How to Coach Yourself and Others Beware of Manipulation

62. Incremental Persuasion When persuading, do so one small step at a time. Get them to agree to a small point. Then get agreement on a further smaller point. Then another and another until you have got them to your final destination. Make each small point very easy to accept and as logical as possible so they cannot really object to it. Example Could you hold this? How does it feel? Comfortable? Can you imagine using it at home? Would it feel good? Would it feel better than what you have already? Would you like to replace your old one with this? How would it feel taking this home and knowing you could use it every day? ... Do you like having fun? Would you like to have fun today? Have you ever had fun when you did something new? There's a new playfield in town. I've seen others there having fun. Would you like to have a go some time? How about this afternoon? Why it works Incremental persuasion works because perception is based on contrast, which in this method is between small increments. We largely judge the impact of something on us in this relative way rather than against an absolute standard, making incremental approaches less easy to notice. There is a classic story of boiling a frog in a saucepan. As the water warms up, the frog does not notice the incremental change in temperature and do W2

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