Customer Reviews

The Science of Influence: How to Get Anyone to Say "Yes" in 8 Minutes or Less!

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I was extremely captivated by Cialdini's Influence: Science and Practice, which is one of the best read book ever on the subject of influence. i have read many other influence and persuation books since. this one is the best, and should be a requiered reading to extend the original cialdini's book. while cialdini's book is more simple and clear with the 6 weapons, this one is more rich and expanded to various details of the influence.

Basically, the book is about how people react to certain situation and how we can maximise our effort. people are more emotional rather than rational. how the same offering can be arranges to be more attractive. Each technique will yield a lot of success if we can smartly apply it to our daily life.

Hogan took a lot of various sources materials and put them together, along with his own research, into this wonderful book.

If you are a salesperson, negotiator, leader, or person with anything to do with people, you should read this and try out some of the techniques explained.

My book has been read and re read and flipped and marked, and i have used a lot of the materials for my seminars, and i still love this book and re read it often.

If you want to influence people in anyway, buy and read this book! 5 stars materials.....

How mant times have we all heard those words and wondered what the heck were they thinking about? Whether it was a customer, client, friend or family member, wouldn't it be nice to know.

Well "The Science of Influence" Broke the lid off it for me.
I have been in sales for over 25 years and doing therapy for 20 of those years. And i have read hundreds of books and listened to literally thousands of audios and videos on the subjects of Sales and Infulence and Changing people's minds. This book rises to the top. I Love this book!

This Book Helped me to see what i was doing right and what i was doing wrong, and then added a whole bunch more, "what to do right" that i hadnt even considered or heard anywhere before.

The book starts off by telling you what must happen before you even begin any interaction that you want to hear a "Yes" to. He tells you how to set up the context of the interaction, that puts the odds in your favor before you say a word. Then he gives you the Science in layman's terms to back it up.

The book then gets into the easily understandable science of what is going on with a person's emotions and thoughts in real time, as they are getting to "Yes". No more guessing. You get front row seats. You learn what is blocking them from yes and what to do and say to get around thier blocks.

The parts i liked best were the ones dealing with how a person goes back and forth between "Yes" and "No" When making a decision, and how to recognize it and what to do at those critical points to help that person get to "Yes".

Any therapist or sales person, teacher, counselor, manager Etc. will see the value in this book right from the beginning. It takes so much of the guesswork out of when you are attempting to persuade, by seeing into People's thinking and decision making processes. And he does it in such an understandable way. It is almost as if he is using these principles in his writing so we can get a first hand knowledge of how the process works.

It also helps the person making the decision because a lot of people don't know how to make a good decision for themselves. It helps build rapport by getting to "Yes" smoothly instead of "Forced" like so many older models of influence and persuation.

Along with the science to back up what Kevin Hogan says are modern day examples of how people and businesses and governments are using this knowledge today. This helped me set some reference points for how else i might use this awesome technology.
It also helps me to recognize those that may want to use this Model for sinister purposes, and how to protect myself against it.

I can tell you one thing. I will be looking for ways to get any other research on Influence and persuation from Kevin Hogan.
This book has shortened my learning curve by YEARS!

Dont be left behind. Buy this book right away

MJR

Chapter 11, titled "I'll Think About It", is a priceless chapter. In speaking with people when presenting your product his examples he uses are broken up into 3 categories. It is so simple yet so powerful! The rest of the book is laid out in easy to understand language that can make you understand why people think the way they think. As a professional business executive I had to give this book the highest rating. It is well worth the money and should be added to your library.

As a career military officer, I typically I read one or two books on persuasion, influence, employee motivation and leadership every week. I have to say I was quite disappointed in this book. It starts out okay, but you quickly realize that that this book should more appropriately be titled "The TRICKS of Influence" ... This is not about creating a win-win situation and influencing others for good. This is about how to become a better used car / snake oil salesman. If that's what you're after, this is the right tome. But for me, the more I read, the more slimy the book felt. In addition to this, the author seems to feel it is necessary to push his other book titles every few pages. (Mr Hogan, I paid good money for this book. If you want to force your advertisements on me, lower the cost of your book). I won't be spending any more money on this author. If you want a very good book on the science behind this subject, I'd recommend instead: "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion" by Robert B. Cialdini.

Immensely boring and bland book, did not enjoy it one little bit. In fact, could not finish reading it.

When I read the subtitle, I got suspicious. Persuade ANYONE in 8 minutes or less? Why not in 7 minutes or 4? ANYONE? When an author claims specific numbers without actually empirically and scientifically testing them, you know what will follow - lots of generic statements and old, reheated examples that are supposed to give the common sense a shroud of legitimacy. When I see or hear "anyone", "nobody", "always", "never" and similar terms, I get a rash and my left eye starts twitching.

