Of Turkeys & Polecats

Influencing Behavior
 
Creatures of Habit
 
Have you ever seen a mother turkey defend her young chicks?  Her attacks are absolutely vicious! But can she be deceived?
 
Over thirty years ago, animal behaviorist M.W. Fox conducted an experiment involving a mother turkey and a stuffed polecat. A polecat is a natural enemy that is immediately greeted with squawking, pecking, clawing rage. Even a stuffed model receives a furious attack.
 
When a stuffed polecat model carries a recording that plays the “cheep-cheep” sound of young turkeys, however, the mother turkey not only accepts the oncoming polecat, but gathers it underneath her like one of her own!
 
Evolved Humans?
 
Most of us are a lot smarter than most turkeys, but we can also fall victim to regular, blindly mechanical patterns of action.
 
It is almost as though the patterns were recorded on tape. Click and the appropriate tape is activated; whirr and the standard sequence of behaviors plays.
 
Behavioral psychologists call these fixed-action patterns. Although our patterns are similar to those of animals, our patterns are learned rather than inborn, more flexible and responsive to a larger number of triggers.
 
But what can mother turkeys teach us about ?
 
Jewelry “Sale”!
 
A woman opening an Indian jewelry store in Arizona was having trouble selling a number of pieces of turquoise jewelry. Her attempts to use a variety of sales tricks had failed – she shifted the location and told her sales staff to “push” the items – nothing worked!
 
Before leaving on an out-of-town trip, she left a note for her staff to move the turquoise items at price x ½. When she returned several days later, she was not surprised to find all of the items gone.
 
She was shocked to discover they had sold at twice the original price. The staff has misread her note and marked everything at “2” times the original price.
 
Click! Whirr!
 
Among our fixed action patterns are a number of mental shortcuts – psychologists call them judgmental heuristics.
 
In the case of the turquoise jewelry, the click “expensive = good” occurred when the customers saw the new jewelry pricing. The whirr of the tape played “buy now” and the jewelry sold out in hours.
 
Don’t Be a Turkey!
 
You may not be willing to treat your customers and prospects like turkeys. You may think that’s the nasty tactic your competition uses. But then again, you may realize that understanding human behavior is part of making you more effective …
 
Principles of Influence
 
Dr. Bob Cialdini shares his insights on human behavior in his 1984 book, Influence: How and Why People Agree to Things. If you are responsible for marketing, selling or anything involving people and profits in your business, then this book is a must read.
 
Dr. Cialdini is a great storyteller – his book is entertaining and educational. You’ll learn these six principles:
 
·         Reciprocation: the old give and take
·         Commitment/Consistency: hobgoblins of the mind
·         Social Proof: Truths are us!
·         Liking: the friendly thief
·         Authority: directed deference
·         Scarcity: rule of the few