Influence Up - How To Leverage Your Persuasion Power

Have you ever had to influence up, lead the leader, persuade without power, negotiate without any authority? The challenge is people feel powerless. Don't feel powerless. You have power. That's what we're going to be talking about. Just because they're the leader, they're in another company, you don't have any authority, you don't have any power. You have power, I promise you.

We are going to give you tools today to have power, to use your power, to leverage yourself to be a better negotiator and influencer. This is one of the top trainings out there. How do you influence without authority? How do you influence up? How do you persuade without power? Just because they're the CEO, have more money, more experience, you can still win the game. Let's do it.

Maximize Your Influence. Kurt Mortensen is the author of Persuasion IQ, Laws of Charisma, and the best-selling book, Maximum Influence. Welcome back to Maximize Your Influence. Kurt Mortensen here. This is podcast 576. Getting that deep dive on personal power and your ability to use it.

Hopefully you're working on your persuasion tools, get a new tool every week, learn something, apply it, use it, become more persuasive, and it'll change every aspect of your life. Had a great week. Nothing too eventful here. Worked on a book. Did a few interviews, and now I'm back. Let's get some more persuasion tools. Let's start off with the persuasion blunder. Don't, don't, don't!

This happened to me a few years ago. I just remembered it. Now, there's a couple things as far as health is concerned that will throw me back. One is strep throat and the other is pneumonia.

And I've had pneumonia a few times. I know exactly what it feels like. And I can feel that rattle in my chest. And I think it must have been the weekend because I didn't have time to go see my regular doctor. And so I went to one of those pay-to-play medical facilities. Those medical centers, you just show up.

And I said, Doc, I need some medication. I have pneumonia. He said, oh, let's check. And he got his little stethoscope out. Had me breathe a few times. Yep. He says, yep. Sounds like you have pneumonia. I'm like, great. Give me some meds. He says, well, let's take an x-ray just to make sure.

I'm like, okay. Of course, pay to play. Everything they do there is extra money. I'm like, I know I have pneumonia and you just said I had pneumonia. Why do we need an x-ray? Just to be sure, right? We want to be safe. We both know I have pneumonia.

And I could tell he was just doing it because he was supposed to do it. That was the rules. You have to do that. There's the cover your rear end aspect of it also. And I finally said, maybe I should get the ninja for this. All right, we'll take your x-ray. But here's the deal. If I do have pneumonia.

It's free. If I don't, I'll pay double. And he looked at me, smirked, and he wouldn't do it. The blunder was A, that he did it, but B, I could tell his heart wasn't in it, and he was supposed to do it, and he had to do it.

And when you're not passionate about something and your heart's not in it, it comes across in demeanor. So A, it was lame to ask and crank up the bill, but B, you could tell he didn't want to do it. And that's true with anybody in persuasion, influence, especially sales. You got to be a product of the product. You got to believe in it.

Especially, you see this all the time in the retail. Hey, you want the warranty with that? Their demeanor and the way they say it. And of course, they don't want you to do it. You don't want to do it, but they have to ask. You want fries with that? So it's always good to ask. There's always going to be a bump in sales when you ask, but if your heart's not in it, it can have the opposite effect. Time for the Geeky Scarly article of the week. Coming from the University of Warwick.

in health psychology about how certain things can help people wash their hands. Now, some people call these nudges. Some people call it psychological priming, where there's a process when you're exposed to certain cues. like smells or images. They alter people's behavior with the person not even being aware of it. On the show, we call it subconscious triggers. And they did this to get people to wash their hands at a hospital.

Because they found out that only 15% of the staff and visitors wash their hands at a hospital that's crazy low. And that's the only thing they really have that is vital to a hospital to keep the infection rates low. So we looked at these nudges, this priming, these triggers. to see if they get people to wash their hands. And they found when they had a picture of a man's eyes, a third more people washed their hands. And when there was citrus smell in the air, it boosted hand washing by 50%.

They tried female eyes, but for some reason, male eyes did 10% better. And they did the study in Miami, Florida with 404 healthcare workers and visitors to see if they'd wash their hands. And they put it just next to the door before entering a patient's room. But when they put the picture of the men's eyes, that was 33%. You know, 23% for women's eyes. And of course, the big one, the big winner, the citrus smell, increased hand washing by 50%.

