Weapons of Influence: 5 phrases, that will make anyone do anything

This article is an excerpt from my new book Magic Words: 99 Sentences To Get Anyone To Do Anything — available here

Most people want to be more persuasive. It’s only natural that you want to be better at convincing others. Here are 5 sentences to help you do just that.

1. If I do this for you, will you do that for me?

Why is it persuasive?

The reason this sentence is persuasive, is because of the reciprocity principle. This is another one of the six principles that Robert Cialdini covers in his ground-breaking book Influence from 1984.

The key point of reciprocity is that people don’t like to feel indebted to others. This means that if I give something of value to you, then you are more likely to give something of value to me.

Reciprocity works in a specific sense, when there is a general exchange of items for money, but it also works in a more general sense and with more vague concepts. (Eisenberger et. al. 2001)…