Leveraging Ingratiation: Salmon! Great Choice!

Have you ever gone to a restaurant and maybe ordered the Salmon, only to have the waiter say, “Excellent choice?” Well, of course, you have.

And you and I both know that that waiter is saying the same thing to everybody else in that restaurant. But yet, in the deep, dark recesses of your gray matter, when you say, “I’ll have the salmon,” and he says, “Excellent choice,” there is something in your head that goes, “It is a good choice, isn’t it?”

You can’t help it. This is because this is called the Principle of Ingratiation. We love it when people compliment us.

So how can you use this in your workplace?

Well, when somebody brings up a question or a comment, compliment them on that question. You can say, “Great question,” “good point,” “interesting insight.”

And watch what will happen in that person’s eyes, and you’ll see a flash, and you’ll see, “It is a good question, isn’t it?”

And what you’ve just done is you’ve just begun to pave the way for your comments about that person’s insight, so you can show them why your way is best.

Leveraging the Principle of Ingratiation – it is a good point, isn’t it?