Persuasion

How To Build An Alliance

How To Build An Alliance

0 comments

Building an alliance or a network of people that support you is crucial when it comes to influencing others on mass levels.

This is especially true in business.

Too many times people try to do everything themselves. And as the old saying goes "Two heads are better than one."

Think of how much easier life would be if you could leverage the resources, key players and opportunities that others provide you. That is exactly what an alliance can do for you.

In this video, I talk about the the two things you need to do first to start building your alliance.

[Video]How To Gain Rapid Control In Conversations

[Video]How To Gain Rapid Control In Conversations

0 comments

Click Here To Learn More

Conversational Control (Ice Breakers)

Conversational Control (Ice Breakers)

0 comments

 

 

Click Here For More Info

How to Increase Compliance with Agreement Sets

How to Increase Compliance with Agreement Sets

0 comments

When it comes to agreement sets, you're basically actively pacing and leading the other person to comply with what you want him to do.

Instead of just opening the possibility of compliance, you will actually be holding the other person’s hand during a hypnotic induction and ask him to do something for you at the end. It’s a little advanced than most hypnotic language patterns but I can assure you, it can work in many situations. How does an agreement set work? Here’s how it works: the human mind was designed in a way that when it picks up verifiable facts, it tends to question succeeding statements and ideas less and less until trust is finally established and compliance becomes imminent.

“As you are reading the manuscript, enjoying the different lessons on hypnotic pacing and leading, you will enjoy practicing these great hypnotic patterns even more”

Do you see how an agreement set comes together in a statement? The first two parts of the statement can be verified easily by the subject. The third and final element in the statement can’t be verified but by the time the subject reaches the third part of the stamen he has already been conditioned mentally to agree with whatever you want to say.

It’s a sneaky strategy and it works beautifully each and every time. And the best thing about this strategy is that it allows you to gain compliance without deceiving anyone at all. Notice that this pattern focuses only on what is true and what can be verified easily by the senses.

The Thought-Disruption Pattern

The Thought-Disruption Pattern is another brutally simple HLP that can be used to give embedded commands. The Thought- Disruption Pattern can be used when you think you have lost footing in a conversation and you really need to bring back the subject or the group to your desired issue.

Here’s the formula:

Step 1: Provide a diversion statement (i.e. “Crazy game last night!”)

Step 2: Wait for the subject to respond; if there is no response, try another diversion statement until it finally works.

Step 3: Begin asking questions that would lead the other person to agree with you (i.e. “Would you like to make more money than you have ever dreamed possible?”)

Step 4: Introduce the desired topic when the subject has complied with you.

Covert Tip:

All hypnotic language patterns can be used to effectively change people’s perception of ideas and events. For example, if you have to delegate a task to someone you know is already busy with other tasks; you can use the redefining pattern to show the other person a different view of the situation.

Just how can this be achieved? Here’s a good example: let’s say you had to manage a group of people on a daily basis. Delegating different tasks can be difficult especially during that time of the year when people really have to work double time just to meet deadlines.

What would you do when people start showing resistance to the idea of receiving more tasks from their manager? Normally, managers would just use their position to get what they want. It’s the normal process; employees or team members don’t usually complain because they are afraid of losing their job.

You may be able to delegate tasks this way but in the final analysis, people around you may be losing faith in your ability to become a good manager. That can become extremely problematic in the long term. We want harmony in any business setting right?

You can achieve this harmony by shifting another person’s perception through a HLP, like the agreement pattern. So if the subject is saying that he can’t accept the new task, you can tell him something like “I agree that you are indeed overburdened with several tasks at the moment and that means that we have to work really hard to identify which tasks are urgent and which ones can be put last on the list”.

The way I used the redefining pattern in the last statement helped me accomplish several things:

1. I was able to express agreement, which defused the situation immediately.

2. I was able to acknowledge the condition of the subject, which is another defusing technique. People tend to become more defensive and resistant if a person feels that the speaker has no idea what he is going through at the moment.Hypnotic Language Patterns Volume 1

3. I was able to embed a command in the statement, which also doubled as a solution to the implied problem of the subject (being overburdened with work).

