I’ve been reading the new book by Robert Cialdini, Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive. It’s actually quite an easy read and has some amazing insights into persuasion–as well as why we’re so often wrong when we try to guess what people will respond to. Here are some of the most relevant highlights:

Show them the proof. When Cialdini’s team added a statement to those “reuse your towels to save the environment” cards saying that most people who stay at the hotel do in fact reuse their towels at least once during their stay, towel reuse increased by 26%. And when they added a third statement saying most people staying in the same room did it, guests were 33% more likely to do so.

This is due to the power of social proof– people who are unsure about an action or decision tend to look to others around them to guide them. And it’s even more successful f the reader has some affinity with the people being cited (even when it’s as tenuous as staying in the same hotel room!).

Takeaway tip: Make sure to use testimonials–highlighting those most similar to your audience instead of the “best” ones. And when possible, include numbers that show how many clients you’ve served or how many of that product you’ve sold.

Stop offering so many choices. It seems counterintuitive, but more choice can actually hurt your sales. In one study, retirement plan participation increased 30% when investment options were cut from 59 to just two. And in a case where people were allowed to sample and buy gourmet jam, only 3% bought jam when they had 24 flavors to choose from–but 30% bought when there were just six flavors!

“It’s often the case that potential customers don’t know precisely what they want until they’ve surveyed what’s available to them,” Cialdini says. So when we offer a lot of choices, customers get overwhelmed trying to differentiate between them and decide which one is the best one and end up choosing none.

Takeaway tip: Always offer just one product or service on a sales page. As for your overall products or services, you may want to test offering fewer–but you should definitely differentiate the ones you offer from one another as possible or somehow indicate which one is the most popular choice.

Mirror your customers. Restaurant servers have found they receive larger tips when they repeat a customer order’s back to them exactly as the customer said it rather than respond with “OK” or “coming up.” In one case, using the customer’s exact words increased tip size nearly 70%!

Studies of negotiation have found similar results when one person mirrors the other’s body language. Why does this work? It’s natural for us to prefer people who are similar to us and “mirroring” customers’ words and behavior helps establish that rapport.

Takeaway tip: Do as the servers do when you’re talking with a client. And when you’re writing something for them, make sure you “speak the client’s language” to help foster that rapport.

“Because” makes you more persuasive. Xerox did a study of people asking to cut in a copier line. Those who added “because” and a reason to their request were allowed to do so 90% of the time–even when the reason was as lame as “because I need to make copies.”

When the request was more significant, adding “because” doubled the yeses received. One caveat–the bigger the request, the more people will evaluate the worthiness of your reason.

Takeaway tip: Ask your clients what they like about working with you to find out some of the reasons you can give so you can say, “You need to buy this product because…” or “You should trust me because….” You won’t always use the exact word “because,” but it is more powerful when you do.

Finally, here’s a tidbit to keep in mind when you’re going to multi-day seminars and conferences (or to use to your advantage if you’re giving one!)–sleep deprivation and fatigue make you more susceptible to persuasion. So leave your wallet in your room on the latter days since you probably haven’t been sleeping and eating as well as normal!

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