Influence: Using Authority to Help People Make Better Decisions

Influence: Using Authority to Help People Make Better Decisions

Great real estate agents help people make better decisions and achieve better results.

Buyers and Sellers make many high-stake, high-pressure decisions when transacting in real estate. 

From whom they hire, when they list, pricing, strategy, and offer negotiations, the quality of their decisions will have an immediate and significant impact on the outcome they achieve.

Our ability to influence them to choose a great agent (us) and make smart strategic decisions comes from a principle called Authority. People trust and respect someone with credible knowledge, experience, and expertise.    

Authority comes from having knowledge and expertise and being able to prove it. There is a reason that doctors have their diplomas on their office walls, and people display their professional letters in their email signatures.   

Robert Cialdini is known as the master of influence and persuasion. In his book Influence, he says people search out a shortcut when decision-making is complex. Authority gives them the cognitive trust to take the shortcut.  

To earn more clients and to help those clients make complex decisions to achieve excellent outcomes, having them see you as an authority will lead to more acceptance, collaboration, and agreement.  

To gain authority, you need to be good at what you do. And you also need to be able to show people that you are good at what you do.   

If you have professional certifications, use them. Learn to speak confidently about your skills that can help your clients get better results. Own your strengths.   

“It stands to reason that if we are experts ourselves, we would be wise to let others know.”

Robert Cialdini, Regents’ Professor of Psychology and Marketing at Arizona State University and Distinguished Professor of Marketing in the W.P. Carey School.