 

How Simplicity Boosts Persuasiveness

How Simplicity Boosts Persuasiveness

0 comments

When people think about persuasion and influence, the first thing that usually comes to mind is that there has to be this grand effort to dazzle the subject or audience to speed up the persuasive process.

People start to think of ways that they can make things bigger and grander than before. Well, two recent studies show that this isn’t really the case and when you make things more complicated than it should be, the effort you make will actually backfire on you.

One particular study conducted by researcher Michael Wanke and his colleagues sheds light on the issue of complexity and simplicity in advertising. In their study, they presented two kinds of advertisements to their test subjects. One advertisement asked their respondents to give ten reasons why they would choose brand A.

The second advertisement asked the respondents to give just one reason why they should choose brand B. The study made use of two very popular brands (BMW and Mercedes Benz). Interestingly enough, those who were given the BMW-leaning advertisement were less likely to choose BMW over Mercedes Benz.

Why did this happen in the first place? The reason is actually quite simple – people had a hard time thinking of ten reasons why they should choose BMW instead of a Mercedes Benz. Since people are usually unwilling to expend a lot of cognitive resources unless extremely necessary, they will veer away from something that appears more complicated than it should be.

So if asking people reasons why they should choose something that you are offering will backfire on you, how can you use this strategy to your advantage? Simple – ask your audience two give you reasons why they should choose your competitors over you.

I can assure you than only a handful of your audience will be able to give you a really significant answer. The rest of your audience will probably freeze in place and just choose you because they weren’t able to produce a sufficient number of reasons why they should opt for your competitor and not you.

Of course, this technique would only work if you have already show the audience the value of what you are offering in the first place. If your audience is unaware of how great your service/idea/product is, they would probably just say that they have had experienced what your competitor has to offer and they don’t know anything about you at all.

Another study enforces the message of “keep it simple”. This study, spearheaded by researchers Alter and Oppenheimer, focused on how simplicity of names can actually spell the difference between success and failure in the stock market.

What these researchers found out was that the fluency of the name of a particular company had a bearing on how successful it would be in the stock market.

What this shows is the fact that when you start ignoring simple and powerful language, you lose out on the opportunity to have more influence over your audience or your market. I’m not saying that everything is hinged on the name of a project, but if you can make a project or contract sound simple and powerful, do it.

Researchers have also discovered that the kind of language that you choose to use is also of paramount importance when interacting with other people. Many books on influence recommend that you use authoritative language when you talk to others, so that your public projection would be better received by your audience.

If you are a programmer and you are dealing with fellow programmers and people from the same field, it is alright to use specialized jargon.

But if you come from a particular field like medicine or aeronautics and you use your specialized jargon on people who are not part of your field, the tendency is for people to ignore you and deem your entire message as less convincing because it is difficult to understand.
This might not sound fair at all especially to people who genuinely want to share their knowledge with the rest of the world. However, we must contend with this reality if we are to make any headway when we talk to non-experts.

Another thing: it has been found that when a person talks in a very specialized language or jargon, he is perceived to be less competent by non-experts.

Again this sounds absurd (that’s what experts are for, right?) but trusts me – it is far better to adjust how you communicate than to try to force people to accept your input.

Remember, you are in the business of influencing and persuading other people. It doesn’t matter if you have 3 Ph.Ds. – if people don’t understand you and they don’t even recognize that you are giving expert opinion because of your complex language, you will not be persuasive at all.

This problem with complicated language is present even in the academe and is also perceived as a problem in the workplace. For example, a Stanford University research showed that more than eighty five percent of student respondents in one study admitted that they purposefully used more complicated language in their academic papers just to sound that they knew more than the next person.

They did it to impress – but as we already know, if language is too complicated, it might backfire on the speaker instead. In yet another study, more than fifty five percent of employee respondents based in the United Kingdom reported that they had trouble understanding what their managers wanted them to do because the language was not clear enough.

As you can see, this communication gap can cause a lot of problems especially in a workplace because if the upper management and the regular employees are not communicating well, they are not going to accomplish a significant amount of work in the shortest time possible. What would result is a back-and-forth of messages that would slow down any project and may even cause friction between the management and the employees.

