Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive

Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive by Noah J. Goldstein (based on 92 customer reviews)

(Hardcover)
Author: Noah J. Goldstein
Publisher: Free Press

List Price: $25.00
Amazon's Price: $16.50
You save: $8.50 (34%)

click for more info

Most useful review as voted by customers:
38 out of 42 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 6/16/08

Become a Master Pursuader

Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to be Persuasive, written by Goldstein, Martin and Cialdini, takes the scientific research and studies done on persuasion over the past 50+ years and presents an easy to understand book on how to convince people.

According to the authors, "The central purpose of this book is to provide the reader with a better understanding of the psychological processes underlying our efforts to influence others to shift their attitudes or behavior in a direction that results in positive outcomes for both parties."

The authors go to pains to convince us that persuasion is a science, not an art. They believe that, unlike books on business, economics and so on, there are not many books on persuasion because most people believe they already know how to convince people. which is a mistake, according to them.

They begin with the 6 universal principles of social influence:

* Reciprocation
* Authority
* Commitment/consistency
* Scarcity
* Liking
* Social proof

What follows are 50 mini-chapters. Each refers to scientific studies, but the chapters are breezy and easy to read.

Here are some examples:

* When pursuasion might backfire, how do you avoid the magnetic middle?
* when does a bonus become an onus?
* Does fear persuade or does it paralyze?
* What is the active ingredient in lasting commitments?
* What's the hidden danger of being the brightest person in the room?
*When is a loser an winner?

Insightful and thought-provoking, this book is useful for both social and business situations.

By the author of the award winning book,
Harmonious Environment: Beautify, Detoxify and Energize Your Life, Your Home and Your Planet.

34 out of 46 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 6/26/08

Yes! Cialdini Hits another Home Run with Updated Persuasion Tactics

Extending and building upon Cialdini's classic "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion", this new book, "Yes!" is immensely useful and a must-read for everyone who seeks to communicate and persuade more effectively.

A colleague recommended it to me, and I pounced upon it, ordering immediately -- because I've long used Cialdini's 6 core strategies in my marketing efforts to help build a business empire. Reciprocity, social proof, and other triggers are must-have tools in one's business arsenal.

What I like best about Cialdini's latest work is:

+ Practical case studies in business (not academic) environments, such as the hotel towel case study, and others.

+ Diverse range of experiments and conversion-boosting examples that can be applied to a much wider range of persuasive situations.

+ Clearly explained examples and techniques that are easy to translate and apply to different practical business situations immediately.

+ Packed with humor, insight and concise tactics that work.

Cialdini's created another classic with "Yes!" and I highly recommend it to all business professionals and folks who'd like to improve their persuasive skills in a variety of situations. An "instant classic".

To success,

Ken Calhoun

P.S. For more on business success, I also recommend all the books by Jeffrey Gitomer, Dan Kennedy, Donald Trump and Brian Tracy.

34 out of 42 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 6/27/08

Like Chocolate Cake

That's this book. Just like chocolate cake. Rich with loads of wisdom. Each chapter is only a few pages long but you get told what you need to know, clearly and without a lot of pointless throat clearing. Get the goods on social proof(people do what the majority do even if it is bad; the Petrified Forest in Arizona plastered the park with signs saying that many people removed wood pieces and that was bad only to find theft bumping upwards;change the signs to show those who take the pieces are isolated individuals and theft spirals downward); understand that you must value your contribution or its value will be lost(do a favor for a colleague and she says thanks and you say your welcome and there is zip value; tell her you are glad to do it because it helps with her business development efforts and thus she remembers, don't and its useless history to her; you value it, she won't); understand that people act consistently with their affirmative commitments, not their silent agreement( restaurants that ask people to call if they need to cxl a reserfvation don't get co-operation but those who ask a question, "Will you agree to call if you must cxl?"get loads of it); learn to take a negative and make it a positive(yes our products cost more than xyz firm, but they last longer; couple the negative with a positive that relates to or negates the negative). There is lots more. All of it good stuff. I don't care for the title but this is the way business books should be---short, to the point and useful. Sweet.

17 out of 19 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 6/16/08

Invaluable advice, breezy writing

What a useful and surprisingly fun book! Its theme? By making small changes in the way you ask for something, you can increase how often people say yes.

Fifty short mini-chapters, only three or four pages long, each describe a different scientifically proven way to improve how persuasive you can be. Each has specific advice that is easy to apply. For example, adding a hand-written Post-it note to a mailing dramatically boosts a positive response. Another example comes from Benjamin Franklin: Ask for a favor from someone you're trying to bring to your side. Afterward that person will feel more kindly toward you, and be more likely to help you again.

Yes! includes many real-life examples and much humor. Although it is based on serious scientific research, the writing is breezy and non-threatening.

I bought Yes! to help me in my business, but I'll use these ideas personally, as well. You will, too.

16 out of 16 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 9/12/08

Say "yes" to Yes!

In 1984, social psychologist Robert Cialdini published Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. He did his research by studying car salesmen, Hari Krishnas, telemarketers, and other master persuaders, cataloguing the tricks of their trade and distilling the underlying psychological principles. The result was a field guide on how to apply -- or resist -- the bait-and-switch, the lowball, the reciprocity effect, and the other tools of the persuasive class. An instant classic, the book is still taught in Psych 101 courses everywhere. Now, in Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive, Cialdini -- along with his research collaborators Noah J. Goldstein and Steve J. Martin -- revisits the same terrain, bringing to bear the latest advances in the science of mind. As it turns out, the laws of influence don't work the way we think. Take social proof -- the fact that when we see other people doing something, we want to do it, too. It's why product testimonials work so well. But it also explains why some marketing campaigns backfire: One anti-littering campaign bears the slogan, "This year Americans will produce more litter and pollution than ever before." By communicating that littering is common, these ads actually make the problem worse. For the same reason, a sign warning that a national park was threatened because so many people were removing pieces of petrified wood resulted in a tripling of the rate at which people stole. Presented in short, engaging chapters, each illustrating one principle of persuasion, the book is filled with similarly jaw-dropping insights. It also provides concrete suggestions on how to harness this wisdom in real-life situations. Like Influence before it, Yes! will no doubt prove indispensable for anyone curious about the art of persuasion.

Another book I recommend that I really enjoyed this week (and it helped me at work) is Squawk!: How to Stop Making Noise and Start Getting Results

6 out of 8 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 6/2/08

Essential Reading for Everyone in Sales or Marketing

Most of us are looking to be more persuasive. We want more sales, a bigger audience, more people on our team and want to convince others to see the value in our message.

Scientific research shows that very small changes in how you present your message can make for monumental changes in the outcome of your persuasion efforts.

Building on the principles taught in Cialdini's "Influence" Yes! contains 50 short simple ways to be more influential.

Easy to read, easy to implement. Anyone can find dozens of new ideas to get more results in everything you do.

Books

(display all categories)

Adjust text size.