How to Persuade People By Playing Instead of Pushing

October 7, 2021 — The harder you try to persuade people, the less they listen, which is why it’s better to stay playful.

When I used to work part-time at a run specialty store, my biggest challenge was the simplest thing: getting people’s phone numbers.

I would explain how we didn’t sell the number to marketers (which was true) and that it was just for their purchase history (also true)…

But a lot of customers refused to cooperate.

As soon as I said “sell” or “marketers,” they’d get this suspicious look on their faces, and snap shut like a master lock — no matter how hard I tried to persuade them otherwise.

All I wanted to do was be helpful, but no one bought it.

Hack: Push → Play

One day I was in a good mood and simply asked my customer: “What phone number would you LIKE on your purchase history?”

They gave it with no fuss.

And the next customer, and the one after that.

What I realized is that by trying to take the situation seriously, I accidentally created the very resistance I was trying to avoid.