A Road Map to Closing Deals Business majors and longtime entrepreneurs will be familiar with this work. And in an age when many shiny new theories on leadership and personal development come out every year, it’s refreshing to revisit a classic that has stood the test of time. Thirty-five years after its original publication, “Influence: The Psychology to past decisions; and “scarcity,” our tendency to assign value to things based on their rarity. While these may sound like surface-level business concepts, the way Dr. Cialdini uses these principles as a launching point gives “Influence” value.
'Influence'
of Persuasion” should still be required reading for marketers, small-business owners, and anyone else looking to improve their negotiation skills. Written by Dr. Robert Cialdini, “Influence” explores why people say yes. A professor of business and psychology, Dr. Cialdini is uniquely qualified to tackle this question, combining scientific data with practical applications. “Influence” is still a subject of praise, with marketing research groups and journals of psychology lauding the book as a “proverbial gold mine.” You don’t have to get too far into “Influence” to see why. Dr. Cialdini lays out six “universal principles” of the human psyche. These include “reciprocity,” our tendency to want to return perceived kindness or concessions; “commitment and consistency,” our tendency to cling
With each principle, the author dives into examples of how these psychological elements can be used by you or against you in any negotiation. Take “commitment and consistency,” for example. If you are able to get a person to agree with you on several small points, you lay the groundwork for them to agree with you in the future. Conversely, you can be more alert when people try to use this tactic on you. One of the most powerful results of reading “Influence” is that it helps you recognize behaviors you yourself were unaware of. Indeed, that’s the whole underlying thesis of Dr. Cialdini’s work: As social creatures, we all have habitual behaviors geared towards finding common ground with others. Once you are aware of these behaviors, you’ll begin to see conversations and negotiations in a whole new light.
QDRO Case Studies: An Abusive Relationship and No QDRO Pamela Bishop divorced her physically abusive husband. Now, she and her children are safe. That’s a good thing. Her divorce lawyer convinced the judge to award her 60 percent of her husband’s pension. She slept better at night knowing there would be a little security when she hit retirement age. Except the lawyer never prepared a QDRO for the pension! As a result, Pamela was never going to see that money. Her lawyer closed his file when the judge signed the decree. That was it. There simply was no pension QDRO. No money. Call it malpractice for the lawyer and financial ruin for Pamela. So, she came to us. The Goal Our objective was to enable Pamela Bishop to receive a monthly benefit from her ex-husband’s pension (for the rest of her life) when he retired, or earlier if Pamela elected to begin receiving benefits before her ex-husband retired. The Approach
We handled every step of the QDRO approval process for Pamela. She was not required to do anything except approve the QDRO throughout the entire process. The first major step was to prepare the QDRO in accordance with Texas law, federal law (ERISA), and the specific requirements of the pension plan. The terms of the QDRO were identical to the terms of division contained in the divorce decree. We filed a petition in the same court that granted the divorce, asking the judge to sign the QDRO in compliance with Texas Family Code, Section 9.102. Pamela’s ex- husband was served with citation in compliance with said code. Fortunately, Pamela’s ex-husband agreed to cooperate and willingly signed the QDRO.
Fortunately, Pamela’s ex-husband had not retired or tampered with the retirement money. The solution was to prepare the QDRO and have it signed and approved ASAP.
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