To master influencers, nothing could be sweeter than the sound of a clear “yes” from a subject. People nowadays are more guarded about saying “yes” because people are more critical of what they see and hear on a daily basis.
So if you have that one opportunity to make people say “yes” in a shorter period of time, would you take that opportunity? Unless you like getting a “no” every time you ask someone for something, who wouldn’t want to elicit a positive response from people faster?
Now, if you’re ready to try this technique, the first thing you have to prepare is a series of questions (three is usually sufficient) that would easily elicit a “yes” from the subject. The idea here is we want the subject to become unconsciously comfortable with agreeing with you so he will have no trouble saying yes when you’re ready to request something from the subject.
Veteran sales people usually use a series of questions with very obvious answers (i.e. “are you comfortable with your chair?”). While it is okay to try this technique you are not stuck with this old pattern. You can use regular statements if you want. Here’s a quick example:
“You feel comfortable wherever you are right now, reading these words on the page and as you read some more you are feeling more relaxed, very relaxed and you feel heavy and sleepy”
Notice that the previous statement has three verifiable components and a final element that easily draws people to the conclusion that they are indeed feeling tired and sleepy for no reason.
That’s because the mind works so quickly in processing information that it takes shortcuts. If it already agreed with three items, it will choose to agree with the fourth item because a level of trust has already been established.
If you want your pattern to be really effective, use sensory-based statements to speed up the agreement process. When you use this particular pattern you are actually inducing a trance in the subject. And as we have already discussed earlier, a trance is really just a heightened state of awareness and focus.
Now you might wondering: why use three verifiable components? Why not two or four components? Well, it is common knowledge (at least to hypnotists and NLP practitioners) that generally, people commit to something after agreeing three times. And for influencers, it is easier to keep track of three components than four or five components.
If you want a bare bones formula for this, here it is:
1st verifiable condition + 2nd verifiable condition + 3rd plausible condition + call to action
The first three elements are just there to condition the other person. Of course, it would help if the first three elements are at least tangentially related to the fourth element so you won’t elicit a raise eyebrow from your subject. Just imagine hearing something like this from someone:
“You are sitting there comfortably, listening to me, hearing out my sales proposal and would you like to buy the service right now?”
This series might work for someone who has already been convinced but if you are saying it to an authority (like your boss) or a complete stranger who has only met you in the last hour you might not get a desirable result.
Here are some examples to help you create your own statements using this pattern:
1.“You have been working in this company for several months now and we have seen great progress in the way you handle your job as a networking expert and now the board believes that you are ready to take on even more challenging yet extremely rewarding responsibilities”
2.“Having gotten this book and having read this far into the material I would say that you are now part of an elite group of influencers”
3.“Sitting here with you, having a great dinner makes me feel like there’s a real connection between you and me. Would you like to join me for a DVD movie marathon later at my place, around nine sharp?”
4.“You have been able to read all of the guidelines of the competition and right now, holding your contest entries I think you will be doing just fine with adding two items in your contest portfolio”
5.“I have been working in this organization for almost two years now and during that entire period I have helped raise no less than two million dollars’ worth of revenue from sales alone, so you know for that alone I really need some recognition and additional compensation for my work”
6.“Having read all of the important details from my CV and having examined my existing credentials when do you think the company would call me to inform me that I have been selected for the said position?”
Important Notes:
The last example makes use of future pacing. Future pacing is a special type of pacing that leaves a future command to the subject. Most persuasive statements focus on getting a favorable response right now. If you don’t need that you can use future pacing instead if you want to give the subject time to think about what you have just said.
If you want to create an even more powerful message with statements crafted to pace and lead, you can try adding a conditional close. A conditional close is a simple question that gives you a direct link to what needs to be done to achieve your goal. The formula for a conditional close is:
What do I need to do/provide so you can ________________?
Fill the blank space with the goal of the interaction. For example, if you want the other person to buy something from you, simply ask “What do I need to do right now so we can close this deal and make your business even more efficient than it was before?”
A conditional close works exceptionally well when you feel that the other person is not taking action because he has hidden objections. Even if you don’t get the sale on the first try, you will be able to uncover hidden objections and you will be able to obliterate those objections as the interaction continues.