Psychological Tricks in Selling From Robert Cialdini

In this article, I'm revealing six powerful secret psychological tricks that you can use to increase the effectiveness of your advertising and marketing. What if you don't sell anything? Should you ignore this information?

You ARE selling something. Whether you are a Real Estate agent selling multi-million dollar homes, or a worker trying to sell your boss on the idea that you are a valuable employee, everybody is selling something. So it would be wise to learn these secret tricks and use them to achieve your own personal success.

The secret psychological tricks that I am going to reveal are not really secret. They have been used by shrewed salesman for millenium. Their existence was revealed back in 1984 by Dr. Robert Cialdini in his book "Influence : The Psychology of Persuasion".

You will recognize these tricks being used everywhere in advertising today. Now you will be able to put them to use to enhance your own personal success.

Psychological Selling Trick Number 1: Reciprocity

Reciprocity works like this: you give someone something of value for free. That individual feels an obligation to return the favor. Reciprocity is a very powerful principle.

To use reciprocity as a marketing tool, you give people something of value for free, they reciprocate by purchasing your product or service. But you would be surprised how many advertisers totally blow it. Either they don't understand the concept of "free", or they don't have total faith in the principle of reciprocity.

For example, consider the offer "get a free camera when you subscribe to our magazine for two years." That's not free. Or, "free installation with a one year commitment." That's not free. The customer is paying with an obligation. No sale.

Consider the offer,"receive the latest issue of our magazine absolutely free. No bill will be sent." If the prospective customer finds the magazine to be of value, they feel an obligation to subscribe. Or, "one month of free Internet service. No credit card required." If the Internet service performs well, the prospective customer feels an obligation to sign up.

The trick is to create something that has high perceived value to a prospective customer, but costs you little or nothing to produce. Free information is a good example. Here again many advertisers totally blow it. The free information turns out to be nothing more than blatant advertising.

Free samples of your product or service is another good example. Again, many businesses blow it. They either produce a cheaper version of their product to use as free samples, or they use the free sample campaign as a means to dump reject product.

The largest Internet Service Provider is well known for giving away hundreds of hours of service for free. No credit card required. The largest cookie company is famous for giving away free cookies. Reciprocity is a very powerful marketing strategy.

Psychological Selling Trick Number 2: Scarcity

Scarcity works like this: There is a limited amount of the item available. After those are gone, the item will not be available. "urgency" implies Scarcity. For example, "this offer will be honored only for a limited time".

The effectiveness of the scarcity principle is well demonstrated by the large segment of the population involved in pursuing antiques, collectibles, and memorabilia simply because these items are scarce. Scarcity is often contrived, as when a company produces a "limited edition".
For example, when Disney releases a limit edition of one of its classic stories - yes, limited to a production of more copies than they could ever possibly sell - then it goes in the "vault". And how fortunate we'll be a few years from now when they decide to do us the favor of taking it back out of the vault.

Note: Manufactured items, especially DVDs and CD-ROMs, cannot be "scarce". It's a simple matter to put the manufacturing dies back into production. All scarcities of manufactured items are contrived.

One popular incarnation of scarcity is the "going out of business sale". Customers somehow don't pick up on the fact that the mark-downs are not that great, or that the store has new merchandise coming in the back door to take advantage of the increase in traffic.

Scarcity is a very powerful marketing tool. There are many ways to contrive scarcity. You can create a limited edition, or for items like information products, scarcity can exist in the form of urgency by creating a limited time offer.

Psychological Selling Trick Number 3: Commitment

Commitment involves getting a prospective customer to take a tiny step towards a goal. For example, you might get them to request free information, or fill out a survey. When the prospective customer takes that first step, they have made a commitment, however tentative, towards the goal you have set out for them. They are likely to take another step.

One example of this process is the "two step" method used in mail order. When a mail order marketer runs an advertisement, they don't even try to sell the product. Instead, the advertisement offers free information. A prospective customer makes that first commitment towards purchasing the product by requesting the free information. The free information they receive is designed to entice them to take the next step.

Another example of using commitment as a marketing tool is a survey. By checking a few boxes and answering a few questions, a prospective customer takes that first step towards a commitment. The result they receive from the survey is designed to entice them to take the next step.

