One of the simplest and most powerful principles of persuasion is liking. We listen to people we like. We do what people we like want us to do. Simple.

The interesting thing here is who we like. Who we honestly like in an unconscious automatic, instant reaction kind of way. First and foremost, Cialdini says we like people who are similar to us. This is perfectly understandable.

As we will discover in later chapters – with NLP and chapter 5,6 and 7 – there are many ways to create this liking and sense of bonding and trust through creating a feeling of great similarity. IN fact, you can create this instantly with anyone though creating rapport.

To illustrate the power of this similarity factor, there was an experiment conducted where a certain number of people were mailed a survey and asked to return the form after filling it.

Those who received it from someone who had a similar sounding name returned the forms more that those who received it from people whose names were not identical or similar. This experiment proved that most people get influenced easily if they find that there is a similarity between them and their influencer.

Perhaps unfairly, we also like people who we find to be attractive. There is a theory, which states that, people who are attractive are also going to possess other qualities such as being loyal and committed and thus, people are more likely to listen to them and also get influenced by them. This is perhaps the least easy principle of influence for anyone to replicate, but it is worth remembering!

If you can begin to utilize and combine Cialdini’s factors of influence, you will see instant results. Remember, it is like Aikido. You are not doing anything new, people are constantly responding to and using these forces all day long. You are simply going to be more intelligent about it from now on.

The next chapter will show you more powerful principles of human behavior which will allow you to influence people with ease. And also the incredible power of combining factors all together, and how you can do this in your life starting today.