Have you noticed a recent trend when landing with most US airlines? As they welcome you to your arrival city, they now often say: “We know you have many airlines to choose from, and we thank you for choosing Jet Blue.” This is classic influence principles at work: they remind you that you HAD a choice, and YOU chose them. What’s the result? That you will tend to be less critical of the result–because, after all, we hate to be wrong.
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“Faced with the choice between changing one’s mind and proving there’s no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.” In other words, rather than regret our original choice, we’ll decide we’re happier with the result. And who benefits most from this tendency towards rationalization? The airline, of course.

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Reminding people that they had a choice, and that they chose you, your company, your service, or your suggestion, is one of the most useful tools to keep continued support, particularly when the going gets rough and people start complaining.

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A study of sales calls, conducted in 2006 by the human dynamics group of MIT’s media lab, achieved an impressively accurate prediction of the end result– success or failure– within the first few minutes.

The key to success in these specific calls was simple: speak little, listen a lot. When successful operators did speak, their voices fluctuated strongly in amplitude and pitch, as one would coo to a baby. Those who spoke with little variation, in contrast, weren’t well received. The article’s author, Mark Buchanan, predicts that insights could improve companies’ sales performance by 20% or more.

Buchanan goes on to describe further MIT research that specialized in the field of negotiations. Though the interactions studied lasted more than an hour, electronic sensors could predict the outcome with 87% accuracy just by analyzing participants’ body language, movements, and manner of speech, ignoring words & negotiation tactics.

It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.

Extracted from Strategy + Business, Autumn 2007