The Blemishing Effect: Why Selling Perfection Can be Self-Defeating

When we’re trying to influence people to choose an option we favor, we can be tempted to only talk about the reasons why they should.  But according to something called the Blemishing Effect, it may actually be in our best interests to point out why they shouldn’t, too.  Here’s why.

Notes and Resources:

• Prefer to read?  Here’s the full postThe Blemishing Effect: Why Selling Perfection Can be Self-Defeating
• Dan Pink’s To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others is full of great insights about the ways we influence each other.
• The blemishing effect works best when people don’t want to invest a lot of energy into making a decision, and only when the negative “blemish” comes after all the positive information.
    

Related posts: 

Influencing the Decision: How to Transition from Doer to Decider

Hyperbolic Discounting and 7 Ways to Prevent Self-Sabotage

How to Build Influence: Go From Gofer to Go-To with These 3 Simple Steps

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