In this relatively short and practical book about persuasion, author Hesketh packs in a good dose of useful tips that can be applied to those who need to influence others or simply get their message across.

The seven psychological “drivers” are a recurring theme in the book. The top three are the desire to be loved, wanting to feel important and wanting to belong, while the next four are the need to believe, the need to have some certainty balanced with some uncertainty, the need for a “place”, and the need for growth and improvement.

How effectively we communicate is a huge part of persuasion.

Repetition is hugely important. Psychological research shows that it is one of the most effective methods of persuasion. Apparently, people only need to hear something twice to believe it to be more valid than something they hear only once. A study by Ian Begg of McMaster University in Ontario suggests that people are even more likely to believe a statement by a known liar if it concurs with what someone else has said.

Fans of the often maligned PowerPoint presentation have cause for encouragement here.

Visual aids

Used properly it can be a very effective training aid. Studies of recall of the content of lectures suggest that presenting information in visual as well auditory form assists learning. A few simple visual aids can help the effectiveness of a presentation as long as they are brief – the suggestion here is less than seven words on a slide.

There’s good news here also for fans of traditional paper and pen note-taking, with a separate study showing those who used such traditional methods scored much better on the retention of conceptual information than those who use keyboard-based technology.

The laptop users, the study concluded, tended to transcribe what they heard verbatim, while the pen and paper users selected the important bits and translated them into a shortened form.

Hesketh says money is an over-rated form of motivation. The more people focus on their salary, it seems, the less attention they give to the things that make them perform better: satisfying their intellectual curiosity, learning new skills and having fun at work.

If salary and bonus is too much of an incentive, people focus on the money instead of the incentive, stop thinking “outside the box” and become much less effective.

Instead, competent leaders who provide good direction and focus are the number one influencers when it comes to motivating a workforce to perform at the highest level.

The corollary is that bad leadership is the biggest single cause of disengagement and disenchantment amongst workers.

Important distinction

When looking at motivation, it’s important to distinguish between intrinsic and extrinsic forms.

The first kind comes from within a person, such as their pleasure for a task, whereas the latter is provided externally and usually involves earning money or some other reward.

While researchers have established that monetary compensation generally kills creativity, on the other hand it does motivate people to perform mechanical tasks at a faster rate.

This explains why workers in factories and farms are paid piecemeal.

In developing relationships, maintaining proximity and practicing self-disclosure are generally good ways of building empathy and trust, but there is a delicate balance. Don’t let people know everything about you and give them the impression that you are part of a cabal, is the advice here.

Positive feedback should not be underestimated either. People need to be feel loved and valued, that they are contributing to growth and that they have a place in the grand scheme.

When you meet someone new, mention things that you have in common. Perceived similarity can be a remarkable way of drawing people together and can change a “no” into a “yes”.

According to the book, the single most persuasive technique, however, is to tag a phrase along the lines of “It’s up to you” at the end of a request.

The beauty of this, it seems, is that it reaffirms people’s freedom to choose so that it appears that you are not forcing a decision, you’re simply asking them politely and reminding them that they have a choice.