•Brand Loyalty
It's a challenge getting consumers to remain loyal to a particular brand. Unlike the good old days when brand loyalty was a given, times have changed. As a society, we no longer feel compelled to stick with a certain company or product. We no longer are brand loyal.
More often that not, your consumer reaches for the "best deal." Whether this "best deal" is in the form of coupon shopping, rebate shopping, or simply searching for the lowest price on the shelf, the consumer is no longer loyal...
•Build Instant Credibility Or You Will Lose The Deal Of A Lifetime
You arrive late to an appointment and have forgotten the literature you promised your prospect. Your credibility is at an all time low. How can you salvage this situation?
“One can stand as the greatest orator the world has known, possess the quickest mind, employ the cleverest psychology, and have mastered all the technical devices of argument, but if one is not credible one might just as well preach to the pelicans.6” – Gerry Spence, trial lawyer
Daniel O’Keefe defines credibility as...
•Do You Have Each Aspect Of Trust
The ability to gain and keep trust is a vital factor in being able to influence others. Research has shown, time and time again, that trust is always a contributing factor in the ability to influence others. When a person trusts you, trust alone can cause them to accept your message. On the flip side, if people don’t trust you, all the evidence, reasoning, facts, or figures in the world won’t get them to budge.
Trust can be an ambiguous concept, but certain things are quite clear: You can’t...
•Drive To Success
Consistent and rapid changes are impacting the economy, and the small businesses that create approximately two-thirds of the nation’s new jobs. These changes are all around us and envelope all areas of business. The most obvious changes range from: telecommunications, manufacturing, distribution and natural resource management to evolving consumer needs and demands. Thus we see a tremendous growth in worldwide competition and making the road to success much more complex and difficult,...
•Embedded Commands
An embedded command is a suggestion that is hidden within written or spoken language. It is used to communicate to the conscious mind while also sending a message to the subconscious mind. The intent is to actually bypass the conscious mind and communicate directly to the subconscious mind. Since embedded commands usually remain undetected by the conscious mind, they are very commonly used in marketing and advertising. It is in this covert way that marketers can create expectations and desires...
•Expect With Confidence
Often our expectations are based on the assumptions we have about people or groups of people. The same is true of us. Have you ever noticed how your expectations become reality in your personal life? Expectation is literally a self-fulfilling prophecy. We do this consciously and subconsciously. Remember the kid in grade school who was always really rowdy and disruptive? Sometimes if people already assume they are perceived a certain way, then that is indeed exactly how they will act, even if...
•Factors Influencing The Impact Of Humor In Persuasion
Humor's effectiveness will always ride the emotional tides of your audience members. How well a joke goes over may depend on whose company your prospects are in, whether they are winding down for the day or still up against deadlines or other workplace pressures, whether they are awake and alert or feeling drowsy, whether they have a headache, etc. Always be in tune with how your audience is feeling and always assess the atmosphere you're in to determine whether it is conducive to humor....
•Getting Your Foot In The Door
One aspect of the law of dissonance is the urge to remain consistent with our commitments. Even if someone begins with a small request then follows it up with a larger request, we still tend to remain consistent in our behavior and answers. This technique of capitalizing on such a principle has been called by several names, including "foot-in-the-door," FITD, self-perception theory, or the "sequential request."
Basically, it is a means of using a person's self-perception to motivate her to...
•High Expectations Lead To Great Results
The expectations we create for others often become reality. This can have interesting effects when applied out in the real world. Expectations have changed the lives and persuaded the behavior of other individuals.
Under the umbrella of expectations, teachers can be the greatest asset or the greatest negative influence in a child's life. We know what happens when a teacher labels a student a "troublemaker" because it creates certain expectations for the student's actions. We have seen the...
•Marketing Obligations
The more indebted we feel, the more motivated we are to eliminate the debt. Pre-giving makes us feel like we have to return the favor. Greenburg said this feeling of discomfort is created because the favor threatens our independence. An interesting report from the Disabled American Veterans Organization revealed that their usual 18 percent donation response rate nearly doubled when the mailing included a small, free gift.
The Law of Obligation also presents itself in the following situations:...
•Maslows Hierarchy Of Motivation
Many of us are familiar with Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. A renowned researcher and psychologist, Maslow proposed a “hierarchy of needs” that demonstrates the human needs we are most motivated to satisfy. The base of the motivational order begins with the fundamentals of life. These fundamental, life-sustaining needs must be met before the higher needs can be targeted. When lower needs are not met, the higher needs become less urgent or persuaded.
• Self-actualization needs: realizing...
•Mirroring And Matching
We often subconsciously mirror others, without even realizing we’re doing it. It is just a natural thing that we do. Have you ever noticed at social gatherings how people tend to match each other in their body language and their attitudes? For example, when two people greet each other, they tend to use the same postures and to behave similarly. When you are a Master Persuader, you will make skillful and conscientious use of mirroring.
