, people listen. That is so because he knows his material thoroughly, and he knows how to present it superbly. The upshot is that the genuine insights he provides are not just immediately understandable, they are also immediately action- able and profitable.”

I shared a couple of disclaimers and now I’ll make a claim – if you take the time to learn about the psychology of persuasion and diligently apply the scientifically proven principles you will be more successful in your career and you will enjoy more happiness in your personal life. I know this because science says more people will say Yes to you. 

To Do This Week

Christmas will be here before you know it and you might still be searching for the perfect gift for friends and family. I’m totally bias but I think a copy of Influence PEOPLE: Powerful Everyday Opportunities to Persuade that are Lasting and Ethical  might be just what you’re looking for and they need. Buy a copy for someone who could use a little help at the office. Get the book for a friend who could do a better job communicating at home. If you’ve not gotten a copy for yourself yet, look at it as an investment in you.

Brian Ahearn, CMCT®, is the Chief Influence Officer at Influence PEOPLE, LLC. An author, international speaker, coach and consultant, he’s one of only 20 people in the world personally trained by Robert Cialdini, Ph.D., the most cited living social psychologist on the planet when it comes to the science of ethical influence.

Brian’s first book – Influence PEOPLE: Powerful Everyday Opportunities to Persuade that are Lasting and Ethical – has been one of the top 10 selling Amazon books in several insurance categories and cracked the top 50 in sales & selling.

Brian’s LinkedIn Learning courses have been viewed by more than 85,000 people around the world! His newest course – Advanced Persuasive Selling: Persuading Different Personalities – is now available through LinkedIn Learning.

A Special Gift for You!

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When I began publicizing my book, Influence PEOPLE, I offered a gift to anyone who bought it on pre-sale. The gift was a 15-minute training video on something not covered in the book: pre-suasion.

Pre-suasion is a term Robert Cialdini introduced in his NY Times best-seller Pre-suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade. It’s a fascinating read, one I highly recommend! My video will give you an introduction to this powerful psychological concept.

Getting Influence PEOPLE online took longer than anticipated which shortened the pre-sale period significantly. Because not nearly as many of you got to take advantage of the gift offer as I had hoped, I’ve decided to offer the gift to everyone – whether or not you’ve purchase a copy of Influence PEOPLE.

Do I want you to get a copy of the book? Of course! But, even if you don’t, I appreciate that you read my blog. So, if you’d like to start learning about pre-suasion just email BookLaunch@influencepeople.biz.

Brian Ahearn, CMCT®, is the Chief Influence Officer at Influence PEOPLE, LLC. An international speaker, coach, consultant, and author, he’s one of only 20 people in the world personally trained by Robert Cialdini, Ph.D., the most cited living social psychologist on the planet when it comes to the science of ethical influence.

Brian’s first book – Influence PEOPLE: Powerful Everyday Opportunities to Persuade that are Lasting and Ethical – went live on August 20. It was the #1 new release in Amazon’s Casualty Insurance category, was in the top 5 in Insurance and cracked the top 50 in the Sales & Selling category.

Brian’s LinkedIn Learning courses Persuasive Selling, Persuasive Coaching and Building a Coaching Culture, have been viewed by more than 70,000 people! Keep an eye out for Advanced Persuasive Selling: Persuading Different Personalities which will be available on September 12.

 

Thank You!

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Thank you! Sales of my new book, Influence PEOPLE: Powerful Everyday Opportunities to Persuade that are Lasting and Ethical, are going great! On Amazon the book hit #1 in the Casualty Insurance category, was in the top 10 in Insurance and cracked the top 50 in Sales & Selling! It’s so important to say “thank you” that I devoted a chapter to it in the book. I try to practice what I preach so I want to thank the many people who’ve been helpful in making the book a success.

You

First, I want to thank you…the person reading this. I know you’re inundated with information and only have so much time in the day. I’m thankful that you’ve chosen to give me a little of your time and attention. I hope what I share through this blog each week helps you professionally and personally.

