We are extremely responsive to what we perceive others around us to be doing. This unconscious function has helped us make quick and good life-saving decisions throughout history. We quickly look around, see what everyone else is doing, assume that is the wise choice of action, and follow the resulting desire to act.

Study after study after study have shown how powerful this factor is. One practical experiment was an experiment conducted where a hotel wished their guests to reuse the towels in their rooms. They decided to put out a few signs, you have probably seen similar signs in your travels.

The first sign cited environmental reasons to encourage visitors to reuse their towels. The second sign said the hotel would donate a portion of end-of-year laundry savings to an environmental cause – trying to appeal to guests’ altruistic motives.

The third sign said the hotel had already given a donation and asked: “Will you please join us?” And the fourth sign said the majority of guests reused their towels at least once during their stay.

To their surprise, 48% responded positively to the fourth sign as opposed to 38% for the first, 36% for the second and 46% for the third.

If you want to influence people to act a certain way, there are few more powerful methods than to give the impression that other people – preferably people like them – are doing the action you desire them to do. Try to find examples of this to show them, or simply mention in conversation that others are doing it.

Always try to think of intelligent ways to demonstrate this. In business you can always find examples of how your target market is acting in that way. And of course, testimonials are the best possible marketing tool, because of this principle.

This principle also comes across in the weight we give the advice of other people around us – even people unqualified to give a good opinion. So if an office goer is unsure of what he should wear to a meeting, then he is sure to consult a colleague and wear a similar outfit. If a child is unsure of which ice cream flavor to pick, then she is sure to consult a friend or sibling to choose a flavor.

So, if you position yourself in such a way that you get asked for an advice, and then you can influence them to do what you want them to. That is, you can convince them do as you are and do what you want them to for you.