Hogan gives his "models" ambitious names such as "Delta model", "Omega Strategies" or "Secret of Oscillation". Oh, please... An attempt to piggyback on the Greek philosophers or erroneously link them to mathematical symbols? Subliminal persuasion on the author's part? Let's ask his buddy Dave Lakhani ...

Chapter 5 talks about "The New Principles of Influence", which are anything but new. The first principle, "Framing a Question" is a summary of the often cited research from 1984 by Kahneman and Tversky! Does 25 year old research count as "new"? The rest of the principles in that chapter have also been seen in dozens of other books!

Even worse, on page 46, a title "Fifteen Never-Before-Revealed Secrets to Optimize Persuasive Messages"! I can now pull out at least 6-10 books from my library that talk about the same "secrets" such as primacy and listing order, repetition, and other tired-and-detested, pardon, tried-and-tested principles!

A few "pearls of wisdom", pardon, examples of boxed sentences, presumably important points to memorize and practice:
"You can't persuade someone if you can't get in front of them to communicate your message." Oh, really?
"Cultural rules dictate our behavior in public." Yes? And ... How about behavior in private? We all behave the same there? And, ...?
"People want to be comfortable." And ...?
I think you get the message about the practicality and the newness of the material in this book.

Kevin Hogan is probably a great public speaker and his fees are justified. He is at best, however, a mediocre writer. This book appears to have a lot of useful information that could probably help someone become excellent at influencing others. The problem is that the writing is very choppy and somewhat unstructured. As you read there is no sense of flow or how one section ties in with another. An influence tip is often given without a good example on how to apply it, with the burden of extrapolating the idea left to the reader with a series of questions. The influence "gems" are lost in a writing style that makes it hard to get the point of each bit of advice. This leaves the reader with a sense of needing to go back and put the pieces together on their own, which is ironic because Hogan, in addition to being a teacher of influencing techniques is also supposed to be an expert communicator.

Hogan makes no bones about marketing his online products, particularly tapes which cover the same subject. Is his style meant to leave you hanging and wanting to purchase a DVD set?

Some of his material is taken, and duly credited in the bibliography, from Nobel Lauretes Kahneman and Taversky, as well as the influence expert Robert Cialdini. I would recommend reading these original sources as well.

If you want to understand and apply persuasion principles and tools, study both this book by Hogan and Cialdini's "Influence." Cialdini's groundbreaking work explains six principles of persuasion that we all need to understand.

In "The Science of Influence," Hogan expands the analysis of persuasion to ten laws of human behavior. And he shows you how to use these laws effectively. That's just one chapter!

The other 11 chapters give you additional persuasion models and tools you can use now. You'll find this tightly written book both practical and fascinating. I especially like the chapter on reducing resistance. And Hogan, a master of framing, teaches that powerful skill in another chapter.

Overall, you'll learn to apply the most current research to persuade others in ethical ways. This creates both short-term results and win-win relationships for long-term success.

This is the type of book you will want to pull from the shelf time and again. As an instructor of IT professionals in the area of professional development, I read two or three books each month. This book is on my top five list for books on persuasion and influence.

If you have not read this book, you don't know everything you need to know about influence and persuasion.

Kevin Hogan's "The Science of Influence" (2005) is an interesting and helpful book. Beginning with the premise that others may be influenced to say "yes", he goes on to talk about the art of persuasion, changing others' perceptions, building rapport, presentation pace, personal attractiveness, and much more. Hogan's is a convincing argument that sets one to considering the future.

Although he admits early on that he does "not write like an academic" (page xii) Hogan's book is comfortably resourced (with 9 pages of bibliography, but no footnotes or endnotes). This 239-page hardback book is divided into 12 tightly knit chapters, making it very readable.

Perhaps the best part of this book is chapter 8, in which Hogan outlines ways to apply the ten "laws of influence". These are poignant rules centering on the value of communication- "There is nothing you do that is more important than communicating with others" (page 134). Hogan's "laws" are time tested and well proven... they work and they will help you!

If there is a disappoint in this book is it that much of Hogan is not necessarily innovative nor original. Most of what he says isn't news. His various restatements, however, do not detract from the book. Hogan's presentation speaks to timeless truths in the art of influence.

This book is recommended to all interested in influencing others, managers, social scientists, those interested making themselves better, and those wanting to learn to say "yes".

Happy Aldersgate Day!

Effective,useful and authentic are the words I would use to describe Science of Influence by Kevin Hogan.Owning a business in the area of coaching and training I realise the importance of influence in helping clients find the best choice for themselves and their future success and I also need to market my business. Science of influence increased my effectivenes in both these areas. Kevin Hogan excels at giving you the tools and techniques of influence backed up my the latest scientific research and also keeping your clients best interest at the centre of the influence process. I have not read any other author that manages to succeeed at this task, as Kevin Hogan. When I read the chapter on Credibility, alone, I knew it was worth at least $20K to my business.This book is a winner.