Have you ever wanted someone to fulfil a wish of yours? All of us have, at some point, wanted others to fulfil a request but we often don’t know how to ask them to do it. Sometimes we gain the courage to ask them but end up being unsuccessful in convincing them.
Compliance refers to behaving in response to a request from another person. An individual changes his/her behaviour at the request of others. For example: Helping your friend with her homework because she asks you to. So what should we do to increase our chances of convincing others to comply with our wishes? These are a few techniques which are used by people especially salespersons to make others comply.
Foot in the door technique: You make a small request such as asking them for a pen. Once this request has been accepted and done, you make a bigger request. For example: You ask them to help you with your work. Since the other person has complied with the smaller request, they are most likely going to accept the bigger request or else they might feel uncomfortable refusing the same.
Door in the face technique: This is the opposite of foot in the door technique. In this, the person starts with the bigger request and when the other person refuses, they request something smaller and more reasonable. This small request was what the person actually wishes for. This smaller request is then granted by the person. For example: The person asks them to get him a very expensive bag (which they refuse) but then later asks them for a book and ends up getting the book.
Reciprocity technique: A person is more likely to comply if you have already done something for them in the past. If you have helped them out with something, then they will try to reciprocate and return the favour. For example: Sana helps babysit Disha’s baby. So Disha complies when Sana asks her to help her move out into her new house.
Deadline technique: In this technique, a last date is mentioned until which an offer will be available. This creates a sense of urgency in people to hurry up and purchase the product or take part in the event before the offer ends. Thus people are likely to buy something or take part in something if there is a deadline present for the offer.
Lowball technique: In this, you tell the individual a very nice and attractive offer so that he/she agrees but before finalizing the offer, you end up changing it which makes it less attractive. But since the person already complied with it, they will feel uncomfortable to refuse so they will agree to it.. For example: You convince your best friend to go to Bali with you on a school-club trip and only after she agrees, you tell her that her ex friend is also coming along.
That’s not all technique: This involves telling the person about your request and then, as the name suggests, tell them “that’s not all” and add another exciting offer so that the person will completely agree. For example: The landlord tells you about the benefits of living in this apartment and then at the end adds that there is an amazing gym facility too.
These are a few techniques you can use so that people fulfil your request but it’s important to not misuse them. Be careful while using them and make sure you aren’t harming the other person in any way by using these techniques.
Photo by Saad Chaudhry on Unsplash
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