I want to thank everyone who bought a copy of Influence PEOPLE and give advanced thanks to those who are planning to buy the book. I’ve told several people that holding the first copy of the book was a great feeling. It was finally real that I’d written a book. It wasn’t quite as amazing as holding Abigail when she was born but it was pretty darn nice.

Coach

I want to thank Barbara Grassey, The Book Boss. She’s my book coach. We met many years ago through Facebook and had the chance to meet in person once when I was in Florida. She has been amazing! She helped me through the self-publishing process, developed a marketing plan for the book and is helping with my business. Every week we’ve connected on Zoom so she could hold me accountable to do what needed to be done. If you’re thinking of writing a book hire Barbara! Thank you Barbara.

Website

Do you like my website? Nick DeFrancisco, owner of NDesign, built it. Beyond his creativity, what I appreciate most about Nick is his responsiveness. It doesn’t matter what day or time I reach out with questions, he answers pronto. If you are looking at getting a website or redoing yours reach out to Nick. Thank you Nick.

Creative Design

I’ve had lots of compliments on the book cover. That’s the handy work of Michael Franzese, owner of Franzese Ink. Mike and I go way back to high school. He not only designed the book cover, he created the Influence PEOPLE logo. When I started 10+ years ago I thought I’d created a nice design…until Michael gave me honest feedback. I appreciate honesty! If you have creative design needs you should contact Michael. Thank you Michael.

Photography

Most of the photos on my website come from Jenny Kay Photography. Working with Jenny and Brent Mackey is fun! I appreciate how much they get into the whole process. When they take a great photo they get excited which gets you excited. I asked that they make me look like George Clooney and, while we didn’t quite get there, they made me look much better than I actually do. Thank you Jenny and Brent.

Video

The video on my website was either shot, edited or shot and edited by the guys at Outsider Entertainment. The person you want to talk with if you need video is Andy Emery. He’s a really good dude. He’s laid back, easy to work with and loves the challenge of creating something that will make people say, “Wow!” Thank you Andy.

Acknowledgements

In the acknowledgement section of Influence PEOPLE I thank quite a few folks but I also want to publicly thank them here because each has been important to writing the book and my career. Thank you…

Jane Ahearn, Abigail Ahearn, Robert Cialdini, Bobette Gorden, Greg Neidert, Ph.D., Cara Tracy, Eily VanderMeer, John Petrucci, Nancy Edwards, Debbie Conkel, George Black, Mike Figliuolo, Frank Agin, Michael Franzese, Barbara Grassey, Todd Alles, Brian F. Ahearn (dad), Ann Strausburg (mom), Hoh Kim, Anthony McLean, Cathrine Moestue, Sean Patrick, Yago de Marta and Marco Germani.

To Do This Week

When you read Influence PEOPLE you’ll come across the chapter on The Importance of Saying “Thank You”. If Navy Seal Lieutenant Mike Murphy could find the time to say thanks only moments before he knew he’d probably die, then we can all find time to say thank you. Take a moment to thank someone today. You’ll feel good, you’ll probable make someone’s day a little brighter and you will be a positive influence in the world.

Brian Ahearn, CMCT®, is the Chief Influence Officer at Influence PEOPLE, LLC. An international speaker, coach, consultant, and author, he’s one of only 20 people in the world personally trained by Robert Cialdini, Ph.D., the most cited living social psychologist on the planet when it comes to the science of ethical influence.

Brian’s first book – Influence PEOPLE: Powerful Everyday Opportunities to Persuade that are Lasting and Ethical – went live on August 20 and has been one of the top 10 selling Amazon books in the insurance space and in the top 100 in the sales & selling category since launching.

