In his 1984 book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Professor Robert Cialdini presents the six most commonly used mental shortcuts for making the right decision. Although in his book, he refers to them as "weapons" of influence.

The reason Cialdini calls them "weapons" of influence is that in his three years of field research he discovered that unscrupulous marketers use these mental shortcuts to manipulate consumers into making bad purchase decisions.

But, used properly they can be very beneficial both for the seller and the buyer as they help facilitate the purchase decision making process.

ROBERT CIALDINI'S SIX WEAPONS OF INFLUENCE

These weapons are actually skills or tools you can employ to improve your chances of having customers and prospects say "yes" when you make them an offer.

Knowing what works is one thing…learning how to successfully use them is quite another.

The six marketing tools consist of:

• Reciprocity
• Commitment and Consistency
• Social Proof
• Liking
• Authority
• Scarcity

Each one is covered below in more detail along with specific examples.

RECIPROCITY

I'll do you a favor and in return you feel obligated to return the favor.

An excellent direct mail example is freemiums (free gift premiums) from non-profits. In the sidebar example to the right, Covenant House sent me five free gifts. In return for this favor, Covenant House president Kevin Ryan hopes I'll reciprocate by answering his call for a monetary donation to help homeless children. The five free gifts or freemiums consisted of:

1. A metal guardian angel keychain

2. A pocket-size note pad with cover

3. A larger pad of note paper with a removable pocket calendar

4. Two sheets of name and address labels

5. One sheet of floral labels

An excellent banking example of reciprocity is the FREE Checking and FREE Gift program. Up front the bank promises the prospect a free gift and the prospect reciprocates by opening a new Free Checking account.

Taking this program a step further, the bank offers the new checking customer $10 if she hands over her old, unused checks. And today, some banks are invoking the power of reciprocity to ensure account activation. The new checking customer is promised a $50 or $100 bonus if she reciprocates by establishing a recurring direct deposit, by using her new debit card a specified number of times in the first month, and/or establishing online bill pay.

Loyalty "points" programs are another excellent banking example. The bank promises to award its customers "points" for everything from opening accounts to each use of a debit card. The accumulated points can be redeemed for gifts.

Another banking example is the co-branded airline/bank credit card. When you apply and are approved for a new credit card, you immediately are given 10,000 points. Now, you feel obligated to reciprocate by using the card to earn more miles.

Never underestimate the power of reciprocity to get customers and prospects to say yes to your marketing offers. The non-profits have been using reciprocity successfully for many years.

COMMITMENT AND CONSISTENCY

I get you to commit to something and then later you'll do what I want you to do as you must behave consistently with your original commitment.

Perhaps the best banking example of commitment and consistency is the Rewards Checking program.

I get you to open a Rewards Checking account that promises to pay high interest if you use your debit card 12 times per month. This is the commitment. To remain consistent with your initial commitment, you meet the performance criteria which include using your debit card 12 or more times a month.

Staying with Rewards Checking, the bank got you to commit to Rewards Checking when the interest rate being paid was 5.01%. As a new checking customer, you wanted to earn the high rate so you met the performance requirements month after month. And then, a year later, with rates dropping, the bank lowers the rate to a market-leading 3.0%. Because of your earlier commitment, you now opt for consistency by continuing to meet the monthly requirements.

Here's another banking example. It concerns a longtime customer who maintains a high balance in her checking account. For the past year it's hovered around $12,000. Your goal is to convince this customer to open a Money Market Savings account using $10,000 from the checking account. While the bank will begin paying interest on a balance that was previously earning no interest, your goal is to improve the bank's overall cross-sell ratio while expanding your relationship with this customer.

To convince her to take some of her checking balance to open the MMS account, you mention putting her money to work earning interest. You even give her an example of the annual dollar amount of interest she'll earn at a given rate. To close the deal, you offer to open the new account on the spot.

At this point, your customer isn't ready to make the commitment. She has put you off for the past several months.

Using commitment and consistency as a tool of persuasion, you decide to tweak your sales effort. This time you take her to the point where you'd normally mention opening the account…and then stop. Instead, you make an effort to get a verbal or – better yet – a written commitment from her first. The best approach would be to go for a written commitment.

According to Cialdini, when people put their commitments on paper, they are more likely to follow through by behaving consistently with their original commitment.

One idea to accomplish this would be for both of you to sign a form acknowledging that the customer is aware of the interest she'll earn on the money in her MMS account. Helping secure her signature is a promise of $25 in bonus interest if she opens her new MMS account within the next thirty days. This form serves several purposes:

1. It gets her commitment in writing.

2. It enables her to leave the bank and come back within 30 days and open the MMS account.

3. It has value so she is unlikely to discard it.

4. It tells other branch employees that she is entitled to the bonus based on your signature.

5. It has a deadline so it provides a sense of urgency.

6. It provides a tracking device.

Cialdini writes in his book, "If I can get you to make a commitment (that is, to take a stand, to go on record), I will have set the stage for your automatic consistency with that earlier commitment. Once a stand is taken, there is a natural tendency to behave in ways that are stubbornly consistent with the stand."

