When I wrote my negotiation book, one of my favorite studies was authored by Ellen Langer. She found that pairing a request with a reason was better than not giving a reason at all. Here’s how her study worked:
A researcher would give one of three reasons when asking to cut in line:
- Version 1 (request only): “Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the Xerox machine?”
- Version 2 (request with a real reason): “Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the xerox machine, because I’m in a rush?”
- Version 3 (request with a fake reason): “Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the xerox machine, because I have to make copies?”
Here are the results from the three variations:
- Version 1: 60 percent of people let the researcher skip the line.
- Version 2: 94 percent of people let the researcher skip ahead in line.
- Version 3: 93 percent of people let the researcher skip ahead in line.
So there you have it: always pair your negotiation with a reason. Just saying “I need to” is effective too.
Photo credit: Solomon203 / Wikipedia