Yet another example of using commitment as a marketing tool is a lottery. For example, people enter their name and address on a ticket for a chance to win a new car. A salesman uses that information to contact them. By entering their name and address on the lottery ticket, the individual has made a commitment to own that new car.

The most common example of the principle of commitment are those long-winded full page advertisements in magazines. The prospective customer invests a great deal of time reading through the entire advertisement. That investment of time represents a commitment. They are likely to take the next step, responding to the advertisement.

To use the psychological power of commitment in your advertising, don't try to sell your product or service in your ad. Instead, use a survey, contest, or free information to get a prospective customer to make that first step towards a commitment to purchase your product.

Psychological Selling Trick Number 4: Consensus

Consensus involves getting prospective customers to believe that "everybody's doing it". Everybody is just waiting in line to purchase your product. Everybody can't be wrong, so the product must be fantastic!

Of course you're smart enough to know that everybody CAN be wrong. Everybody thought that SUVs were safe vehicles (they roll over). Everybody thought Enron was a great investment (it went bankrupt). Everybody thought Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (well maybe not everybody). You're an independent thinker.

Here are some examples of headlines using the consensus principle: "It's the new sensation crossing the country", "People are signing up in droves", "People just can't get enough of them", "Record sales", "Unbelievable response!" and "Join millions of smart consumers". Combine this with a stock photograph of a large group of people, a long line of people, or a crowd of people, and you have a powerful consensus message.

Note: Many people don't think they're having fun unless they're in a large, noisy crowd. Unfortunately, every large crowd contains a few lunatics. When things go wrong, the crowd stampedes and people get hurt, or killed. When I see a large crowd, I head the other way.
Fortuately, most people are not independent thinkers. They act like a herd of cattle. Use the consensus principle in your advertising, and people, like lemmings headed for the sea, will come in waves to buy your product.

Psychological Selling Trick Number 5: Authority

Authority involves getting prospective customers to believe that someone who is knowledgeable or famous uses your product or service. If a knowledgeable or famous person uses your product, then it must be fantastic!

The bigger the authority, the more powerful the advertising message will be. For example, doctors are authorities. "Most doctors prescribe Tylenol for arthritis pain". Large organizations are authorities. "The National Heart Association says - Quaker oatmeal is good for your heart." The Federal Government is an authority. "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says whole wheat bread is part of a complete diet". If only we could think of a way to use God as an authority!

Here's how to use the principle of authority in advertising: search the Internet for any references to your product or service. Find an article that alludes to your product being of value. For example, let's say you sell black T-shirts. You find an article by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that says "bees are attracted to bright colored clothing". Your copy: "The U.S. Department of Agriculture that says my T-shirts protect you from attack by stinging insects."
Most advertising using the authority principle is taken out of context and exaggerated. Some advertising uses totally fake authorities. "My dog biscuits are recommended by the International Association of Dog Nutritionists" (an organization I started last week). Some advertising uses a "study" as an authority. "A recent study found that my lemonade tastes better than any other brand" (my mother liked it better).

I don't recommend that you use a fake organization, a fake study, or take information out of context or exaggerate, but if you can locate a legitimate authority or study related in any way to your product and quote it without exaggeration, you will have a powerful authority message.

Psychological Selling Trick Number 6: Greed

Greed involves taking advantage of many peoples belief that there is a secret short cut to wealth. They believe that wealthy people didn't earn their wealth, instead they know a "secret".
Note: I am not recommending that you use the principle of greed because it is used by unethical scammers. I'm simply informing you of it's existence in order to make this series of articles complete.

The simplest method of using the principle of greed is the chain letter. You have no doubt received a chain letter at some point. A chain letter contains a chart specifying the massive amounts of money the recipient will get when they follow the instructions. The first instruction is to send money.

The multi-level or network marketing scheme works similar to a chain letter. The prospective recruit gets a chart showing the massive amounts of money they will receive when they join the network. After parting with their money, the victim is instructed to con their friends and relatives into joining.

Another method of using the principle of greed is the lottery or casino. The odds of winning most lotteries are about the same whether you buy a ticket or not. A casino allocates only a tiny portion of it's customers money to winnings in order to create the illusion that the odds of winning are good. Many people don't understand statistics. In their mind, the phrase "win a million dollars" translates into "get a million dollars".

