Labelling: Call Something What You Want It To Be

Thanks to humans’ obsessive need to consistent, you can change the way someone acts by labeling them.

You can increase the odds someone takes your preferred course of action by giving them a label when you first meet.

WHAT IS LABELING?

Peter Bevelin discusses the effectiveness of labeling in Seeking Wisdom:

“Sitting at the the negotiation table, the opponent asked John, ‘Did you know that you and the managers of TransCorp are widely known to be cooperative and fair?’”

Bevelin goes on to explain:

“In the labeling technique, people try to get us committed by first applying a label to our personality or values that is consistent with the behavior they want us to take. We often comply to later requests that are consistent with the label.”

EXAMPLES OF LABELING

Whether you like him or not, Trump uses labeling a ton. For example, here’s a tweet about border security:

There are two parts to this. First, Trump implies that in order to be a “great” Republican, someone must support strong border control. Second, Trump label Republican Senators “great.” In essence, he forces the implication that Republicans in the Senate must support strong border control.

HOW YOU WILL LEVERAGE LABELING

You can increase how hard someone works by labeling them a hustler or go-getter.

Some ideas to get you started:

• Negotiations — Label your counterpart as reasonable or fair. This can easily be done by saying something like “I’ve heard you’re a fair supplier so I’m looking forward to working together” at the beginning of negotiations.
• Sales / Copywriting — Label your potential customers with attributes that increase the chance they buy your product/service. For example, if you’re selling an outdoors-related product, you can say your product is “loved by outdoors people like you.”
• Arguments — Whenever you’re having an argument with someone, throw a line in like “I know you’re a reasonable person that legitimately considers the other side’s point of view, so let me explain why I think [X]….”

How have you used or seen others use labeling? Share your expertise in the comments.

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