Behaviouronomics: Benjamin Franklin Effect

Doing a favour to someone, as per reciprocity principle, is a great persuasion tool. However, can asking for a favour turn a hater into a fan? Yes, it can. And this trick was pioneered by the famous eighteenth-century statesman, Benjamin Franklin.

It was a hot Sunday afternoon and I was experimenting with “diffused mode of thinking.” It’s a learning technique where you read for a while, then keep the book aside and let your mind drift aimlessly. In other words, I was dozing off in my tattered beanbag with a book on my face.

My experiment was interrupted by the doorbell. It was a young salesman.

During those days, I had recently read Robert Cialdini’s book – Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. Cialdini, a professor of Psychology, argued that expert salespeople use many persuasion tricks to convince their customers and the best way to counter is to not give them a chance to talk to you at all.

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