You will be amazed at the effectiveness of using the same...
•Pacing And Leading
Pacing involves establishing rapport and making persuasive communication easier; leading involves steering your prospect toward your point of view. Pacing and leading will enable you to direct a person's thoughts so they tend to move in your direction.
When you pace, you validate your prospects either verbally or nonverbally; that is, you are in agreement or rapport with your prospects. As a result, they feel comfortable and congruent with you. Pacing entails using statements everyone accepts...
•Paint The Picture And Get Your Prospects To See What You Want Them To See
What can you say to paint the picture to your prospects and create the right persuasive emotion in your presentation? Analyze your stories. Are you stores vivid? Can you audience taste, feel, touch, and identify with your story? Do you use silence in your presentations? Should you? Where should you implement a good pregnant pause?
A utilities company, trying to sell customers the advantages of home insulation, sent auditors to visit homeowners and point out the ways they were wasting energy....
•Perfecting The Art Of Closing
Everyone sells for a living. Whether you’re a sales rep, a parent, a leader, a manager or a coach, on a daily basis we all find ourselves in situations where we must sell others on our way of thinking. The more closing skills you have under your belt, the better equipped you will be to land a sale.
In sales, this process is referred to as “closing.” Since “closing skills” derive themselves directly from the sales industry, I’m going to discuss them within a sales context, but bear in mind...
•Power Pointers For Story Selling
Nothing disarms and invites an audience in more than humor. We are instantly drawn to people we think are funny. We enjoy listening to humorous individuals and hearing what they have to say. Humor grabs attention, creates rapport and makes a message more memorable. It can also relieve tension, enhance relationships and motivate people.
If you've got an important message to share, humor can give you a huge advantage. The actor John Cleese once said, "If I can get you to laugh with me, you like...
•Power Selling With Word Choice
The Law of Verbal Packaging states that the more skillful a person is in the use of language, the more persuasive they will be. People are persuaded by us based on the words we use. Words affect our perceptions, our attitudes, our beliefs, and our emotions. The words we use in the persuasion process make all the difference in the world. Language used incorrectly will lose the deal you might otherwise have closed. Word skills are also directly related to earning power. Successful people all...
•Power Tools Of Power Closers
I’d like to outline five different powerful tools that are used by all power closers. Anyone who masters these skills who does not possess them already will surely see profound results.
The first concept is that power closers are intensely goal-oriented. Talk about goals and goal-setting these days seems to have become very cliché. In spite of this tendency, super-successful individuals who are driven to accomplish well-planned and clearly defined goals are distinguished from those who are...
•Power Words
We know certain words have more pull than others, but who would have thought that simple words like "because" and "and" would have the power to move mountains? It is best to assume that with spoken language, simple is better than complex. Since we are unable to recapture or replay our spoken words, we hope that they will be correctly interpreted the first time they are heard. Unfortunately, spoken words can be the most misread and misinterpreted form of communication, and therefore, can be a...
•Psychology Of The Sales Professional
One’s attitude has a lot more to do with the level of her/his success than one’s aptitude, ability, IQ, education or other factors do. I’d like to get into the details of a salesperson’s psychology so that, when it comes to building your team and individual team members, you are equipped with the knowledge of what’s really going on in there. As a holder of a management or other sort of leadership position, you may have already experienced being a salesperson yourself. However, it never hurts...
•Public Relations And Goodwill
One highly effective type of advertising costs virtually nothing: public relations. With public relations, the newsworthiness of some aspect of your business or business activities can earn you free publicity in newspapers or magazines, or even on radio or television.
However, it must truly be newsworthy. You might publicize, for example, a lecture, a demonstration or a workshop being presented at your business site—an event that news outlets could list in their community calendars or...
•Rhetoric Selling
One’s ability to persuade meant great social prestige in the ancient Greek world. Homer regarded the rhetorical skills of Nestor and Odysseus as tremendous inborn gifts. It was Aristotle who first introduced persuasion as a skill that could be learned. At that time, rhetorical training became the craze for citizens of Athens, especially for the politically elite. The first book ever written on persuasion was Aristotle’s The Art of Rhetoric. The book’s basic principles established a...
•Secrets Of Successful Negotiators
Persuasion occurs when your ideas are so convincing that the other party ends up adopting your point of view. With persuasion, there is no compromising as there is in negotiation. Rather, the other party willfully and enthusiastically abandons their position to embrace yours.
This abandonment is not brought about by manipulation because the other party clearly sees the gains and advantages of doing business with you. Negotiation, on the other hand, is a process of give and take. It’s being...
•Stirring An Audience
Are we rational human beings? Do we follow all forms of logic? Do we only act if it feels right? Do we even want the facts all the time? Have you ever tried to persuade an emotional person with logic?