It's all around as these subconscious triggers, we're not even aware of it. Reds and yellows stimulate appetite. Even spraying the air with cleaning fluid increases the chances people are going to clean up their mess. Bakeries. In supermarkets, you pump that smell inside 300% increase.

in buying bread. Perfuming cologne can rate you more attractive. And I don't have to tell you what popcorn smell does at a movie theater. All these things, these subconscious triggers are real. They're out there. We're not even aware of what it's doing to us.

And that's why in the world of persuasion and influence, it's important to understand these triggers. It could be your gestures, how close you stand, facial hair, you're wearing sunglasses, tone of your voice, the actual words you use, all come into play.

when you persuade and influence. Time for listener email. Oh boy. Remember, raise your email on the show. You get free access to influenceuniversity.com. There's a free membership site there. And there's also an advanced. program where we take deeper dives into the world of persuasion influence and get you all the tools. This is from Julie from California. She says, Kurt, I was listening to your Charisma webinar, and you mentioned that power increases your ability to persuade and influence.

Can you discuss some of the forms of power and how I can use them? You bet. Let's talk about power. Are we allowed to talk about power? It's one of those things that makes us a little nervous because when I was doing research for laws of charisma, Charisma, which is a form of power, can be used for great good and it's been used for great evil. And power is the same way. Persuasion is the same way. Can you say is persuasion good or bad? Is gravity good or bad?

Gravity is good when you're walking, but not good when you're falling from a tree. And persuasion and everything I can teach you, you can use for great good or great evil. This comes back to you and powers the same way, even though sometimes... We get nervous about it because power has been abused. But great persuaders know and understand how to use different forms of power. Now, I'm not talking force here. Power is different from force.

It's all about your intent. Power creates trust. It strengthens and empowers. Force always must be maintained and forced and warranted. Force sucks the energy and life out of people. True power encourages, revitalizes, and creates unity and synergy. Power causes us to listen and obey.

force causes us to be skeptical and run. David Hawkins says it's best. He said, power gives life and energy. Force takes these away. We notice that power is associated with compassion and makes us feel positively about ourselves. Force is associated with judgment and makes us feel poorly.

about ourselves. And you usually have power over somebody when you control something they want, need, or desire. Safety, information, rewards, freedom, avoidance of punishment. But bottom line, power increases your ability to persuade and influence.

Now there's that coercive power, manipulation, intimidation, threats. Al Capone, the famous gangster that says you get more with a kind word a gun than with a kind word alone. People use it due to your fired. is a form of power. There's the psychological power where there's time pressure. You have to make a decision right now or, or people that are always bold. They always know the answer and people just assume they know the right answer because they're so acting so confident.

Surprise and distraction can be a form of psychological power. When someone surprises you on the street and asks for money, they're more likely to get it from you than if you see them coming or ask for your seat on the subway. It's easier to say no, but if they surprise you, it's a form of psychological power. Pity.

It could be a form of psychological power. Space invasion is a form of psychological power. And when people think about power a lot of times, they think about authority power or positional power. You're the CEO. You're the boss. And that could be a form of power or wearing a uniform. When people wear uniforms, they're more likely to get a donation. The suits you wear or the clothing you wear could be authority power.

Police officers' uniforms increase their ability to persuade and influence. Their guns increase their ability to persuade and influence. It's just how it is. That's a form of power, authority power. So the way you dress, the way you look. can be a form of power, your position or your title. That's why banks have 27 vice presidents in every branch because of the title.

I remember when I first sales jobs, I was brand new, but on my card, it said regional sales manager, just to get a little something, something, even though I was brand new. I don't know if my region was a couple blocks, but that's what they put on all the business cards. So we get... the title, we get the uniform, we understand positional power, but sometimes that positional power can backfire on you.

The FAA did some research and found out that 26% of airline accidents could have been avoided if the co-pilot would have said something, but they didn't because they're the boss, they're the pilot. And so they have to train them to speak up. In some cultures, you just don't speak up. You got to be very careful.

of this. And many people go along with a bad idea or the power struggle between nurses and doctors. This was done a while back, but an interesting study where a doctor called up a hospital, says, talk to a nurse, says, you don't know me. I don't really come here, but I have a patient there.