The Little Things That Make a Master Influencer Shine, Part 1

The Little Things That Make a Master Influencer Shine, Part 1

0 comments

The world of influence is filled with countless brilliant ideas and strategies. Unfortunately, only a handful of people will have the luxury of time to test different theories to see which ones are most effective. But don’t worry – that’s what I’m here for: I’m the one doing all the testing so you will be able to apply only the best techniques from this particular field.

In today’s exploration of influence and persuasion, we are going to talk about the “little things” that have a deep effect on an influencer’s impact on his subjects. You see, not all influence or persuasion techniques are big and complex.

Some tactics are simple and relatively easy to follow even if the one trying out the tactics isn’t devoted to the art of influence/persuasion. Look around and see which tactics would help you achieve persuasion more easily in the future.

Tactic # 1: Laugh and Don’t Bury Yourself in Tension

I know it’s old and overused but I’m saying it anyway: laughter is the best medicine. Before you hit me over the head with “everyone knows that”, let me explain myself: laughter is the antidote for even the most pressured situations.

Laughter helps release endorphins (the body’s natural painkillers) and also helps ease stress and tension. So whenever you feel that a conversation is not going as planned, instead of feeling sorry for yourself or angry at the subject, just crack a joke and laugh.

You might be surprised how laughter can ease the pressure in a conversation. Sure, laughter might not help you think of a brilliant comeback after receiving a particularly nasty objection, but what I can promise is that you will feel better after laughing and it will help you think more clearly.

If you want a model for laughter, I suggest that you briefly study small children while they are playing. Children are great models because they laugh so naturally. They don’t need a lot of reasons to laugh – they just do because it feels good! Unlike adults, children don’t have to ‘wait’ before the higher up laughs before laughing.

Children also don’t worry too much about things (which is probably the single biggest reason why they don’t look so weary all the time). Take the time to watch children, too – you might be surprised how they conduct themselves with other children and adults.

Humor is also a great way to convince someone to agree with you even if the communication is not face to face (e.g. communicating through email or text messaging). Start the conversation with a joke and make the subject laugh first before asking something from him. Again, this slight change in your approach can yield better results.

Tactic # 2: Negativity Attracts More Negativity

This is probably one of the most vital life lessons that I can share with you on any occasion. It is so important that I’m even going to share it with you in the context of improving your persuasion skills. The LOA (law of attraction) stipulates that in this universe, like attracts like.

Positive things open the gateway for more positivity while negative things allow more negative stuff to enter your life. If you want to be a truly persuasive and powerful master of influence, you have to start dissociating yourself from people who are bathed in negativity.

Because whether you like it or not, these people will ‘share’ their negativity with you and over time, contact with these people will make your life more difficult than it should be. This applies most especially to professionals who are trying to rise above the rest in a company or organization.

Some people are more likely to be supportive than others. Cherish and support those who contribute positivity in your life and in your efforts to reach your goals. Discard or dissociate your relationships that do not directly contribute to your personal and professional growth.

This might sound easy enough on paper but trust me; it can be difficult when you finally try to apply it in real life because you will discover that some of your oldest friends and acquaintances aren’t actually helping you grow as a person. It is painful (the dissociation process) but trust me, it will help you in the long term.

Tactic # 3: Word Power

We have always lived in a world ruled by signs and language. Having a limited vocabulary can actually stunt your ability to communicate and eventually influence others. If you are not able to express yourself well in any situation, how can you show others that you are an authority and that peoples would do well to pay attention to what you have to say?

Take a look at the politicians and TV personalities that are raking in the big bucks – what do they have in common, apart from their big bank accounts? Probably just one – their ability to speak well. You don’t have to be the most intelligent man/woman in the city to speak well.

Language is a skill – so make sure that you take every opportunity to make yourself more adept in writing and speaking. If you encounter a term that you are not familiar with, don’t rely on contextual clues to understand it. Seek the meaning of the word.

Buy a dictionary or visit dictionary websites to find out what the word means. Build your vocabulary and make an effort to learn the latest jargon (special language) of your own field. This extra effort on your part will ensure that you will always be able to express yourself competently and authoritatively in any situation.

People will notice your prowess in language and they will respect your ability to adequately express yourself whenever you need to. They will also appreciate the fact that when you have an idea in mind, you are able to fully explain your idea in its entirety.

