the.com/foot in the door
The smallest yes that makes every future no harder to say.
means An initial small concession or opening gained now, used as a foothold to secure bigger agreements later.
from The phrase comes straight from the literal tactic of old-fashioned door-to-door salesmen: wedge your foot in the doorway before the homeowner can shut it, and you've bought yourself time to make the pitch. It's attested in English by the early 20th century and became a formal term in psychology — the 'foot-in-the-door technique' — describing how agreeing to a small request makes people far more likely to agree to a larger one later.
- origin
- literal salesman tactic, wedge boot blocks door closing
- psychology term
- compliance technique exploiting consistency bias
- works because
- small commitment rewires self image toward agreement
- counter move
- refuse the tiny ask, not just the big one