 

Influence is all about PEOPLE

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When it comes to influence it’s all about PEOPLE. After all, you can’t persuade things. No matter how persuasive you are, you can’t persuade your lawnmower to start on a hot summer day and cut the grass. However, if you’re good you might persuade your spouse, significant other or child, to start the lawnmower and cut the grass.

Dale Carnegie had it right when he wrote, “Dealing with people is probably the biggest problem you face, especially if you’re in business.” That holds true as much today as when he first penned those words more than 80 years ago. The more you understand how people think and behave, then combine that with an understanding of how to ethically influence people, the better your chances for success at the office and happiness at home.

When it comes to PEOPLE, remember it’s about those Powerful Everyday Opportunities to Persuade that are Lasting and Ethical. Let’s take a quick look at each component of PEOPLE.

Powerful

Who says influence is powerful? Here are what a few well-known people from history had to say about persuasion:

“Persuasion is often more effective than force.” – Aesop, Greek fabulist

“If I can persuade, I can move the universe.” – Frederick Douglass, American social reformer, abolitionist, writer, and statesman

“The only real power available to the leader is the power of persuasion.” – Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President of the United States

In addition to those intelligent, successful people (and countless others over history), we now have research to rely on. There are more than seven decades of research from social psychology, behavioral economics, and now neuroscience, to prove how powerful persuasion can be…when it’s done right.

Everyday

Unless you’re Tom Hanks in Castaway you interact with people every day. Quite often in your communication with others you make requests hoping to hear “Yes!” Getting people to say yes is important because nobody goes it alone. That’s especially true for highly successful people. Jack Welch, former General Electric CEO said, “Nearly everything I’ve done in my life has been accomplished through other people.”

Here’s something I love about persuasion; it applies at work and home. Think of it as a 24x7x365 skill. At work you try to persuade your boss, direct reports, coworkers, vendors and customers. At home influence helps with your parents, significant other, children, neighbors and anyone else you come in contact with.

Opportunities

Every interaction with others presents opportunities to do “little things” differently to reap big rewards. For example; would you be curious to find out what the Cancer Society did to increase their volunteer rate 700% in one area of town? How American Veterans doubling the donations the received? Both were accomplished by doing a few, nearly costless, things differently using psychology.

The problem is, all too often people miss the opportunities that are right in front of them. Have you ever had someone point out a speaker saying “um” and then you notice it all the time? And so it is when you begin to learn the language of persuasion. You’ll be amazed at how often you begin noticing opportunities to engage the psychology to leverage better results.

Persuade

What exactly is persuasion? The definitions I hear most often are “to chance someone’s mind” or “to convince someone of something.” Those may be good starts but they’re not enough. In the end you want to see people change their behavior.

With a focus on behavior change let’s consider Aristotle’s perspective. He said, “Persuasion was the art of getting people to do something they wouldn’t ordinarily do if you didn’t ask.”

Lasting

Sometimes your interaction with another person is “one and done” but quite often you have ongoing relationships. When it comes to relationships, you don’t want to go back to the drawing board time after time do you? Of course not. Ideally, you want to communication one time and see people’s thinking and behavior change for the long haul.

Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower understood the power of persuasion could create a lasting effect. He said, “I would rather persuade a man to go along, because once I have persuaded him, he will stick. If I scare him, he will stay just as long as he is scared, and then he is gone.” Done right, persuasion will stick, have a lasting impact on others.

Ethical

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, manipulation is, “to treat or operate with or as if with the hands or by mechanical means especially in a skillful manner.” That’s not so bad. However, a more familiar definition is, “to control or play upon by artful, unfair, or insidious means especially to one’s own advantage.”

The word manipulation makes most of us bristle! That’s so because it connotes taking advantage of someone. I’m confident in writing this next statement; you don’t want to be manipulated. I’m also certain you don’t want to be seen as a manipulator either.

