In my last vlog, I talked about persuasive selling. In this blog, I want to mention what is NOT persuasive selling.

I just read a sales blog that dealt with the objection, “I’d like some time to think about it”. The blogger suggested that the salesperson use this technique:

“It’s a fact that as time progresses you only retain about 20% of what you learned; so as you take time to ‘think about it’ you are actually becoming less informed. I’m sure you don’t want to make a less-informed decision, right?”  Then wait for the answer, and go for the close.

Is this clever? Maybe. But here is my problem with some of these types of “tricks” in sales.  To the educated buyer, they sound slick and manipulative. Once your prospect feels he is being manipulated, you completely lose your power of persuasion.

A few more examples of techniques that turn off many prospects:

1) “John, I’m going to be in your area on Tuesday morning and Wednesday afternoon.  Which works best for you?” (Nothing wrong with this when John has agreed he wants to meet with you, but if John never gave you that indication, he’s likely to recognize this false-choice cheesy sales technique.)

2) Ben Franklin Close: “Okay John, how about we fold this paper in half. Put the pros on one side and the cons on the other. Whichever is longer, that’s the decision we’ll go with today.”

3) This is a big one: OVERUSE of a prospect’s name. Research shows that you should use the name at the beginning and end. However, inserting the name often in your pitch actually works AGAINST you. Why? Because it sounds slick and salesy.

Prospects are more intuitive and educated than we may think.  Once a prospect starts seeing you less as a resource and more as a salesperson, you are losing your ability to persuade.

Keep in mind that there are great lines and techniques to help you move towards a solution.  Just remember, many of your prospects have read the same sales books as you have, so be careful that you don’t come off as an encyclopedia of slick sales techniques.  Your worst fate is that they see you marching towards that close without respect to the way they make buying decisions.

Enjoy the tip and learn more about persuasion here:

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Before you read further, watch the video above.

This simple experiment gives us basic insight into how people make decisions. If you selected the fifty-cent piece, you were attuned to visual and auditory signals. Watch the video again without the sound, and you will see various subtleties designed to call your attention to the half dollar. Play the video again, but don’t watch; just listen, and you will discover a multitude of verbal hints.

If you chose the dime, as stated in the video, you are likely very analytical. You are the kind of person that wants to figure out a trick or puzzle more than you desire to be entertained. You don’t just go for the ride, but you calculate while you are following direction. On a subconscious level, this calculation process causes you to avoid your general instinct to choose the greatest value. Your constant analysis also causes you to either miss or ignore the subtle gestures intended to lead you to the silver half.

Most visual learners will SEE heads rather than tails when they imagine any coin. Those who select tails usually think heads first; then switch to tails to create a challenge. Obviously this is not fool-proof. Thousands of variables are in-flux when making a decision. For example, people in the military will tend to naturally pick tails when thinking of a half-dollar. This may be due to the American Eagle on the back. Coin collectors are almost impossible to sway in any direction because their thinking is far more complex when it comes to coins.

It is noteworthy that highly visual people will almost always select the half, while auditory thinkers will mostly choose the half, and it’s simply random odds with those from the kinesthetic camp.

If you selected the quarter, as explained, you are likely analytical AND enjoy a challenge. You probably relish a good debate, and you have no problem sharing your opinion. There is no superlative that goes with the quarter. It isn’t the biggest or smallest, it’s neither first nor last, and it’s neither the most nor the least valuable. Whenever I KNOW someone wants to “catch” the presenter, I will do this effect, and they will almost always fall for the quarter. The beauty is that these people end up being the biggest fans of the power of persuasion, because they understand that there was nothing obvious in their selection.

As with all mental persuasion, it is a game of odds. The more you apply the principles, the greater are the odds that you will hit. However, the caveat is that this is not a science. There will always be the individual who hardly paid attention and just randomly grabbed a coin, or the person who always calls tails because she simply thinks it’s good luck. That’s what makes persuasion fun. The first magic trick was a visual persuasion, which should work for everyone, the second was a mental persuasion, which is far more challenging and rewarding for me.

This was published for your entertainment, but the laws of persuasion can be applied to real-world circumstances. Don’t you wonder why some people seem to get far more of their share of desired outcomes? They may be naturally gifted in the art of persuasion, or they may have learned it through study. You may call it charisma, leadership, confidence or just good luck. Any way you label it, I bet they are more persuasive than most.

What’s holding you back from applying these laws to get better outcomes for yourself? Take a 2hr audio journey that delves into the power of persuasion and how to use it to get results:

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Enjoy!!

Frank

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