Another example of the principle of greed is the business opportunity scam. We know it works because successful scammers invest millions to run business opportunity infomercials, and they make hundreds of millions in profits. They prey on people who believe there is a secret short cut to wealth. The scammers think people who fall for their scam are stupid, lazy, and greedy, so they deserve to get ripped off.

The way to use the principle of greed is to contrive a "secret plan". Run an ad describing how the plan requires absolutely no work to make massive amounts of money. Include a few bogus testimonials and a legitimate looking chart that shows the massive amount of money the plan will bring. Some scammers include pictures of fake checks or fake bank statements.
Never divulge any details of the plan in the ad. The prospective customer is required to send money to get the plan. The typical plan instructs the purchaser to run the same scam.
The principle of greed is very powerful. People who have been ripped of by this scam a thousand times before will, like hypnotized zombies, send you their money. They think THIS TIME they will receive the REAL secret plan.

Marketing Tips

Here are some great videos on building your business from start-up level to $10 million dollars and up. Eben Pagan, Founder of The Altitude Training Program, reveals three mindsets for making money and talks about specific marketing methods he has used to grow his own company.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

How To Build A Mailing List

Most people working online realize that to successfully market and sell products you need a list of customers. These customers are usually people you have built a relationship with over time, people who have learned to trust you and who you can feel free to contact again on a regular basis.

The biggest problem on how to build a mailing list from scratch is that it takes time to build. Added to this is the difficulty in knowing where to start. You can obtain all the advice on getting started easily enough, but how to successfully put it all in to practice? How to build a mailing list easily? Not an easy task for complete newbie list-builders, for example.

You can purchase ready-made lists, but because you don’t know anyone on these lists personally you could be accused of spamming when you eventually make contact. The other thing is: how many others have access to these lists and won’t the people on the lists be fed up being inundated with all the opportunities being offered?

In my search to getting started with building a mailing list – or downline building – I wanted to be sure that I could build a mailing list quickly and that I would be dealing with double-optin customers. (A double optin email list works this way: a subscriber signs up, then receives a confirmation email which he/she must respond to in order to be added to the list). Also, I wanted the best possible scenario to building a relationship with my customers.

In my search also, I was looking for a quality freebie I could give away as an enticement on a squeeze page I would be using to attract people to my list.

In my research I had a good look at various strategies currently being used in downline building. Co-registration, for example, is a lesser known method of list building where you can post a newsletter or an ad on a website that offers various other publications. In this system you pay for everyone who clicks on your ad and completes their information, with the information being sent to you as a lead.

It’s possible with co-registration to quickly build up your list in just a few days. Of course with these leads you don’t really know them, so you need to build trust and contact them with a few messages along friendship lines without trying to sell them anything. After you have sent them a few messages, you can try a soft-sell approach by writing a review for your affiliate product or for whatever you are selling.

Paid co-registration can be very effective, but should be avoided by beginner marketers because of the large, needed upfront investment. Best to stick with free co-registration, it seems.

Free co-registration can involve members embedding a piece of code into their website. This code shows up as a form showing several publisher newsletters with their subscriber links. Marketers can leverage their existing lists to gain credits that are converted into targeted traffic.

Joint ventures can result in almost instant huge sign-ups. Here, you have an agreement between a publisher and JV partner where the JV partner agrees to promote the publisher’s product in exchange for a commission. It is not uncommon for marketers to gain thousands of subscribers in a joint venture arrangement.

Joint Ventures are a great way to get something for free. You could, for example, contact an ezine publisher and offer him a free copy of your product if he’ll promote your product with his subscribers. The important thing is to offer something of value to both your JV partner and his subscribers.

I am happy to say that I have found the ideal partner to help me start building my list quickly with double-optin customers, and who, at the same time, gives me a high quality freebie with complete rebranding rights that I can give away to help me sign up people on my list. Co-registration is also an added feature of this business.

The emphasis with the methods used by this company is on building your list quickly, while at the same time building relationships with your subscribers.

Because of my partner set-up, I can email people in my personal matrix and I have the opportunity to send ads to people outside my downline via a special random system. This is what I call first class downline building.