What’s the difference between ethical influence and manipulation? This quote from The Art of WOO sums it up well. “An earnest and sincere lover buys flowers and candy for the object of his affections. So does the cad who succeeds to take advantage of another’s heart. But when the cad succeeds, we don’t blame the flowers and candy. We rightly question his character.” It’s a character issue. Will you use the tools – principles of influence in this case – for good or bad?

Conclusion

Your ability to influence people is critical to your professional success and personal happiness. Knowing that, and knowing how much you use this one skill each day, doesn’t it make sense to get better at it? My new book, Influence PEOPLE, will help you do that.

Brian Ahearn, CMCT®, is the Chief Influence Officer at Influence PEOPLE, LLC. An international speaker, coach and consultant, he’s one of only 20 people in the world personally trained by Robert Cialdini, Ph.D., the most cited living social psychologist on the topic of ethical influence.

Brian’s first book – Influence PEOPLE: Powerful Everyday Opportunities to Persuade that are Lasting and Ethical – is available online through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and most other online sites.

His LinkedIn Learning courses Persuasive Selling, Persuasive Coaching and Building a Coaching Culture: Improving Performance through Timely Feedback, have been viewed by more than 70,000 people! Keep an eye out forAdvanced Persuasive Selling: Persuading Different Personalitiesthis fall.

 

 

BIG NEWS…It’s Finally Here!

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BIG NEWS…Influence PEOPLE the book is now available for pre-order!

Influence PEOPLE: Powerful Everyday Opportunities to Persuade that are Lasting and Ethical is available for pre-ordered at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and most other online book providers with a delivery date of August 20. Please note; if you order the paperback version it might say “Out of Stock” because it’s print on demand. That’s okay, go ahead and order then keep an eye out for it around August 20 or shortly thereafter.

Influence PEOPLE takes the complex science of influence and breaks it down into easy to understand, practical ideas you can start using immediately. My goal in writing the book is to help you hear “Yes!” more often at work and home. Why work and home? Because I believe getting people to say yes to you is critical for your professional success and personal happiness.

What are people saying about the book?

“Influence PEOPLE is a treasure trove of instructive and entertaining personal accounts, informative research results, and extraordinarily useful tips for becoming consistently more influential. It shouldn’t be missed.” – Robert B. Cialdini, Ph.D., President, INFLUENCE AT WORK and author of Influence: Science and Practice and Pre-suasion: A Revolutionary New Way to Influence and Persuade

“In Influence PEOPLE, Brian breaks persuasion down into manageable and easy to use chunks that anyone can learn and apply. He takes an idea that can be as complex as you’d like to make it and helps you learn in a fun, easy style.” – Dave Lakhani, author of Persuasion: The Art of Getting What You Want and Subliminal Persuasion

“Brian Ahearn’s new book has its roots in science but is highly readable and endlessly practical. Influence PEOPLE is packed with bite-size stories and nuggets of actionable advice. Anyone who wants to influence or persuade others should read this book.” – Roger Dooley, author of Friction and Brainfluence

“Influence PEOPLE takes the science of influence out of the academic realm and makes it something you can easily use in the real world. Brian provides a ton of outstanding ideas that will help you enjoy more success at the office as well as peace and happiness at home. If you want to be more influential with everyone you meet, pick up your copy today!” – Mike Figliuolo, Managing Director of thoughtLEADERS and author of One Piece of Paper, Lead Inside the Box and The Elegant Pitch

“If your professional and personal success is dependent on getting others to say Yes to you–which it is by the way–then the obvious question is how? Brian Ahearn’s Influence PEOPLE doesn’t provide a single response, but rather a series of compelling answers. Importantly, they are all as practical and actionable as they are rooted in solid scientific evidence. 5 Stars!” – Steve Martin, New York Times bestselling co-author of Yes! and Messengers! Who We Listen To, Who We Don’t and Why

How Do I Order My Copy?

