The principle of social proof is an important one to familiarize yourself with when it comes to negotiating, selling, and the art of not being sold. The concept of social proof could be boiled down to simply “monkey see, monkey do.”In other words, we are more likely to emulate what other people are doing for no other reason than that other people are doing it. Peer pressure didn’t die in high school, folks.
For example, I remember being in a seminar where a real estate guru—who will remain unnamed—was giving a sales pitch. I must say, this guy could give a sales pitch. First, he noted all the goodies each attendee would get. Then, he stated that the price was normally $10,000 or something ridiculous and began to throw in a few more goodies. Then he dropped the price (“for today and today only,” of course) to around $3,000. Then he offered more goodies, and finally he stated that under certain circumstances (i.e. buying a home from him or selling one to him with his system), he would refund the whole purchase price.
