Two small words and one pause cut a restaurant’s no-shows by 67%, and the science of persuasion behind that will change how you ask for things.
Dr. Robert Cialdini, a research psychologist who wrote Influence: The New and Expanded Psychology of Persuasion, sat down with Lewis to walk through the seven principles he found after secretly training in sales programs. Lewis credits the book with turning his broke, couch-surfing years into a business that took off within months.
Kids handed a balloon at the door led their parents to buy 25% more food, and asking “Do you support the Boy Scouts?” lifted popcorn sales from 15% to 55%. Cialdini shares why you should ask for advice instead of feedback, and why “Congratulations on your commitment” beats praising progress.
He also gets honest about his own struggle to say praise out loud, a habit he picked up from parents who held it back. Now he makes himself say it, which costs nothing and changes the mood of any room he walks into.
Your next email or sales pitch will look different after this, and so might your next hard talk with someone you love. Start by giving first and pointing to what is already true.