To order your copy of Influence PEOPLE: Powerful Everyday Opportunities to Persuade that are Lasting and Ethical click on one of these links: Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

But wait, there’s more! As a thank you for pre-ordering the book I have a free training video to share with you. The 15-minute video will introduce you to something not in the book – the psychology of pre-suasion. Once you’ve placed your order email proof of purchase to BookLaunch@influencepeople.biz and you’ll receive an email with a link to the training. The training link will only be up until month-end so make sure you watch it shortly after you order your copy of the book.

Brian Ahearn, CMCT®, is the Chief Influence Officer at Influence PEOPLE, LLC. An international speaker, coach, consultant, and author, he’s one of only 20 people in the world personally trained by Robert Cialdini, Ph.D., the most cited living social psychologist on the topic of ethical influence.

Brian is the author of the new book Influence PEOPLE: Powerful Everyday Opportunities to Persuade that are Lasting and Ethical. His LinkedIn Learning courses Persuasive Selling, Persuasive Coaching and Building a Coaching Culture: Improving Performance through Timely Feedback, have been viewed by more than 70,000 people! Keep an eye out for Advanced Persuasive Selling: Persuading Different Personalitiesthis fall.

 

Influence PEOPLE: the book – Ethical

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In August my first book will be available in eBook and paperback online at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and other outlets. Influence PEOPLE: Powerful Everyday Opportunities to Persuade that are Lasting and Ethical was written to give you practical, real-world ideas on how to use the science of influence. The goal is to help you enjoy more success at the office and happiness at home. I hope you’ll consider getting a copy.

This week’s blog post is an excerpt from the book on what it means too be ethical when it comes to persuasion.

Ethical

“A man is truly ethical only when he obeys the compulsion to help all life which he is able to assist.”

Albert Schweitzer, theologian, philosopher, humanitarian

Do you know the difference between ethical persuasion and manipulation? Manipulators lookout only for themselves, unconcerned about the impact on others. It doesn’t matter to them if they stretch the truth – or outright lie – to get what they want. They don’t care if they disingenuously use their knowledge of psychology to twist your arm because they only care about how things work out for themselves.

This is why a good bit of advertising, particularly political ads, turn off so many people – because it’s apparent many companies and politicians distort the truth just to sell more products and win elections.

When it comes to ethics I like the following quote from The Art of Woo by G. Richards Shell and Mario Moussa; “An earnest and sincere lover buys flowers and candy for the object of his affections. So does the cad who seeks to take advantage of another’s heart. But when the cad succeeds we don’t blame the flowers and candy. We rightly question his character.” 

Are flowers and candy good or bad? They’re neither good nor bad. They’re neutral objects that acquire meaning based on how we use them.

The same is true of the principles of influence. They’re neither good nor bad, they describe how people typically think and behave. How you use your knowledge of influence will reveal your character. Will you use your new knowledge of influence in a mutually beneficial way, looking for the proverbial “win-win”? Will you be truthful? Will you employ principles natural to the situation you find yourself in? If you know you are telling the truth, using principles natural for the situation, and what you ask will benefit the other person in some way, then you can feel confident moving ahead with your ethical request. 

Using the principles of influence ethically cannot be overstated. Use them ethically and you can build strong, lasting relationships in your personal life and in business. However, if people feel you’re manipulating them, not only will they sever the relationship, they’re likely to spread the word and damage your reputation. We’d all do well to remember what Aristotle said; “Character may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion.” As your use of ethical persuasion skills grows, so does your influence.

Brian Ahearn, CMCT®, is the Chief Influence Officer at Influence PEOPLE, LLC. An international speaker, coach and consultant, he’s one of only 20 people in the world personally trained by Robert Cialdini, Ph.D., the most cited living social psychologist on the science of ethical influence.

Brian’s LinkedIn Learning courses Persuasive Selling, Persuasive Coaching and Building a Coaching Culture: Improving Performance through Timely Feedback, have been viewed by more than 70,000 people! Keep an eye out for Advanced Persuasive Selling: Persuading Different Personalitiesthis fall.