Getting Results — How to Make People Do Things for You

I’ll be blunt. This is focused on people that want results. It may sound manipulative and it’s very straightforward. No round edges in this article.

You’re good?

Let’s proceed then.

Foot-in-the-Door Technique

You want someone to do something for you. You need it done and you may have someone in mind for that task. Or not necessarily so, but you want the result either way. So how can you get someone to agree to your request?

Let’s look at this psychological technique called foot-in-the-door. This process consists of:

“a procedure to increase compliance for a critical request preceding it with an easier request”

Photo by Geralt

So your tactic begins by making others agree to a simple request and then advancing onto a larger and more complex request. You’ll have a higher chance that the person will agree to this second request if they’ve agreed to the first one beforehand. As simple as that.