how touching

How touching - can increase the number of positive responses people give you.

I am not going to go into the science of this - we all know the value of a touch - yet we so seldom use this powerful tool in business.

All I am going to do in this topic is to tell you the results of an experiment that was conducted a few years ago. You can guess when it was by the fact that the experiment in volved a pay phone box - in the days when people used to use them (yeah I know you're too young to remember those).

Well here's what happened.

Coins were left in the return chute of the phone box, and researchers were hidden and able to observe. Without exception, people using the phone box took the money out of the chute and either used it for their call or pocketed it.

Upon leaving the phone booth, they were approached and asked had they found any money in the booth, as the asker had thought they had left some change in the chute. They had a 42% positive response.

Then the researcher repeated the above - except with one minor difference.On asking the question the researcher touched the arm or shoulder - it didn't matter where very briefly when asking exactly the same question.The positive response went up to an amazing 87%.

Some people in the second experiment were even prepared to admit that they had used the money to make a longer call, and they were sorry. This never happened in the 1st group.

Another experiment carried out by a group of researchers - where again the only difference was a simple touch, found that waiters increased their tips by over 50% just by that touch.

Powerful stuff. And it's a lot easier to do than you imagine, a simple touch on the forearm whilst you're talking to someone can make you appear more friendly - not creepy.

I run half, and one day sales psychology courses - so I may well treat you to some more of theselittle gems in the coming weeks

Keep smiling - keep selling - Paul