Glossary
People are more willing to do something when they see others like them already doing it.
A researcher who spent years inside sales and fundraising organisations worked out why people say yes. The principles (reciprocity, commitment and consistency, social proof, liking, authority, scarcity, and later unity) show up in most asks that work. The point of learning them is not to manipulate. It is to stop making asks that ignore how people actually decide.
The practical version: give before you ask (reciprocity). Get a small yes before the big one (consistency). Show that people like them are already doing it (social proof). Be likeable, which mostly means warm (liking). Show why you are credible, briefly (authority). Be honest about what is limited (scarcity). And where it is true, frame it as “us” (unity).
Examples from the course that use it.
“Three firms in your sector are live on this.” The buyer’s team look at each other. The feature list did not do that.
“We launch in March, and two other regions have asked for it. I’d like you to sponsor the pilot. Your region gets it first and your name is on the result. Can I put twenty minutes in your diary Thursday?” You put the social proof in sentence one, and it is true.
Social proof, in sentence one of the ask: “two other regions have asked for it.” Before you say it, you check with both regions that they did. They had. You use the principle because it is true, not to make it true.