This “trigger” is more obvious than it sounds. Perhaps the best way to explain the effectiveness of social proof is, again, by example. I will use a restaurant and a gas pump to clarify the meaning behind this trigger.

While traveling in Greece with my wife who was attending a business meeting in Athens, I found myself chaperoning Barbara and a few of her associates on a last-minute shopping spree. Much to my dismay, we ended up in a jewelry shop sampling the trinkets like kids in a candy store.

Before exiting the shop, I asked the proprietor if he knew of a restaurant in the area where we could grab a light bite to eat before taking a cab back to the meeting site. As he…