Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive | 
 enlarge | Authors: Noah J. Goldstein, Steve J. Martin, Robert B. Cialdini
Publisher: Free Press
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
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Rating:  84 reviews
Sales Rank: 812
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 272
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.3 x 1
ISBN: 1416570969
Dewey Decimal Number: 658.45
EAN: 9781416570967
ASIN: 1416570969
Publication Date: June 10, 2008
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Product Description
Small changes can make a big difference in your powers of persuasionWhat one word can you start using today to increase your persuasiveness by more than fifty percent? Which item of stationery can dramatically increase people's responses to your requests? How can you win over your rivals by inconveniencing them? Why does knowing that so many dentists are named Dennis improve your persuasive prowess? Every day we face the challenge of persuading others to do what we want. But what makes people say yes to our requests? Persuasion is not only an art, it is also a science, and researchers who study it have uncovered a series of hidden rules for moving people in your direction. Based on more than sixty years of research into the psychology of persuasion, Yes! reveals fifty simple but remarkably effective strategies that will make you much more persuasive at work and in your personal life, too. Cowritten by the world's most quoted expert on influence, Professor Robert Cialdini, Yes! presents dozens of surprising discoveries from the science of persuasion in short, enjoyable, and insightful chapters that you can apply immediately to become a more effective persuader. Why did a sign pointing out the problem of vandalism in the Petrified Forest National Park actually increase the theft of pieces of petrified wood? Why did sales of jam multiply tenfold when consumers were offered many fewer flavors? Why did people prefer a Mercedes immediately after giving reasons why they prefer a BMW? What simple message on cards left in hotel rooms greatly increased the number of people who behaved in environmentally friendly ways? Often counterintuitive, the findings presented in Yes! will steer you away from common pitfalls while empowering you with little known but proven wisdom. Whether you are in advertising, marketing, management, on sales, or just curious about how to be more influential in everyday life, Yes! shows how making small, scientifically proven changes to your approach can have a dramatic effect on your persuasive powers.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 79 more reviews...
 Easy to Read Manuel of Sales Tips (called Persuasion) December 4, 2008
Miami Bob (Miami, FL United States)
Labeled as a cook book full of proven ways to be persuasive, this book would better be described as full of recipes on how to improve one's sales. This is a must read for those on Madison Avenue.
Human psychology abounds in this marketing analysis. Laden with many real life stories which dovetail into each of the author's 50 ways, the book uses metaphor or tale associated with each "way" to better describe the merit of the "50 scientifically proven ways."
Although the book claims to be scientific about its interpretation of tools of persuasion, the "winning ways" established in this book appear at times to jive with "other" winning ways. So by the time I reached number 30, I concluded one thing of this "science": human psychology is not always as exact as the physical sciences.
In a core, this book seeks one lesson: "A central theme of this book is that small changes in the way that requests are made can often lead to startling big results." The change can be a word, a nod, a wink, or something even less obvious.
In the beginning the authors court us by basically saying that people can be as easily manipulated as sheep - Come on sheople, wake up! And, study after study provided by the authors essentially tells the reader what he or she begrudgingly must accept: as to all of those comments as to the naivete of the public - that means you too! We are products of what the authors describe as "widespread corruption of the environment." Corruption?! Hmmm.
This is an easy read which follows most conventional rules of journalism. The short chapters - usually three pages in length - start with topic paragraphs and sentences, and tie everything together with the final sentence. This makes the inescapably difficult topic (human psychology) seem simpler than I am sure it is. Chock full of actual postgraduate research materials, this lightly and simply written book [the authors' following of the Chapter 20's dogma] easily conveys its message.
 Insights you can use - today December 3, 2008
Gerald T. Mclaughlin
I have read a number of the better books in this genre and Goldstein has a winner here. Cialdini, author of earlier books in this vein, has gone deeper on a smaller number of cases, but Goldstein does a good job of introducing a variety of powerful insights in "bite-size" chapters. But keeping the chapters short didn't cause the authors to sacrifice important detail. They just get to the point efficiently. I read a few chapters each night and went to work with a new idea or two the next morning for a couple of weeks.