I could have just joined this partner as a free member for great benefits, but I opted to join at the discounted upgrade level so I would have the ability for greater mailing frequency to the different 1000 or so members I will have access to from one week to the next. This is only one of several advantages for upgraded members.

Owning your list means you own your market. Invest now in your own list building plan by taking action – now!

If you want to know more about a successful way on how to build a mailing list, go to: http://www.homebusinesslink.com/squeeze.html and follow the directions for obtaining a coolcool, free pdf report.

Internet Marketing For Online Business

Internet marketing for your online business can be confusing, especially if you are not familiar with all of the different aspects of website marketing. This is why it can sometimes be hard to determine exactly which marketing method to use.

Many business owners are afraid to choose a marketing strategy because they fear it will not pay off. Others don't care and are willing to try virtually anything. No matter which category you fall into, you will have to eventually make a choice. Every online business needs to advertise in some way if they want to compete. At some point, you will have to take a chance. It is only after you have developed and implemented a website marketing strategy that you will truly be able to determine whether or not it was a success.

Though there are many different website marketing techniques, there is really only one way to judge the success of your online campaign. Follow-up. If you never follow-up on your marketing decisions, it will be impossible for you to determine whether or not you should continue with a specific website marketing strategy.

See, a website marketing campaign is just like any other marketing campaign. Once it is over, the results need to be analyzed and measured. Follow-up is especially important when it comes to Internet marketing for online business, because there are so many methods of advertising. By tracking your results, you can determine which methods of website marketing were effective and which methods were not. You can then adjust your methods accordingly.

If you have never tracked your website traffic or the results of a website marketing campaign, it may be hard to determine where to start. However, you shouldn't become frustrated and give up too soon. Results tracking is very important if you want to make sure you're not throwing your advertising money out the window.

The easiest way to track your site visitors is by viewing your website's logs. These logs are a record of your site visitors and can help you determine where the traffic on your website came from. By viewing these logs, you will know whether or not the visitors were a direct result of the website marketing campaign.

Just about every web hosting company provides this service to their customers. If your web host does not allow you access to these logs or if they will not send you weblog reports, you may want to consider switching web hosts.

If switching hosts is not a viable option, you can also purchase one of many software programs that are specifically designed to help you track and analyze your website marketing efforts.

Results tracking is an essential part of Internet marketing for online business. Without it, you will have a very hard time figuring out exactly how effective your website marketing campaign is. You would never know how a website visitor found your site and you would never know which advertising strategies were failures.

Effective Internet marketing for online business brings traffic to your website and then converts that traffic into paying customers. When you can accomplish this conversion on a regular basis, you will know that your website marketing strategy is truly a success.

Comprehensive Internet marketing for online business is more than just launching a campaign. You must also take an active role in market research, strategy development, campaign design, risk management, and quality control. Then, by carefully monitoring and measuring the results of your website marketing efforts, you can

How Can A Web Site Create Income?

Many people are making a very good living from their web sites! How can a web site make money?

The Internet has been a place of free information and a place where you could read about any subject for free, and it still is.

But it has changed to also be a huge market place with large amounts of money being spent every day. All you can think of from music to cars and skyrockets are available.

There are different models of making money online.

Each model have advantages and disadvantages. Here are some of the most common models:

Set up an online store

An online store will sell goods through it's web site including delivery to the door. This model requires a lot of work and it's nearly the same as having a real world store. You have to do all the same procedures and everything except the actual shop location are needed.

Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing has become one of the most popular methods of making money from a web site. A high percentage of online merchants have an affiliate program. You'll become an affiliate of the merchant when you sign up to join the affiliate program.

You will link to the merchants products from your site and get a percentage of every purchase made from your links. The links can be implemented in the form of banners and or text links in your content.

Advertising at your web site

Google's AdSense program is a popular maintenance free income source. Once accepted into the program it's very easy to implement. You just insert a code into your pages and appropriate ads for your pages theme will show up. The difference between AdSense and an affiliate program is that you will get paid a small amount every time a visitor clicks on your ads.

Of course there are plenty of other advertising networks available. As they all work more or less the same no detailed description is necessary. Other well known ad networks: Yahoo, adbrite, azoogle ads, chitika... just to name a few.

