In his book, The 7 Triggers to Yes: The New Science Behind Influencing People, author Russell Granger examines the latest research in neuroscience to draw conclusions as to how people make decisions and discovered these seven triggers:
- Friendship Trigger — Activates trust and agreement through bonding.
- Authority Trigger — Creates a perception of expertise that activates acceptance.
- Consistency Trigger – Appeals to motives consistent with past actions.
- Reciprocity Trigger – Taps into the rationale that when you give, you get something back.
- Contrast Trigger – Makes your request more appealing when compared to other options.
- Reason-Why Trigger — Gives reasons that activate an automatic “yes.”
- Hope Trigger — Instills positive expectations that deliver agreement.
The first three triggers really hit home with me and I cannot get them out of my mind. I recognize their actions on a daily basis as I work with colleagues and co-workers and interact with family and friends. The author states that the friendship trigger is the most important trigger and has the greatest affect on people. As I have reflected upon this, I agree.
As a leader, it is much easier to get people to follow if you establish friendship. Friendship is built on trust, common interests, listening, patience, understanding, and, yes, love. Here are my thoughts as to how social media is an excellent tool for achieving at least the first three triggers of yes.
- Friendship trigger - I can honestly say that I have developed friendships online. Friendships take a long time to develop and social media provides a medium of communication that fosters friendships. I believe it is more efficient than traditional networking, but not necessary more effective. The most effective approach is a combination of the two. Social media bridges the gap between face-to-face meetings, but does NOT replace them.
- Authority trigger - The biggest key to effectively using blogs or microblogs is posting valued content. Content that your readers find valuable establishes your authority. This takes a lot of reading of others' blogs, books, and magazines (i.e. listening). Find content that is relevant and share it with your followers. Again, web tools provide the most efficient means of sharing your content to a wide audience, but not necessarily the most effective. I love Mark Guinness' post Get More Followers by Spending Less Time on Twitter. He writes, "So if you really want to get more followers, you should do two things: (1) Get to know people outside of Twitter. (2) Do something interesting outside of Twitter... The most popular people on Twitter tend to be those who are doing remarkable things elsewhere."
- Consistency trigger - What better tool for consistency is there than a microblog, blog, and social media? I tweet about seven posts per day: 64% conversations, 15% links, 8% retweets, 11% content, and 2% hashtags (Twanalyst.com/louisvillesoup).
Have you built friendships and established authority by using current web tools? Have they added value to your life via knowledge, caring support, or sales? Let me know by sharing your comments below.
