Do you ever feel like you're an easy mark for salespeople, fundraisers, and just about anybody that wants something from you? If so, you're not alone.

Why we often succumb to the various pitches and persuasive talk is, in fact, a whole area of academic study often referred to as the Psychology of Compliance.

A grasp of a few basic concepts from this discipline of study can produce big rewards no matter which side of the buy/sell equation you're on.

One of the best reads in this field of study is by compliance practitioner Robert Cialdini. Back in 1984, he wrote his first edition of "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion."

In the book, he set out to determine which psychological principles influence the tendency to comply with a request. As the author points out, "we all employ them and fall victim to them, to some degree, in our daily interactions with neighbors, friends, lovers, and offspring." He directed most of his research towards the compliance professionals in the business world - sales people, fundraisers, recruiters, advertisers, etc.

Although there are thousands of different tactics people use to get to "yes," he said, he has narrowed them to just six major tactics that drive human behavior:

1) consistency;

2) reciprocation;

3) social proof;

4) authority;

5) liking;

6) scarcity.

Cialdini explains that "click and whirr" situations happen in nearly all animal species, including humans, and that given a certain situation, we nearly all react in the same, almost-unconscious way. (A "click and whirr" event is simply a cute name for a fixed action pattern that involves sequences of behavior.) "Click," and the appropriate tape is activated; "whirr," and out rolls the standard sequence of behaviors.

For example, in one of his tests he had a person interrupt someone making copies by saying, "Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the copy machine since I'm in a rush?" The effectiveness of this request-plus-reason was nearly total: 94 percent of those asked let the interrupter make the copies.

Compare that to when they used the line, "Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the copy machine?" With that simple change in the request, the success of the person trying to butt in line dropped to just 60 percent.

It seems obvious that the "in a rush" made all the difference. Well, not quite. In a third test group, the question was changed to "Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the copy machine since I have to make some copies?" Surprisingly, the success rate of this question yielded a 93 percent success rate.

What the researcher found was that the use of the word" because" triggers an automatic compliance response in people even when a person gives no substantive reason to comply. So, the word "because" becomes the "click," and the "whirr" is our granting of the request.

If you start to use some of the "click and whirr" events that Cialdini outlines, you can become quite successful at sales, fundraising, recruiting, or just about any manner of human interaction that involves persuasion. However, if you fail to recognize and resist these techniques, you become what most of us dread to be known as: an easy mark.

Damon Carson is founder and president of repurposedMATERIALS: www.repurposedmaterialsinc.com; www.repurposedauctions.com