How To Use Commitment And Consistency… Correctly.
People act in line with their commitments. Cialdini in his great book Influence, states that we have a ‘nearly obsessive desire to be (and to appear) consistent with what we have already done.’ This is the theory behind those competitions that you’ve probably seen where you have to state in 25 words or less why you like a particular product. The rationale is that if you make people write down why they like you or your business, they will then subconsciously want to keep their word, so next time they have to choose they will select your product.
This principle means that people will feel a sense of obligation to you if they have told you they like your product or that they would find it useful. Once people make a commitment, especially in public, they will usually make an effort to stick to it.
Using commitment and consistency in your business
You can use the type of competition mentioned above to create a sense of commitment to your business. Run a competition where entrants have to state in 30 words or fewer why your frozen yoghurt is better than all the other frozen yoghurts on the market. This makes them think about why they like your product, and will also encourage them to buy from you because they feel they have decided that your yoghurt is the best and they will want to be consistent with this. Use the entries as testimonials — with permission, of course.
You also now know the reasoning behind running such a competition, rather than just doing it because you’ve seen others do it — which is never a path to success. Here’s an example of a business that doesn’t seem to understand why these types of competitions are run. At the time of writing, a book publisher is having a competition that asks readers to do the following: ‘In 25 words or less, describe your favourite place to read in winter and why.’ What’s the point in that? Why not create positive feelings towards the books you publish? For example, ‘Describe in 25 words or less your favourite book published by us.’ This is an example of a business using a promotional tool without really understanding why. Don’t make this you!
You can also use this principle when talking to clients. As you discuss with them the benefits of what you are selling, get an agreement from them each step of the way. Don’t just bombard them with the information. So, if you are trying to sell a mobile phone, you would say: ‘This phone lasts 20% longer than most others on each charge. Would you find that useful?’ Then, ‘This phone can also play music through headphones. Do you think you could use that?’ And so on. Then, if the customer has replied yes to all or most of these, when it is time to say ‘Yes I’ll take it’, they have almost talked themselves into buying the phone by agreeing that they would find the benefits useful. This approach will give you more success than simply reading a list of features to the customer.
Use the concept of commitment and consistency to encourage people to make a written or verbal commitment to your company. They are then more likely to purchase from you.
HEY, did you know i’m running a contest while I am away…
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So how do you add a back-end to your business? Well, the first step is to start seeing your business as a back-end business. Think like HP, or like a mobile phone provider. Don’t think that once you have achieved the first sale, that’s it. A lot of businesses look at it this way: they try and get a customer to make a sale — that’s singular SALE. How you should be looking at it is; you make a sale to get a customer — where this customer will repeatedly come back to you and purchase more and more. 
Risk reversal is all about removing any ‘risk’ that the prospect might be feeling and transferring it to your business. For example, I bought an expensive new computer recently, and I wanted to buy an industrial strength surge protector to go with it. The one I choose offered a guarantee that they would pay for up $70,000 worth of new equipment to replace anything damaged by an electrical surge while connected to their surge protector. So instead of me taking on the risk that their product doesn’t do what it should, they have taken this on. 
It is one of my strongest beliefs in business that you should do it your way. Too many people start a business by copying whatever most similar businesses are doing. Sure this might seem safer, but will this allow you meet your goals? And think about this: if you set your business up the same as everybody else, how do you expect to do better than them? How will you dominate your industry if you are doing the same things as everybody else? If nothing makes you stand out from the crowd, why will people pick you over your competitors? There is a difference between designing a business and simply entering an industry.
Before you go any further, you must decide why you are going into business. Put this book down for a few minutes and think about it right now — it’s important! Before you even think about setting goals such as profit or sales targets, you must know what you hope to achieve with your business as a whole. Do you want to be your own boss? Do you want to work fewer hours? Or more? Do you want more variety in your job? Or to travel as part of work? Do you want to start a business with your partner? You must be able to clearly state what your personal goals are, so that you can structure your business and create systems to meet these goals. 
