Purely Emotional Persuasion: The Use of Storytelling
Kenrick Cleveland
I cry during movies. I'll admit it. I'm absolutely comfortable with it and not ashamed in the slightest. Stories have been used to elicit emotional responses, whether by design or by accident, since the beginning of man and some of the best stories are extraordinarily moving. That emotion may manifest as heartbreaking or uplifting or revolutionary or life changing-but the important thing to remember is that it is an unbelievably powerful opening-a hole, so to speak-that can be filled up with a message.
As storytellers in business and sales settings, we are first and foremost considering the emotional state which the stories will put our prospects or clients in. We persuade by using stories to control these states. Ultimately, the value of our stories is the state in which they put our audience.
When I tell stories I want to both make a point and put my prospect into a profound emotional state, carry them away, so to speak and open to accepting my message.
We can have an arsenal of emotionally persuasive and powerful stories at our ready at all times. For example, take respect. To a more affluent and, perhaps elderly clientèle, respect is quite possibly a motivating factor.
I work diligently to instill a sense of respect for elders in my children. Recently, in order to reinforce the point that respect is paramount, I was talking to his Sensei recently and I said, ''Sensei, I wanted to tell you that at the last belt advancement that I was just at with my son, I was really impressed. There was a man there that must have been in his seventies.' And Sensei smiled broadly and he said, 'Yes. He's about 73.'
And I said, 'He was up for the test to advance his rank. When it came time for his sparring, his Sensei jumped up to spar with him. I noticed that the older man was having think before reacting, he would see something coming, he would stand there for a brief second and then he would react. It was clear that his faculties weren't as sharp and his body wasn't as quick, but yet, it almost brought tears to my eyes to see this man walking into the ring, walking onto the matt and doing his level best. Moreover, it impressed me that his Sensei made him look so good. He respected him enough to make him look good. I realized this wasn't about outperforming the man, it was about respecting the human spirit.' My son's Sensei just beamed and he responded, 'That's absolutely correct. You've got it right on all fronts.'
So right there was a two paragraph story about respect that probably elicited an emotional response. My goal in the story was that I wanted my son to understand the importance of respecting his elders in the very same way his Sensei showed respect to the man far his elder.
The story worked. It did exactly what I wanted it to do. And the story really touches me, profoundly. I have great love for both the Sensei and for the older gentleman in the ring.
So with emotional story persuasion I'm looking to constantly maneuver the emotions because if I can get you opened up emotionally, I can put anything in that I want. So now I've told you a story about respect. If I'm in front of the room talking or I'm relaying this to a client, what's that going to do? It's going to show you I have respect for my elders. If you were an older person coming to me for financial advice or to buy property or to improve your business or in any way to move forward in your life, what might you now believe about me as a result of hearing that story? That I'm highly respectful.
This sets the frame. Within the frame, we can leverage knowledge so that somebody like our listener, has an undiscovered hero.
What are some of your stories that might elicit deep emotional responses and how can you incorporate them into your persuasion repertoire?
Kenrick Cleveland teaches techniques to earn the business of affluent prospects using http://www.maxpersuasion.com/ persuasion. He runs public and private seminars and offers home study courses and coaching programs in http://www.maxpersuasion.com/ persuasion techniques. Get your own completely http://www.uberarticles.com/?id=36419&b=79 unique content version of this article.
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