The seventh strategy is to maintain and sustain a relationship through regular contact.
If you have successfully established rapport with someone, deepened your relationship using basic relationship care-taking techniques and are truly empathic, you are in a great position to influence the person using the strategies of reasoning and re-framing, appeals to their self-interest and the automatic behavioral responses described by Cialdini BUT you must maintain and sustain your hard-won relationships or they will wither from inattention.
This comes as no surprise, I am sure but it bears repeating that the people who are most influential in their interpersonal interaction, regularly nurture and cultivate their relationships with others. The social technology of today can help (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) but also can be a distraction and an ineffective substitute for the personal interaction that sustains relationships.
Finally, I often find myself repeating the Maya Angelou quote, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” It can be helpful to keep this quote in mind when you are trying to influence others and perhaps all the time.
Before closing, it is important to note that the seven influence strategies presented in this series are meant to help you influence others in interpersonal interaction without the leverage of formal authority, political status, wealth or fame. Certainly if you are in a position of formal authority or have some other leverage over others, these strategies will work for you even if they are not all you have to work with. Masters of influence can be influential without the trappings of wealth, fame or fortune. Think about it.
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