I need to give you this drug. The drug was called Astrogen to my patient. Here's the amount. I'll sign the prescription when I get there. Well, if you know anything about the medical field, hello, what's wrong with this picture? There was no prescription. It was a lethal dose, but 95%.

went to the medicine cabinet and had to be stopped. Because sometimes we just blindly just do it because they said to do it. Another one that happened in a hospital. This patient was there with a severe earache and the doctor wrote a prescription. what the medicine would be. And then he put to administer it and he put the R slash ear, right ear. But when you looked at it, it looked rear. So the nurse was giving this patient with a severe earache medicine in the rear.

Yeah, think about that one for a while. So you can use it in the right way, but there's a downside. You even have authority by external characteristics. In presidential elections, they haven't done this recently. There's a lot of jokes here, but anyway.

The better-looking candidate wins 20 out of 23 times. Most CEOs are taller than average. Deeper voices tend to be more commanding, authoritative, and better to use in influence. The car you drive. They did this study in San Francisco. The light would turn red to green.

And the car in front of you would just sit there and see how fast you're going to honk. And it was a clunker, man. They were honking milliseconds. But when it was a Rolls Royce, a nice car, people waited a lot longer to honk and some didn't honk at all. How clean or messy your office is, that is also an external characteristic. So what are some other legitimate forms of power? Because this is important to know. When you have to influence up, influence without authority, influence to the side.

You don't have the authority power. You are not the boss. You're not the manager. So you have to have other forms of power. And we get stuck thinking we don't have any power because we're not the boss and we feel powerless. We act powerless and we are powerless. And it's very difficult to influence when you're feeling powerless. So you have to sit down.

Before any influence situation, say, okay, what forms of power do I have? What are some good, legitimate forms of power that I can use? There's respect. When people respect you, you have a reputation, that's a form of power. That could be your integrity, your character, your dependability.

Maybe there's mutual respect between the both of you, your history, your proven track record, unquestionable reputation, all part of respect. That's a legitimate form of power that you can use. The big one, and you've heard this one before.

is knowledge power. And that could be a subset of informational power, when you know something others need to know, especially when they need, want, or desire the information, the facts, or data that you possess. Also under knowledge power would be resource power.

If you have access to key people, commodities, goods, or services that are valued by others, you've heard it before, it's not what you know, it's who you know. Also, part of knowledge power is your expertise power. When you have a special skill set or knowledge that others believe is relevant to their needs,

and which exceeds their own, and they'll listen to your opinion. When people accept you as the expert, that gives you power, they listen, and there's very little persuasion resistance. So when you think about knowledge power, is it product knowledge? The facts you know, industry information, important affiliations. Do you have access to useful information? Or do you have that specific expertise that makes you the expert in that arena?

Another form of power is reward power. Got to be careful with this one. This has diminishing returns, but rewarding people, giving them something they want. It could be financial. It could be material. It could be a boost to their self-esteem.

All these things quickly enable you to persuade and influence. But again, diminishing returns. They did this with kids in elementary schools. Oh, they're not reading. What do we do? Hey, let's have a pizza program. And so all the kids read. They get their pizza. They get fat.

But now they won't read without their pizza. You have college students these fun puzzles to play with. They'll just play with them. It's a lot of fun. But once you pay them to play with them and the time's up, they're not going to play with them until you pay them. So careful with rewards. They need to be random, something somebody does expect.

Because when you reward people, they expect it. They expect more as diminishing returns and it can backfire on you. Quick, easy, fast form of persuasion and a good form of power. Just got to be careful on how you use it. Because once you offer end of the year bonus.

It happens a couple of years in a row. It becomes an expectation. And if you take it away, you're going to have a mutiny on your hands. For example, the university I was working at every Christmas time, every December, we'd get a turkey, big old turkey.

One year they didn't have the money. We didn't get a turkey. They gave us a book. If you've ever worked at a university, the last thing you need is another book. But everyone was upset, even though there was a gift involved and a reason there was no turkeys. People were mad they didn't get their turkey because it had been happening so many years.

It became an expectation. So use rewards. You can do it. We can make sure that it's random and realize that everyone's different. Some people just a please and a thank you. Some people...