Solid read, nice format November 20, 2008
Little Monk (Bellevue, WA USA)
Most people have covered what's good about this, and there is no doubt that the author knows his stuff. What I like, in addition to the solid materials, is that the author has used a lot of these theories in the field, it's not just some stuff observed in a lab. Also, I really like the bite-sized format of giving each relevant topic a one or two page treatment, along with real world example. It makes is really easy for you to pick it up, give it a read, and get back to what you are doing, and still able to remember what you read about days later.
 Yes? Okay, yes. November 12, 2008
Bryan Catherman (Salt Lake City, Utah, USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Yes! is a quick read with short easy chapters, the kind you can flip back to and read to a friend or co-worker. The fact that the authors (and others) put these ideas to the test lend the book more credibility. The examples and stories are useful but I wonder if the quirky titles add to the chapters or take from them.
I found this book useful and at time enjoyable. Some stuff I started using minutes after flipping the last page; with other ideas I can see a use for them in the future; and some of the stuff will likely go unused in my lifetime. The bottom line: there's something for everybody.
6.7/10: Persuasion Techniques Compilation November 11, 2008
Viriya Taecharungroj (Bangkok, Thailand)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"Just because yes is simple and obtainable, we shouldn't be fooled into believing that anyone can easily secure it from others"
"Yes!; 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive" by Noah J. Goldstein, Steve J. Martin, and Robert B. Cialdini
The title says it all really; the book is filled with 50 ways (I'd rather say "examples") of persuasion. They are (for examples);
"What one word can you start using today to increase your persuasiveness by more than fifty percent?"
"Which item of stationery can dramatically increase people's responses to your requests?"
SPOILER ALERT!! (the answer to the two questions are; "because" and "Post-It notes")
...
I'm not going to list all 50 ways from the book; I'll go right to my Six Elements Review that the ideal business book is "easy to read, distinct, practical, credible, insightful, and provides great reading experience"
Ease of Understanding: 8/10; the small book is separated into 50 chapters and each chapter takes less than 5-10 minutes so, it is easy to understand. However, the drawback of Yes! is its lack of structure; 50 ways are loosely tied (if at all) together.
Distinction: 8/10; it is undoubtedly a great compilation of persuasion techniques. The highlight is the word "50; it is difficult to provide readers with 50 ways "persuasively" but Cialdini, Goldstein, and Martin could do it.
Practicality: 4/10; as interesting as those fifty ways are, I can say that it is very difficult (if possible at all) to implement any of them appropriately. Each situation in the book or in your lives is unique. It is more possible to successfully persuade others and look back to the techniques in the book and match them than the other way around.
Credibility: 6/10; the gook point is that every way is backed with good and, sometimes, amazing example(s). The bad point is, it might not be enough to use one example (or a couple of them) to describe the ways and claim that they are "scientifically proven".
Insight: 5/10; I think 5 is fair because as you know that there are fifty ways! It is impossible to dig deep into every (any) way.
Reading Experience: 9/10; This is, by far, the most outstanding element of Yes!; this book is fun. Take this book with you along with another book and if you're bored with the other book, take some times off and read Yes!; it is refreshing. I would compare the book to Aesop Fable not that they are childish and fictional but they are;
1. Concise and precise
2. Every story teaches you a valuable lesson
3. You mention it in a hindsight when something already happened! ("Oh, this situation is like the story of "The Hare and The Tortoise"... "I persuaded my friend and it was like the way no.XX from Cialdini's book"!)
Overall: 6.7/10; I'd say "buy it"; it's fun and won't waste your time because you'll learn many things from the book and you'll find those examples and stories amazing. However, be careful when you try to do any of those ways; make sure you think of the other 49 ways first!
Viriya Taecharungroj
www.tedded.net
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