The Beginning: Setting Frames Right From The Start
Kenrick Cleveland
How do we begin a presentation? If you were sitting down right now to talk to somebody, how would you start your presentation?
What is the frame that you set? Is it a frame of cooperation? Is it a frame of 'I'm right'? Is it a frame of 'you need me'? Is it a frame of 'you're going to do this'? Or is it a frame of 'I'm going to help figure out what you need and give it to you'?
Take just a moment and identify the frame that you're starting with. Not the frame you think you should be starting but what you have been starting with?
Here are two frames students of mine came up with.
"I'm here to help you get what you want."
And, "I want to find out what you need.'
Let me give you some insight into these two frames.
When you say, 'I'm here to help you get what you want', you are inserting yourself into the picture. You are the 'I'. Getting what they want includes you. When you say, 'I want to find out what you need', you are finding out information, not performing an action and you are not in the frame.
The key is to insert yourself into your prospect's mind so that you are equated with the answer.
Life without action isn't much of a life. You must be taking action. One of the best ways to take action is by setting your frame in the beginning right out of the gate. That frame is: I'm going to help you get what you want.
Now maybe what they want is not to do business with you because you're not a good fit. Fine, I'll help you not do business with me. I'll help say goodbye and part friends. Nice. No problem. I appreciate you not wasting my time.
However, if you aren't inserting yourself correctly into the frame at the very start, then you run the risk of having bigger problems to contend with. That bigger problem is that you are not seen as a person of action who they will want to work with.
This is a subtle distinction but one that counts in a big way. The person who sets the frame from the start, wins. Consider this when you begin.
If you're out of the frame, your prospect will see you as out of the frame too and they'll thank you for your information and leave.
There's nothing manipulative in my opinion about inserting yourself into the frame. After all, they came to see you, or you came to see them and they let you in. Where the problem comes in is if you try to give them something they don't need or want. Be careful for this.
As the saying goes, 'You never get a second chance to make a first impression.' I'd go even further and say, 'You never get a second chance to powerfully, persuasively, positively set that first frame with yourself as the solution to your prospect's needs and wants.'
Have this as your intention as you begin.
Kenrick Cleveland teaches strategies to earn the business of affluent clients 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 strategies. Click here to get your own
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