Inc.

Need to boost your sales? This surprising new research will help

Hot Leads It sounds like wishful thinking, but it’s true: Studies show that a piping-hot beverage can evoke warm thoughts about your company in potential customers, making them more receptive to your pitch.

“WE TEND TO THINK OUR MESSAGE is what moves people,” says Robert Cialdini, the author of Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade. “But it’s what we do first to create a particular state of mind in our audience that makes them receptive.” Offering coffee, for instance: Research has shown that when people hold something warm, it makes them more generous. Or try playing on what social scientists call the rule for reciprocation. In one

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Inc.

Inc.6 min read
Steve Young Shares Lessons From the Private Equity Playbook With a First-Time Founder
Not many entrepreneurs have both professional football and private equity on their résumés. But Steve Young has always been something of an overperformer. During his 15-year career in the NFL, the Hall of Fame quarterback earned himself three Super B
Inc.2 min read
Sheila Johnson
As told to Christine Lagorio-Chafkin SHEILA JOHNSON IS America’s first Black female billionaire. She’s lived multiple entrepreneurial journeys, from co-founding BET in 1980 to creating her luxury resort management company in 2005. She’s since purchas
Inc.1 min read
Piersten gaines
26 Going Fishing for Sharks FOUNDER AND CEO OF PRESSED ROOTS Piersten Gaines's first real pitch, to Shark Tank‘s “Mr. Wonderful,” Kevin O'Leary, did not go well. To start, her concept for Pressed Roots—a Dallas-based salon chain focused on curly and

Related