The following post is from my website here. I’ve copied it over exactly the same – but without the images (reddit doesn’t allow images in text posts).
If you’d prefer to read it as it was intended click here. Otherwise, buckle up and read below.
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Most of you have probably heard of the graffiti-artist Banksy. Nobody knows who he actually is, but he spray paints pretty cool pictures around the world. His work and mystery persona make him one of the most famous and talked about artists in the world today.
Back in 2015 Banksy (along with some other artists) launched a theme-park inspired art exhibition called ‘Dismaland’[1]. It was billed with the tagline “Prepared in secret, the pop-up exhibition at the Tropicana, a disused lido, was "a sinister twist on Disneyland"[2]. Banksy described it as a "family theme park unsuitable for children."
The hype around it was massive and tickets were flying off the shelf. As with anything shiny my then-girlfriend-now-wife was itching to see. We managed to get tickets, and made the 3.5 hour car trip to see it.
Honestly overall we had a pretty shit time.
Now don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t shit overall. But we made it shit because we made a REALLY dumb decision - one we massively regretted the whole journey back, and still even today to some extent.
I want you to play close attention. I’m going to explain the psychological forces-at-play that led us to make our dumb decision. If you understand it fully you’ll discover one of the most powerful and exploitable tools in business. Big claim I know, but I’m not overhyping one bit.
Ok back to Dismaland.
Now first thing to understand is that there were 3 showings each day. And that meant you only had 3 hours inside the arena before the next bunch of people were let in. Second there were various exhibits you could check out – see below for the map of dismaland:
Now some of the exhibits required queuing because they were inside a room or enclosement. Examples include numbers 1,2,3,6 and 9. It should be noted that we knew absolutely nothing about the Dismaland exhibits, nor had we seen the map or read reviews etc.
Immediately as we entered we saw a HUGE queue for the Water Canon Creek exhibit (Number 6 on the map). There were other queues for other exhibits but they were pretty short. Number 6 was the only one with a huge queue. So we joined the back.
The queue took close to 90 minutes. Fucking 90 minutes. But hey we made it to the front and braced ourselves for the exhibit inside…
It was shit. Complete total shit. It was a few pieces of obscure art inside a van. We walked through it and came out the other side EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED.
Why was the queue so long you ask? Because there was a shitload of writing with every piece of art. A lot of people in the van were reading a hell of a lot of it, and that’s what was causing the massive queue. I’m deadly serious. That’s the reason.
Now I don’t profess to be an art connoisseur, but the exhibits we saw afterwards were actually pretty cool. Not all of them, but some were. But I assure you there was nothing special about the exhibit. Eventually we ran out of time and left Dismaland without seeing quite a lot of it.
I later spoke to a few others who had attended, and also felt pissed off having made the same error of joining the humungous queue. So the question remains – why did we end up joining the queue?
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So What Made Me Stand In Line For A Piece Of Shit Exhibition In The First Place? (Do I suffer from brain rot)
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It’s simple. I saw a big queue. And that made us think it must be good.
That’s it! That’s how the human mind works. That’s how just about every human mind works [3].
We had ZERO idea what we were queuing for. We hadn’t read anything about it to make our own judgments. We hadn’t read a single review or had anyone tell is it was good. Seeing the huge queue subconsciously singlehandedly made us believe it must be great.
Now before you start to think we’re mentally retarded I urge you to think about your life. Ever walked by a bunch of restaurants and seen one way busier than the others? Or maybe you were walking somewhere and saw a big queue and thought “hmmm… what’s that about?”
I want you to know the second you recognised the busy restaurant or queue, you unknowingly put it above every other restaurant/store/event you know nothing about. You’ve subconsciously convinced yourself there’s something to whatever the queue is for.
It works off a simple premise. While we believe that any one individual can be stupid and make a dumb decision, we don’t believe a bunch of people can be collectively stupid enough to make a dumb decision.
This is what is often referred to as “Social Proof”. The simple act of assuming something’s great because a whole bunch of other people are backing it.
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“OK, But I Can’t Create A Big Queue of People at My Doorstep – How Is This Useful To Me”
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You don’t need a big queue at your door. Nor would it be much use seeing as most of us have potential clients phoning or emailing us. They couldn’t see the damn queue even if it were there.
You must understand it’s not the queue which changes an outsider’s perspective of you. It’s the fact they believe that there’s a big number of others who are already convinced you’re the man/woman for the job.
So how can we achieve that?
It’s extremely simple. Just do anything which subconsciously makes it seem like you’re in demand. Do this consistently throughout the process until they make the decision to work with you and you’re a significantly more attractive option. Not only will this increase your close rate[4], but your increased desirability will allow you to bump the price – and therefore the amount you earn for ZERO additional work on your part – without resistance.