We generally think we make decisions based on facts, but truly this is not the case. It has been found that when people agree with a particular message, they tend to perceive it as being more logical or rational. On the other hand, when people disagree with the message, they perceive it as an...
•Taking Charge And Making A Difference
We all have those days when we just don’t feel like doing what we need to do. We intend to, but then it still doesn’t happen. Well, not only do we have “those days,” but we could probably point to such a scenario every single day! Procrastination is just part of the human condition—”Oh, I’ll get to it…later….” How do we muster the motivation to get things done and to stay on track, even during those inevitable times when we just don’t feel like it?
Basically, there are only two things that...
•Telling Stories
Paint the picture for your audience. The more you can create the setting—the sights, the sounds, the smells, the feelings—the more your audience will be drawn in. Remember, you want the experience to become their experience—something they can readily identify with. As a persuader, you’ve got to take them there.
As you prepare yourself, keep in mind all the ways in which you can really produce a mental and emotional imprint. You want your prospects to see your story in their minds’ eyes,...
•The Bait And Switch
If you can get someone to mentally commit to a product or a decision, he is likely to remain committed even after the terms and conditions change. This is why when stores, for example, advertise very low prices on a television set, they include in small print, "Quantities Limited." By the time you get to the store, all the bargain televisions are sold, but you are mentally committed to buying a new TV. Luckily for you, there are more expensive models available. So, you go home having spent...
•The Desperation Cycle And Failing Motivation
Many think motivation is useless because it doesn't ensure long-lasting results. This thought tendency can be seen in what I call the Desperation Cycle. The Desperation Cycle shows how human nature influences us to take the easiest path instead of the best one. In persuasion, we need to pull people out of the Desperation Cycle and into permanent, long-term motivation.
We all know we are creatures of habit. We are like water following the path of least resistance. As creatures of habit, we...
•The Exponential Success Roadmap
The journey to success starts with belief, proven principles and a burning desire to change. A lot of it will boil down to how your mind is programmed and whether you have given yourself permission to win.
Let’s revisit the good old days of sitting in math class. Take the mathematical operation 4 + 4, for example. The answer is 8, right? What if we keep the same numbers, however, but change the operation—say, 4 x 4. The answer is 16—the same two numbers with a different operator yield twice...
•The Impact Of Suggestion
Expectations influence reality and create results. Individuals tend to make decisions based on how others expect them to perform. As a result, people fulfill those expectations whether positive or negative. Expectations have a powerful impact on those we trust and respect, but, interestingly, an even greater impact on perfect strangers. When we know someone expects something from us, we will try to satisfy him or her in order to gain respect and rapport.
You have probably heard the saying,...
•The Mystery Element In Sales
The element of mystery can be effectively employed to involve your audience. We are all naturally curious about the unknown. When we feel we've been left hanging, it drives us crazy! We want to know the end of the story. We want our tasks to be completed so we can check them off our list. This is also known as the "Zeigarnik Effect," named after Bluma Zeigarnik, a Russian psychologist. This effect is the tendency we have to remember uncompleted thoughts, ideas, or tasks more than completed...
•The Obstacles That Keep You From Closing The Sale
The very first obstacle that many persuaders experience is prejudging a prospect. They set up an appointment, hang up the phone and then immediately say, “Oh, great. This lady’s looking for a product we don’t even have. She’ll never buy.” It could be for any number of reasons, but basically the salesperson decides, based on one scrap of information, that the lead isn’t going to go anywhere before s/he has even met or spoken with the prospect. This is a common but huge selling mistake.
There...
•Turning Objections Into Sales
When you become a Master Persuader, you will learn to love objections. You will come to understand that when people voice their objections, it actually indicates interest and shows that they are paying attention to what you are saying. The key to persuasion is anticipating all objections before you hear them. Fielding questions and handling objections can make or break you as a persuader. Such skills will help you in every aspect of your life.
Four different times to handle objections:
1....
•Vocal Techniques That Attract
How we say the words we choose is just about as important as the words themselves. Our voice is a powerful instrument that can motivate the troops or lull them to sleep. There is a huge difference between presenting and persuading. Your voice is a complete arsenal of persuasive techniques in and of itself. For example, you can say the same thing but mean five different things, depending on the tone of your voice. You can say "Thank you" laden with sarcasm, love, hate, anger, humor, or...
•Why The Laws Of Persuasion Work
As the species whose thinking ability supposedly separates us from the animals, we really don't spend much of our life reasoning. Most of the time our minds get stuck on cruise control. Thinking takes up too much time and requires too much energy. Imagine having to think about every decision we make. It wouldn't leave us much time to accomplish anything else, would it? Most of us have a systematic way of looking at the world. When this mode is operating, our minds are perfectly primed to...
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