Of the six persuasion tools, a commitment and consistency offer is the most difficult to develop and successfully implement.

SOCIAL PROOF

The safest choice is the one being made by the largest number of people.

You might recognize this as "the wisdom of crowds." Here, it is believed that the aggregation of information among a large group of people results in a decision that is better than could have been made by a single person.

It's commonly referred to as "jumping on the bandwagon." In less flattering terms it's also known as the "lemming effect."

But the bottom line is that people feel safe making the same decision as that being made by the majority of people. Using this tool of persuasion requires that you provide evidence that what you are offering is the product or service of choice by the majority of consumers.

Most often this is done in the copy as illustrated in the letter from Mercury Insurance Group shown in the sidebar to the right. The last sentence in the last paragraph of the letter reads: "Take a few minutes today to get a quote and you'll understand why more than 3,000 people a day choose Mercury."

Here's how consumers interpret this one line of copy: "Wow, 3,000 people a day are switching their car and SUV insurance to Mercury. It must be an excellent, trustworthy company – otherwise 3,000 people wouldn't be making the change."

Another example of using social proof to convince prospects to make a quick decision and buy your product was discovered in the headline of a full-page ad for Bonobos pants for men. Appearing in the June 2009 issue of Inc. magazine, the bold headline reads, "95% OF MEN AGREE BONOBOS FIT BETTER."

Further down in the fourth paragraph of body copy, social proof is once again invoked in the copy, which reads, "In our first year, the average Bonobos customer bought four pairs of trousers."

Well, if I’m looking for a nice pair of pants I don't have to look any further than Bonobos as 95% of men agree that they fit better than any other brand and they buy more than one pair.

"Largest selling" and "fastest growing" are examples of social proof copy.

For some odd reason, I seldom come across a bank that uses social proof to convince prospects to stop shopping and choose the bank doing the advertising. One example that I see frequently is the full-page ads from Royal Bank of Canada which appear in BusinessWeek magazine. The first line of copy underneath the bold subhead reads, "For over 140 years, we've made it our business to focus on the fundamentals and consistently deliver results."

The "For over 140 years" copy immediately tells consumers that this bank must be a good choice as it has been around for a very long time. Obviously a lot of people bank with the Royal Bank of Canada, as it remains in business after more than 140 years and can afford to place expensive ads in such a prestigious magazine.

While not the strongest use of social proof copy, it works as an example.

As a bank marketer, using social proof requires that you do the necessary research and number crunching to determine what you can say that positions your bank and/or one or more of its products or services as a leader. It could be as simple as stating in your advertising that your bank opens 5,000 new FREE Checking accounts a week. Or that you have the largest ATM network in the community.

Social proof is one of the strongest persuasive tools you can use to convince consumers to stop shopping and choose your bank.

LIKING

People prefer doing business with people they like.

A banking example is the use of Tell-A-Friend coupons where current customers persuade their family members, friends, and co-workers to open a checking account at your bank.

These prospects believe that they'll like your bank since their friend likes the people working at your bank…otherwise he or she wouldn't be banking with you.

Likeable mascots attract people. In fact, one of the best ways to make your bank likeable is to have a friendly mascot that appeals to people of all ages.

The absolute best example of a likeable bank mascot is Harris Bank's Hubert the Lion. Hubert has been the Chicago bank's highly visible mascot since the late 1950s. Go to any Chicago event today where Harris Bank has a presence and Hubert will be there greeting children and adults alike.

The Central Coast Federal Credit Union in Monterey County, California, has Sammy the Seal as its mascot. You can see Sammy here.

A friendly mascot is a surefire way to create a likeable persona for a bank. The problem is that many bank presidents perceive such a mascot as being childish and not in keeping with the serious demeanor of a bank. Interpretation: They don't want to be mocked at the country club for having a stuffed animal as a mascot.

Famous mascots working today in addition to Hubert the Lion include:

The Michelin Man (debut 1898)

The Pillsbury Doughboy (debut mid-1960s)

The Energizer Bunny

The Green Giant (debut 1928)

Ronald McDonald (debut 1963)

Geico's Green Gecko (debut 1999)

Aflac Duck (debut 1999)

Tony the Tiger

What could be likeable about car and truck tires? The folks at Michelin realized the problem over 100 years ago and came up with the likeable Michelin Man seen in the full-page magazine ad in the sidebar to the right.

Another way to improve your bank's likeability factor is your ongoing contributions to the local community. Marketing to women expert Marti Barletta refers to this as your "corporate halo." Employees participating in local community charitable activities, charitable contributions, holding customer appreciation events, and bank sponsorships all work together to make your bank likeable.