It’s seems silly but it’s not. The illusion of others interested in your business gives the potential client reassurance in your abilities. They’re willing to pay more for that reassurance…The human mind is a wonderfully manipulatable thing!
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So How Can You Sneak In Demonstrations of Social Proof Into Your Business? (Two Real Life Examples)
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There’s literally a 1000 different ways to do this at just about every stage of your business – be it your advertising, on the phone, in person.
I didn’t write this post to layout a million examples. This post is about the power of social proof and how it can be leveraged.
The truth is it’s bloody obvious when you put a little thought into it. If you scrutinise the way you’re communicating to your clients-to-be, and compare them against someone who is in demand you’ll notice big differences. Simply change them to reflect what the person in demand would do and you’ve got it!
Regardless I thought I’d share two quick common scenarios, and how a smart brained marketer/businessman could adapt them to subtly communicate they’re the real deal.
I'll be releasing an article in the future on that for those interested here. But for now I’ve picked two examples below.
1) Someone Needs To Reschedule
Imagine you’ve made an appointment and someone needs to cancel. They call you and say “John, I can’t do 3.30pm tomorrow because I need to lick my cat’s asshole. Can we make it 4pm instead?”
Now most people I know say “Yup”. But think what that subcommunicates. It says you’re twiddling your thumbs in front of xvideos waiting for people. You’re free and ready to be at service for anyone who’ll throw you a scrap of business.
Instead say this “Sorry John, I’m busy until 6pm. I can do then, otherwise it’ll have to be Wednesday 4.30pm”. Bingo. You’re now a man in demand. You’ve subcommunicated you’re not some bitchboy who bends and twists to any on-demand request. That your time means something. Because you’re busy with other business.
Oh yeah, some of you will be scared to do this. You’ll have some fear in your head that the inconvenience caused will lose you a client-to-be. In short, your fear is complete shit. Serious clients want someone in demand FAR MORE than they want drop of the pin convenience.
Remember they approach people like us because they have a problem to be solved. The person in demand is the one who they consider most likely to fix their problems. It sure as hell isn’t the bozo who is so out of work – and therefore ability – that others simply won’t hand it to him.
2) Someone Comes To Your Office For An Appointment
Here’s a particularly brilliant application of the illusion of social proof.
If possible book the appointment smack bang in between two other clients. The aim here is for your potential client to see someone else leave as he enters. And to see someone enter as he leaves.
If for whatever reason you can’t make this happen, then use two friends or family members as plants. Again this subcommunicates you’re busy and wanted.
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But Wait – This Is A Form of Lying. Isn't it Deceitful and Wrong?
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Some people consider what I’ve described as immoral and unethical. They believe it to be “lying” or “deceptive”. My response is simple. Do you believe you can help solve the clients problems, and do you do it better than most of the others in your market?
If the answer is yes then you’ve done your client a service by helping him make the right choice. Understand that the majority of practitioners in your market are complete crap. And many won’t hesitate to pull out any effective psychological to nab a client-in-need from you.
The quality of work you do is all that matters in the end. By jesus help them make the right choice. If that’s deception then so be it. I call it business. If you know you’re good, you know you can do the job they need, drop your pretensions and make it happen.
If however you know deep down you can’t solve a client’s problems then I’m afraid it won’t be long before your reputation is so shitty that no trick in the book will help you. I suggest you change career.
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How To Develop This In Other Areas Of Your Business (And Other Examples of Manufacturing Social Proof To Boost The Number Of Clients and Fees You Charge)
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You simply need to think strategically and apply social proof in other areas of your business. All this requires is a little brains. Hopefully the examples, and more importantly the thinking behind it, will help you apply it elsewhere.
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Side Ramble Points From Above
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[1] A clever play of Disneyland for my mentally handicapped readers [2] Clearly the work of a copywriter or two [3] You may think you’re smarter than this. Firstly you’re not. Secondly it’s not about you, it’s about the way others think dummy! [4] Close rate = percentage of people who you convince to become your paying client – out of those who enquired.
If you enjoyed this post then give it an upvote, and for godsake leave a comment. I’ve written this post because I enjoy it and want to share. It takes time, effort and heart to write this thing. The last thing I want is to feel like I’m writing it for nothing. Your comments mean the world to me. The more positive response I receive the more I’ll continue to write and share my experiences.
If you enjoyed the post you’ll probably enjoy my site The High Fee Club. The site is dedicated to significantly increasing fees for those of us who are good at what we do.
For the record the site isn’t for newbies looking to start but who’ve never got a client – I don’t cater for that. But if you’re actually in business and good at what you do head on over here.
Anyway, feel free to ask me any questions you may have around social proof. It’s an area of discussion I love, so fire away and I’ll pick up any questions which sound cool.
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