Might not think the reward is as good as other people, but it can be a great form of power. So if you're going to a situation where you're not the boss, you don't have the authority, brainstorm. What type of power do you have? Is it relationship?

how much they like you. That's a form of power. Sometimes when you have a relationship, it's like, just do it. Do it for me. That's all you need to say. Your relationship with that person or maybe people that you know together could be a form of power. Trust is a form of power when other people trust you.

Remember, you can borrow trust through an introduction, through a referral, recommendation. That could be a form of power. One thing to be careful of, fear is a form of power. There's a time and place for that. It's usually abused and used the wrong way. But good healthy fare can be great motivator, can be great in persuasion. That's why dentists say only floss the teeth you want to keep, form of fear. Sometimes just walking in confident, that gives you power.

Remember, your thoughts control your emotions. Your emotions control your actions. And you walk in confident and you feel confident. People think you are confident, and that could be a form of power. I think we've all been on the dark side here. Someone was so confident in their decision, and we just went along with it because we didn't know.

And then we found out later, they didn't know either, but they were so confident, so bold, we just followed their lead. One that people don't think about many times is recognition or esteem. When you can boost someone's self-esteem, it opens the doors to influence. You bruise it, it shuts the doors to influence. But if you can put a good word in for someone, tell their boss, let the CEO know what someone's done, what they're doing, how well the project turned out, that simple thing.

employee of the month, parking stall, all those things are forms of power. Optimism is a form of power when people could feel your hope, when they can see your vision and how much you believe in it is a form of power. And even though you're not wearing a uniform, maybe you do, your appearance is a form of power. So be aware of what you're wearing. Your clothing is definitely a form of power, especially when you meet someone for the first time because that's what they're judging on.

Your appearance, your clothing. Now, one final form of power. It's not the best, but it's something that you can use when maybe you don't have any other forms of power or the ones you're trying aren't working. It's exchange, reciprocity power. Every human, except for teenagers, have a desire to return a smile, a favor, a gift, time, whatever it is. When you do something for somebody, you have an urge to do something back. It's called the law of reciprocity.

And it's something you can use. It's a form of power. So if you're going to a situation and maybe you're not feeling any other forms of power are going to work or you don't have them, what can you exchange? All right, I'm going to help you with this project. You need to do this for me. I'll give you 30 minutes of my time, but I need to borrow a member of your team.

I'll put in a good word for you here. I need you to help me with this. What do you have to exchange? Now, this exchange could be resources, people, budget, office space. It could be ownership. Look, if this doesn't work out, I'll take the blame. If this goes south, it doesn't work out, it'll be my fault. Maybe going to bat for them, providing verbal support for them somewhere in the organization. Maybe it's a quicker turnaround time, a quicker response time.

Maybe there's information that they need, a new insight, knowledge. It could be contacts from people in your network, people that get things done that could help them out. Maybe some type of organizational support where you're going to help them implement something, even though that's not part of your job.

People do it for visibility, to be recognized by upper management. Some people do it for inclusion, things you're working on. Maybe there's a team they want to be on. And maybe sometimes just a good old-fashioned gratitude. Hey, I'll appreciate it. I'll owe you one. Might be enough.

to have a little power to get the job done. So maximizers out there, understand you have power. Don't feel powerless. Brainstorm your power before you persuade and influence. Use it. Feel it. Use it in a good way. but it'll increase your ability to persuade and influence because we all have a natural inclination to follow authority, to follow power. It's how we're programmed. It's part of our psyche. Now, some rebel more against power than others, especially as you get younger in the workforce.

That's probably for another podcast. But think about power. Use this in your presentations. Use this in your persuasion. Use this in your negotiations. You'll see a big difference in your ability to persuade and influence. So think about this tool of power this week. Send me an email at Kurt, K-O-R-T at MaximizeYourInfluence.com. And of course, go to MaximizeYourInfluence.com where you can get all the podcasts. You also get them at Spotify. You can subscribe to the YouTube channel.

We're also on iTunes and iHeart. Take your free Persuasion IQ assessment and all the information you need is right there at MaximizeYourInfluence.com. Critical. Learn these skills. Master the art of influence and go out and persuade with power.