Trigger an individual’s desire to remain consistent to influence them into doing what you want.

When someone makes a decision, they will base their future decisions off of that and do their best to remain consistent. You can use this to your advantage when trying to influence someone into doing something they may not necessarily want to do.

1. Create a sense of commitment in others.
   When you want someone to do something for you, make them feel committed to it. There are many ways you can accomplish this. For example, if you’re collecting donations for charity, ask the other person how they are doing. If you ask them for the donation after they’ve responded to your question, they will be more likely to donate. This is because they want to remain consistent with what they just said about feeling good; they will not want to appear stingy.

2. Use the foot-in-the-door technique.
   This refers to starting with a small request to eventually gain compliance with larger requests. For example, if you were to ask homeowners to sign a petition for state beautification, most of them would. A few weeks later, if you asked those homeowners if you could put up a sign that said “DRIVE SAFELY” in their front yards, they would be much more likely to agree. This is because allowing that sign to be erected is consistent with supporting state beautification.

3. Offer an incentive that you later withdraw.
   This tactic is often used by car dealerships. A car will be offered to the buyer at a lower price, but once the customer commits to buying that car, the salesman will realize a “mistake,” such as the price of air-conditioning not being included. This additional price will be around the same value as the discount. Most people will purchase the car anyway as they have already committed to it, and they want to stay consistent.