The drop shipping model

Drop shipping means that you sell hard goods without having to actually store or handle it. The goods will be handled, stored and even delivered by a drop shipping company. The goods will be delivered as if you were the sole provider. This has the advantage that your online presence will appear to be an online store when in fact all you need is a website.

Making money from a web site will not be achieved over night, but it can be done if you are willing to work at it. Keep going and you will have all the chances in the world.

Make A Living From An Online Home Business

Work from home make money on the Internet, to have an online home business is a dream of thousands of people worldwide. People search at the Internet for the phrase “work at home” more than 500.000 times per month.

The fact is that most of the information you'll find , is get rich quick schemes : earn more than thousand dollars a day, earn money when you sleep, invest one dollar become a millionaire, type at home earn more money than you can spend etc. Opportunities like those, has to be considered fluff, scam, hype or fake.

It's easy to get overwhelmed, oppressed, by the huge amount of information available. It's difficult to take the right decisions.

Is it possible for any ordinary person, with a small budget, to make a living out of their online home business?

Yes, it lies in any body's reach. However, there is no such thing as a free lunch at the Internet. There is always work involved to make money. Especially in the beginning of an online home business.

You have to educate yourself to know where to start. You need to learn about the necessary resources and techniques to be able to start an online home business, to create a Web site, and to get traffic and sales.

Why do you want to get online instead of starting an ordinary business?

The big advantage of the Internet, is its world wide reach to a huge amount of people = potential customers. And best of it, the possibility to automate, replicate and duplicate peoples and corporations efforts, in order to increase income without growing costs.

Once you have your online home business up and running. It will continue to to work, with less effort than you have to put in an ordinary business.

Again, can it be done by anyone? It can, as long as you have the will, the attitude and the persistence to do it.

How do you get started?

Well, the answer might surprise you a bit, however, the best start you ever get, is to find out what you really enjoy doing. That is the most important step towards success in your online home business.

When you're clear about what you want to spend your time at, it's time to investigate how to realize your online home business plan. That will be far more easy when you have narrowed down the possibilities, to what you really enjoy doing.

The market opportunities at the Internet are huge, there are 67 000 new users getting online everyday.The benefits of an online home business will increase over time.

It's time for you to start thinking about what you want your future life to look like. Write down 3 things you really enjoy doing, picture yourself as you have accomplished your desires. Now you're on your way...

The Main Key to a Profitable Internet Business

An Internet business can be very rewarding if you know how to make money online.

It's not difficult to make money online, you don't have to be a genius to do it. All you need is to know what to do and how to do it.

It's like any other occupation, would it be like a welder, a doctor or any profession. You need to learn a skill, it will be no difference because you work from home at the Internet. You simply must gain the necessary skill to be able to perform your job right.

A lot of people simply join an opportunity and then sit back and wait for the money. Let's face it, even though you don't have to be a rocket scientist to make it with your Internet business, you still have too work it.

Just as a regular business must be exposed to presumptive customers to be able to prosper, your online business will be dependent on what's called web site traffic. That is the main key to a successful Internet business: To be able to drive lots of targeted traffic to your web site. If you can't get visitors to your site, it will just sit in the cyber space for use of nobody.

And you want your traffic to be targeted, people who are interested in what you have to offer and therefor more likely to perform your MWA(most wanted action). Such as purchase your product/service, click an ad or an affiliate link.

That's all there is to it. Your job is simply to learn how to promote your businesses online. In other words, learning how to drive targeted traffic to your web site.

There are numerous of free and paid ways to promote your business online. For ex. pay per click, ezine ads, article writing, forums, classifieds, press releases, SEO (search engine optimization)...and on it goes.

If you make it your first goal to master the art of promoting your web site and drive targeted traffic to your web pages...You'll soon be able to make money online!

Welcome To Riches For Me

This is the launch of "Riches For Me". A blog dedicated to helping you become filthy rich on the internet - quickly, effectively and with out the gimmicky marketing ploys. I'll be giving away lots of eBooks and material, worth $100s, for free to my dedicated readers. Lets get started with the 1st post and give away.

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"Me" comes first. You've always been looking out for others. You've watched others gain riches while you sit back and watch in jealousy. Enough of that! Its time you start thinking about the person that should come first. That little voice inside that tells you "Me" first. Its time to let that little voice grow and help you gain the riches you've always pictured yourself with.

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