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More On Persuasion Continuums |
By:
Kenrick Cleveland |
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More On Persuasion Continuums
Kenrick Cleveland
In the first article of this series, "Persuasion Continuums" I started to describe one of the slickest persuasion tools around. I'm going to take it a little further here.
Here's a brief recap of the first article: A continuum works best when the client you are influencing is at one end or the other, not if they're middle of the road on a particular matter.
Let's say that your prospect is at the far right side of the continuum at the far 'towards' side. And let's say for 'internal/external', well they're right dead in the middle. They don't seem to go either direction, they don't seem to really care. I just would ignore the internal/external in my languaging because that one just isn't going to make a big difference.
Continuums are organizing principles. They represent a way of looking at things. They are a filter through which people view their circumstances. And the best part, for persuasion purposes, is that they are habitual. People generally keep the same perspective within the context in which you have inquired.
Sometimes big life changes can make these things change, but basically they are a set way of looking at the world.
We all view the world through these different lenses to one extent or another. We have a 'towards/away' lens, an 'internal/external' lens, and an 'options/procedural' lens. Once you understand how these work and what to say in order to access them, you will be able to zero in on the way a person functions and influence them with amazing precision.
When you begin to hear these continuums you can learn to adjust your language accordingly for maximum advantage.
Most of us, we just assume that everybody else thinks the same way we do.
Nothing could be further from the truth. You think the way you do. I think the way I do. Your prospect thinks the way he or she does. We're all wildly different.
So step one in learning how to work this is to put your mind in a white board state. . . a blank slate, so to speak. Your interaction with your prospect is about you being there to be marked upon and allowing a part of you to be molded by the way your prospect thinks and speaks. It's a kind of mirroring/matching.
I am not talking about changing your values or your beliefs. I'm not talking about changing who you are at your core. I'm talking about changing the way you express yourself to influence another person.
As an example, are you what you eat? Are you the shoes you wear? Are you the car you drive? Are you the city you live in? You are none of these things and you are made up of all of these things. You're a sum total of a great bunch more than what you eat, wear, drive, and where you live.
You're closer to being a value you hold than you are to the shoes you wear. But still, that doesn't begin to explain who you are. You are a combination of what you think, what you value, what you believe, what you feel, what you wear, who you know, and what you eat. . .along with a few other things.
changing your languaging with your prospects, you retain who you are. It's more like changing a shirt or getting a different haircut.
When we're pushed into a corner and we have to come out swinging, we're going to simply do what it is that we know how to do. And from there, we hope to improve. Every time you're in front of a prospect, you're in a corner, so to speak, and you do what you know how to do as best as you can. The goal is to have flexibility, to increase that.
Remember, that as the context changes from like work to home to love to health, so too will the way a person uses a continuum including not using that continuum at all in some, but not other contexts. Don't assume that because you know the continuum in one context that it will hold up in others.
Coming soon: Backing the Ambulance Up to the Door: The 'Away' Perspective.
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.
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Article Source: http://www.statssheet.com/articles/article70039.html |
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