Foot-in-the-door technique is a persuasion method. In it, the persuader does something small in order to catch the target's interest, before moving on to what he really wants. This may be a small, insignificant offer which the receiving party cannot logically refuse. After the receiving party has accepted the offer, the offeror proposes another, but more significant offer. Because the receiving party has already accepted the smaller offer from the offeror in the past, he will be more inclined to accept the second offer than from someone he had just met. A related trick is the Bait and switch. Persuasion is a form of influence. ... Offer and acceptance analysis is a tool in contract law used to determine whether a contract exists between two parties. ... Offer and acceptance analysis is a traditional approach in contract law used to determine whether an agreement exists between two parties. ... A bait and switch is a form of fraud in which the fraudster lures in customers by advertising a good at an unprofitably low price, then reveals to potential customers that the advertised good is not available but that a substitute good is. ...

The term refers to the stereotype of a pushy door to door salesman inserting his foot in someone's front door so they become unable to close it and terminate the conversation, without actually invading their home. Stereotypes are considered to be a group concept, held by one social group about another. ... Salesman is a 1969 cinema verité documentary film which follows four salesmen of expensive Bibles door-to-door in a low-income neighborhood which cannot afford expensive Bibles. ...

Modern examples of metaphorical 'foot-in-the-door' practice include not only traditional sales techniques, but can also include the practice of charities mass-mailing small free gifts (such as pens) to recipients in the hope of persuading them to open the letter and consider donating money, rather than simply throwing the letter in the wastebasket. Cults are also said to employ this technique, with the 'foot in the door' being a casual conversation on the subject of philosophy, or a group meeting, which does not immediately resemble the target's idea of a cult. Charity is a term in Christian theology (one of the three virtues), meaning loving kindness towards others; it is held to be the ultimate perfection of the human spirit, because it is said to both glorify and reflect the nature of God. ... United States Postal Service defines bulk mail broadly as quantities of mail prepared for mailing at reduced postage rates. ... Cults is a suburb of Aberdeen, Scotland. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

An episode of the BBC thriller series Hustle featured the foot-in-the-door technique as applied to con tricks: a conman offers a businessman a supposedly low-risk, high-return investment involving a relatively small amount of money. After receiving the mark's money, the conman waits for a few days before handing him a much larger amount of money back, claiming that the investment has paid off: the "return" is in fact the conman's own capital, temporarily sacrificed. He then later returns with the prospect of a similar investment, involving far more money. When he receives this money, he flees. The Hustle team (L–R): Ash Morgan, Albert Stroller, Mickey Stone, Stacie Monroe, and Danny Blue Hustle is a British television drama series made by Kudos Film & Television for BBC One. ... A confidence trick, confidence game, also known as a con or scam, is an attempt to intentionally mislead a person or persons (known as the mark) usually with the goal of financial or other gain. ... Capital has a number of related meanings in economics, finance and accounting. ...

External links

• Article on 'foot-in-the-door' and 'door-in-the-face' techniques