More On Persuasion Continuums
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.
So if your prospect is at the far left side of the 'towards/away continuum' we'll call it the 'away' side but in the 'internal/external' continuum, they're right in the middle. . . well, we'd just ignore the internal/external component and concentrate on towards and away. If they're in the middle of one of them, that means they won't easily be influenced by language from either side. It's simply not going to make much of a difference to them.
People organize their thoughts and reactions through continuums. They are a way of viewing the world, filtering experiences, and luckily, for persuasion purposes, they remain relatively static within a particular context. So if you've inquired about security or finances and the prospect's orientation is 'towards', they will likely remain towards in these areas.
True, big life changes can alter an orientation, but they are, for the most part, a set way of viewing things.
Some of the different lenses we have are 'toward and away', 'internal/external', and 'options and procedural'. When you understand what they are, they enable you to zero in on the functioning of the person you're influencing with laser like precision. Things start to get incredibly powerful here.
The idea is to learn to adjust your language to take advantage of the continuums you hear like notching a key to fit into a lock.
Most of us, we just assume that everybody else thinks the same way we do.
Wrong! They think the way they do.
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.
This is not at all about you changing your beliefs or core values. This is only about temporarily changing the way you express yourself within the context with this one client.
You've heard the saying, 'You are what you eat.' Well, are you? Are you what you wear? Are you what you drive? Are you where you live? Are you who you're with? We are all made up of any number of things but not one solitary thing.
Are you a belief? No, but you're closer to that than you are a shoe. Are you a value? Well, that's part of who you are. You're part of all those things. When you combine it together you have you.
By changing your languaging with your prospects, you retain who you are. It's more like changing a shirt or getting a different haircut.
Our main goal in persuasive communication is flexibility, bending to the ways your prospect or client bends, not maintaining our rigid views.
As the context changes, so does the orientation. If we're talking about health and then switch to finances, then in that given context, the orientation has to be reestablished. Don't assume that because someone is 'away' in one context, that they'll be 'away' in all contexts.
Coming soon: Backing the Ambulance Up to the Door: The 'Away' Perspective.
Article Source: http://www.search-raven.com
About the Author
Kenrick Cleveland teaches techniques to earn the business of wealthy prospects using persuasion. He runs public and private seminars and offers home study courses and coaching programs in persuasion techniques.
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by: KenrickCleveland
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