The importance of liking suggests that banks should hire extremely outgoing, likable employees and minimize turnover in the branches. While this seems an obvious statement, too often high employee turnover diminishes the bank's likeability. This manifests itself in the large number of bank accounts closed due to poor customer service.

According to recent data from ACTON Market Intelligence, roughly 13.8 million bank accounts were closed last year because of poor customer service. This makes poor customer service the number one reason for account closures according to AMI.

Having likeable, long-term employees is critical to your bank's success in the long run.

AUTHORITY

People react favorably to authority figures representing a company or product and advising them what to do.

One of the absolute best examples of the use of an authority figure was actor Karl Malden who became famous as Inspector Mike Stone on the popular TV series of the 1960s, "Streets of San Francisco." His popularity soaring, he became the perfect spokesperson for the safety of American Express Traveler's Cheques. Appearing on both TV and in print ads, for 25 years Malden – viewed by consumers as Lt. Stone – reassured consumers of the safety of carrying and using Amex Traveler's Cheques.

According to financial marketer Steve Cone in his 2005 book, Steal These Ideas, "The personality/product combination was so compelling that two things happened. First, during the initial years of the campaign, American Express built up and maintained a market share of 75 percent. Second, Karl Malden became known as the spokesperson for all of American Express."

One of the best examples of a bank using an authority figure in its advertising is the Tri Counties Bank headquartered in Chico, California. The 57-branch bank uses well-known Sacramento radio personality and financial advisor Kelly Brothers, who is also a partner in the local financial management firm of Genovese Burford & Brothers.

The leading talk radio station in Sacramento is KFBK. Brothers is the station's financial advisor and is heard throughout the day giving stock market updates from his office at his financial firm. In addition, throughout the day station listeners will hear Brothers as the spokesperson for numerous Tri Counties Bank commercials. The most often heard radio spot is promoting the bank's rewards checking account.

What better authority figure for a bank than the area's most well-known financial expert and radio personality.

In the sidebar to the right, we see that the FDIC is using personal financial expert Suze Orman as an authority figure in full-page magazine ads promoting the safety of your money in the nation's banks. After all, if a well-known financial expert believes in the safety of FDIC insurance, then so should the rest of us.

It's possible to use authority figures in your marketing without actually selecting a specific person. For example, the marketing folks at Johnson & Johnson, a leading manufacturer of health care products, understand the power of authority figures. For years consumers have been told in advertising that "Doctors recommend Tylenol more than all other brands of pain relievers combined." In fact, this statement still appears on the Tylenol website. Since its introduction in 1955, Tylenol quickly became one of the best-selling pain relievers.

After all, if you can't believe doctors to be honest, who can you believe?

The power of an authority figure is the reason why your marketing letters should be signed by your bank's CEO or president. Your loan offer should be signed by the bank's senior loan officer. At a branch level, the branch manager should sign your letters, not a teller or staff person.

Seeing or hearing a well-known authority figure endorsing your bank and its products and services helps consumers make a quicker decision about banking with you.

SCARCITY

Buy now as supplies are limited.

On occasion a bank will run a full-page newspaper ad promoting a special CD rate for one day only. Such ads usually appear in Friday and Saturday's papers for a Saturday-only event.

Grand openings for new branches are an opportunity for using scarcity to promote special CD rates and free gifts and bonuses for opening new checking and savings accounts. Consumers are given a limited amount of time to attend the event to take advantage of the special offers.

An excellent use of scarcity to motivate consumers to say "yes" immediately appeared in an e-mail marketing message for a weight loss product that arrived in my inbox on Wednesday, August 5. Shown in the sidebar to the right, the copy underneath the bold headline reads, "HURRY! LIMITED SUPPLY – CLICK HERE!"

Of the six persuasive techniques, scarcity is the one most often used to get consumers to make quick decisions. It's the easiest to use as the copywriter only need mention that the offer is available for a limited time only or that the item being offered is in short supply.

YOUR CUSTOMERS AND PROSPECTS NEED YOUR HELP

As stated earlier, consumers today depend on mental shortcuts to help them make quick decisions with less than perfect information. There's just too much information and too little time to gather and analyze all the information required to make the perfect decision.

As a result, whether or not you supply them, your customers and prospects are going to use whatever mental shortcuts are available to make quick purchase decisions. So you should be the one to provide them.

Thanks to Robert Cialdini's field work and subsequent book, you now have six persuasive techniques that can be used by your marketing and creative teams to help convince customers and prospects to say "yes" to your offers – and do so without gathering competitive information.

You can learn more about Cialdini's six weapons of persuasion by reading his book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. It's available in paperback from amazon.com. Some experts have called it the best book ever written on the science of persuasion. The Journal of Marketing Research said, “For marketers, this book is among the most important books written in the last ten years.”