Persuasion techniques are the tools a person uses to influence others to do according to his/her wishes. There are many persuasion tools such as consistency, authority, social proof, and reciprocation. Authority is used to influence when the person at a higher position of power demands obedience from the subjects. Obedience to authority becomes enough justification or motivation to act against our good judgment. The ‘Compliance professionals’ use appearance of authority to influence us to obey them or do their wishes. They adopt titles, clothes, and trappings of authority like tone of voice, language, elegant automobiles, and pieces of jewelry among others.
The appearance of authority was used on me a few years ago. One could have thought I was smart enough to see through this, but con artists are also smarter and catch us by surprise. I went to deposit my college fees in one of the bank’s local branches in our small town. The bank is usually crowded especially at the end month. I was not to report to school for another month but, my parent insisted I do so since we had already budgeted for it. There was a long queue ahead of me since the ATMs weren’t working for the second day due to cable problems where sewerage pipes were being repaired. I choose to sit on the bench as I waited for my turn to be served.
Out of nowhere, an elegantly dressed gentleman excused himself and sat down beside me. He started a friendly conversation and we both began to complain about the long queues. He asked me whether I always banked there and I told him I was just depositing my college fees and since I can’t travel with cash I had to wait. Taking the cue he told me he was a CEO with a computer technology firm in the city which surprised and left me wondering what he was doing in a bank in the small town. He could read my mind and he conspiratorially told me he had around 50,000 dollars in his persona which he wanted to deposit. He then proceeded to tell me the source of the money. It was an investment scheme in town were as he explained was very profitable. An investment of any amount doubled within three months and if reinvested back one could fetch thrice the amount in just since months. He continued to tell me that as an experienced businessman, he knew a good investment and the scheme was good and insisted I should try. Obedience to authority has practical advantages for those obeying. In the case of business figures, their positions allow them to have superior access to information and power and it is sensible for the subjects to believe them and so I told myself he knew what he was talking about.
After some time he offered to buy me a cup of coffee in a café next door to while the time away while the queue moves. In the café, they supposedly met with the manager of the scheme and after the small talk, they launched on the virtues of the scheme. Due to curiosity, I went along with them as they took me to the scheme’s offices. There were long queues too of people supposed to be depositing their money which they called ‘planting’ and another for those withdrawing which again was called ‘harvesting’. A smartly dressed lady came from the head of the harvesting queue directly to me and told me that she had just harvested after six months of investing. Some things struck me odd such as the absence of the usual security guards as common in most organizations in town. I also questioned the wisdom of customers carrying with them a lot of cash; couldn’t they just make transactions in their banks? And again the interest rate of investments was too high to be real. I excused myself and left the premises. Later on after inquiry I learnt that it was a pyramid scheme and my friendly gentleman was another con artist used by the scheme together with the supposedly manager.
The scheme was later discovered by the authorities a few months later and before they could be arrested they had conned people all over the country millions of dollars. People could not believe that they had just lost their money so easily, they just did not stop to ask questions but that is the use of authority in persuasion. Authority produces an automatic behavior. When we realize that obedience produces rewards and disobedience punishment we do not stop to think, rather, we tune ourselves to convenience of automatic compliance and therefore mechanical character. This, in most cases produce desirable results but, in other cases undesirable results. It was hard to imagine I could have my college fees to a bogus scheme due to well presented conartists as many people had.
Persuasion techniques are the tools a person uses to influence others to do according to his/her wishes. Obedience to authority becomes enough justification or motivation to act against our good judgment. We can resist this by removing the element of surprise. This is by being aware of authority power and that it can be unreal. The ‘compliance professionals’ expects us to be deferent to them. They will be surprised if we ask questions and become cautious of them which can put them of guard but this can protect us from their con games.