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Persuasion Continuums II: Getting In Deeper

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.

A brief recap of article one: Continuums work best when your prospect is at one end or the other of the scale, not if they're in the middle. (This will make more sense as you read on.)

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.

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.

Sometimes big life changes can make these things change, but basically they are a set way of looking at the world.

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.

When you begin to hear these continuums you can learn to adjust your language accordingly for maximum advantage.

People commonly believe that we all have the same thought processes, that despite our differences of opinion, we all have a similar way of gaining and assimilating knowledge. This is simply not true.

Wrong! They think the way they do.

Step one in using this skill is to allow yourself to be a blank slate, a white board, which your prospect will define. You are open to their way of viewing the world so as to get into their head.

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.

It's really important to understand that when you change your language, you're not changing who you are, you're changing your shirt, you're changing your shoes, you're changing your tie.

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.

As contexts change, so do orientations. Don't assume that because someone is 'away' as you discuss health, that they'll be 'away' in regard to finances or security. This is context specific and requires that criteria be re-elicited.

Coming soon: Backing the Ambulance Up to the Door: The 'Away' Perspective.

Article Source: http://www.uberarticles.com/articles

Kenrick Cleveland teaches strategies 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 strategies.

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