Influence anyone—Six levers for getting your policy priorities adopted

Discover the secret art of persuasion and the key to unlocking your influence potential as a lobbyist. The levers of influence will change the way you interact with policy stakeholders.

For the last two weeks, I read the excellent book Influence, by Robert Cialdini.

This book is widely considered the starting handbook for any lobbyist. I quite agree. Robert Cialdini presents seven levers of influence that, if used well, can sway anyone to the ideas or actions you present.

For people whose job is to present and sell policies, the skill of influencing is key, whether it is targeted at elected officials, policymakers, the wide public, political parties, clients, trade associations, etc.

In this article, I will present the levers of influence, and how they work, with a couple of examples to implement on your job.

---

This is a premium article. To read it in its entirety, you can subscribe to a paid subscription.

You can see a preview below.

I recommend having a look at this book. Picture by Bannon Morrissy on Unsplash

Reciprocation—to ask, give first

What is it about?

What is fascinating about all the levers is that they are deeply rooted in natural behaviour.

It’s not dark magic or rocket science. Everything people agree to do is motivated by social factors. I take, thus I must give in return. If many people do it, it must be good. If there are few, I should hurry to get one too. But it is not because they are based on natural behaviour that it goes without saying. Influence is a skill to be learned, perfected, and mastered.

Reciprocation then, is as old as it gets. I give—I take. I make you a gift, you give me something in return (you buy a product, you adopt my ideas, etc.). This is simple enough.

The master level, though, is to use what Robert Cialdini calls the reject-then-retreat. Basically, you propose to the person you try to persuade an initial offer that you know they will refuse. That’s the reject part.

The second step is to propose an offer that is so advantageous compared to the previous one, that your prospect will feel obligated to respond positively.

Example

Let’s imagine that you represent a climate-defence NGO. You visit Members of the European Parliament to defend certain legislation that put limits on CO2 emissions of large polluters. You know that the MEP is not against to bill per se, but the political group probably won’t agree to it. Too restrictive.

In the traditional approach, you could show up at their office, and present them with evidence and arguments in favour of the bill as it is. Likely, the MEP’s response will be “I’ll see what I can do.” — which translates to “I’ll do nothing”.

The Influence approach would be different. First, you ask the MEP to support more stringent rules. The bill does not go forward enough, you argue. The maximum CO2 limits should be halved. Expectedly, the lawmaker will outright refuse. —Alright, you answer, then could you at least support the bill as it is?

Recognising that you make a step in his direction, the MEP is more inclined to consider your position. That’s when you present your real narrative around the legislative proposal as it is.

---

Like what you read? Now is the right time to upgrade to a paid subscription.