So the next time you talk to someone, try to think of a new word that you have only recently encountered and try to use the word in the conversation. This will help you gain the confidence to start building and using an extended vocabulary on a daily basis.

Covert Persuasion Toolbox, Part 2

Covert Persuasion Toolbox, Part 2

0 comments

Covert persuasion works extremely well because the influencer would be closely focused on the subject and how the subject responds to different persuasion tactics. In a previous discussion, we focused on the following persuasive tools: questions, attitude, mental images and needs.

In today’s discussion, we are going to delve into more tools and tactics that will help you achieve persuasion or influence more quickly in almost any situation. Bear in mind that not every tactic will work so you still have to plan ahead.

The worst thing you can do as an influencer is to just pull out random strategies and language patterns in the hopes that you will be able to create a miracle out of thin air. Influence and persuasion does not work this way at all.

The more you don’t prepare for a conversation with another person or an important meeting with a large audience, the more likely you are going to fail.

Sure, you can master different tactics but having the tools alone will not guarantee your success. It’s like have a large shed full of brand new power tools. If you don’t know how to choose the right tool and if you don’t know how to use the tool properly, you might end up with a lopsided creation or you might even get hurt using the tool.

The same principle applies to persuasion. There are numerous tools that you can use but every tool has to be used at the right time and at the right place.

Below are two specialized tools of persuasion. Use these tools wisely and make sure that you use specific techniques in the right situations.

Tool # 1: Speed Matters

One of the most effective elements that you can add to any interaction is speed. The speed trigger can be used in almost any situation where the influencer requires a leeway in exchange for something valuable. For example, a salesman might say something like “I will shave $500 off the initial payment and have it delivered to you today. No more additional shipping fees”.

The speed element usually shocks the subject into complying with the request because it’s hard for the human mind to wrap itself around the idea of having something so quickly.

Speed is convenience and happiness rolled into one and all the mind can say is “yes, give it to me!”. This might sound incredibly sneaky (and it is) but it is not unethical at all.

Both the subject and influencer will benefit from the interaction and as the influencer, you are just expediting the transit of the benefit from your side to the subject’s side. The speed element is extremely effective because it can be ‘added on’ to any conversation. Let’s say you need someone to accompany you to the movies.

Instead of sending a message like “Will you go with me to the movies tonight?” you can instead send a more persuasive text message: “Will you watch “The Avengers” with me? I’ll pick you up in half an hour with my new ride”. See the big difference? The element of speed shocks the subject into action and really helps prevent any knee-jerk reactions like “I’m busy tonight”.

Tool # 2: Damage Control

Let’s say that a person that you have just completed a business deal has not come back to do business with you again. When you finally get a hold of the person, he doesn’t want to talk about what happened the last time that he did business with you.

Obviously, something went wrong – why wouldn’t he do business with you again? In situations like this, it is very important for you to perform proper damage control.

It is not enough to just apologize because that does nothing to address the actual cause of the problem. Begin damage control by asking general questions about his experience when he was doing business with you.

Move from general questions to specific questions further down the line. When the subject becomes more open to sharing his thoughts with you, just back down – don’t try to defend yourself or your decisions in the past.

You are at a point where your past decisions have already had an impact on another person’s life, so it would be pointless to explain every decision that led to that point.

The most helpful thing that you can do right now is to just listen. That’s right – sometimes the best solution is to just quiet down and listen intently at what the other person has to say.

People are very emotional especially when it comes successes or losses. A person who has just suffered from a loss will be very sensitive and very defensive and will simply walk away if he thinks that you are not going to be the one providing the solution to his new set of problems.

After listening closely to what the subject has to say (and after jotting down a few important notes), provide some reassurance that you value the subject’s business and you are willing to make things right. This reassurance is the first step to creating a new business relationship with the other person. Sure, not every person will be as forgiving, but it is worth a try.

Provide a solution that you think will solve the subject’s problem. After laying down your new solution, ask the subject if he wants the solution or if he has a better solution in mind. Once again, hear him out. If the solution he has proposed cannot be implemented because it will go against your principles, try to a middle ground.

There is always a middle ground – you just have to work hard to negotiate with the other person. The other person will yield to this middle ground because no one truly likes the idea of walking away with nothing and obviously, as the influencer, you are going to great lengths to offer something of value to the subject.