Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is that similarities lead to liking, So when you
Speaker 1: encounter someone new, by highlighting things you share, you may
Speaker 1: be able to connect more quickly. Today's tip, like some
Speaker 1: other ones will be doing soon, comes from Robert Chaldeeni's
Speaker 1: book Pre Suasion, A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade.
Speaker 1: In Pre Suasion, Chaldeeny asserts that similarities lead to liking,
Speaker 1: which makes sense. If you share common interests or a
Speaker 1: common background with somebody, it can be easier to connect
Speaker 1: and get to know each other, but can lead to
Speaker 1: liking in more unexpected ways too. For instance, Chldeiny notes
Speaker 1: that servers who are coached on echoing their customer's manner
Speaker 1: of speaking were able to increase their tips. Random similarities
Speaker 1: apparently pave the way for liking too. This insight will
Speaker 1: pop up all over the place once you recognize it.
Speaker 1: If you rent cars frequently when you travel, My hunch
Speaker 1: is that you have had a lot of conversations with
Speaker 1: rental car agents about your home state. You hand over
Speaker 1: your driver's license and the agent says something like Tennessee
Speaker 1: Peyton Manning was the best quarterback of all time. Then
Speaker 1: you connect over your shared love of Tennessee football. Maybe
Speaker 1: the next time you rent a car you find out that,
Speaker 1: what a coincidence, the rental car agent's aunt lives in Nashville.
Speaker 1: Maybe another time, the agent wants to go to Dollywood
Speaker 1: next summer. Suddenly you are starting to wonder whether people
Speaker 1: from Tennessee or whatever your home state is make up
Speaker 1: a disproportionate number of rental car agents. Now that could
Speaker 1: be the case, but my guess is that the managers
Speaker 1: who train agents know what Chaldeani pointed out. We like
Speaker 1: people that we perceive as similar So if you want
Speaker 1: a customer to like you, you point out a similarity.
Speaker 1: Since rental car agents have to look at people's driver's licenses,
Speaker 1: this is a quick way to find something to talk about.
Speaker 1: Probably every rental car agent can make some sort of
Speaker 1: connection to a state where many of their renters come from.
Speaker 1: When they start a conversation about your home state, you
Speaker 1: feel connected. This similarity foster's liking, so you can cheerfully
Speaker 1: pass the time while the agent completes your paperwork. If
Speaker 1: an issue comes up, like them not having the sized
Speaker 1: car that you reserved. You are predisposed to liking the
Speaker 1: agent at this point, so everybody stays more calm. If
Speaker 1: rental car agents can do this easily, so can you.
Speaker 1: While you don't want to be manipulative, spotting similarities can
Speaker 1: be helpful in many contexts. At the farmer's market, you
Speaker 1: might notice that one of the vendors is wearing a
Speaker 1: Chicago Cubs baseball hat. You let them know that you
Speaker 1: are a fan too. Next thing you know, you are
Speaker 1: getting too sample the peach crisp that is that vendor's specialty.
Speaker 1: When you're sitting on the patio of a brewery and
Speaker 1: a golden doodle wanders over, you could pet the dog
Speaker 1: and let the owner know you have a golden doodle
Speaker 1: at home as well. Next thing you know, you are
Speaker 1: talking about a great dog groomer she just found who
Speaker 1: has much more convenient appointment times than the place you
Speaker 1: have been going. These similarities make for easy conversations, which
Speaker 1: makes life feel a little more cheerful. We are positively
Speaker 1: disposed to people, and suddenly we are no longer strangers.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura, Thanks for listening and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
Speaker 1: you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
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