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Slipping Into Our Prospect's Skin 

Harper Lee wrote in "To Kill a Mockingbird", "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." We've all heard that you can't truly know someone until you walk a mile in his shoes. . . .well, this technique is another figurative exploration in working with the energy of our prospects.

We are going to learn to climb into the skin of our prospects, experience them, their affluence, their decision making mechanisms, their emotional states-so that we can better give them what they need and get what we need.

When we consciously decide to "step inside" our prospects or clients or other than conscious minds make up patterns and make connections on our behalf. We are goal seeking mechanisms and the goal here is to be able to formulate what we are going to experience.

How are we going to do this? The way I do it is I just look at you and jump in. I imagine in my mind that I am now you looking at me. It's that simple. When I look at you, my unconscious, knowing that I'm going to step inside you, can very quickly build a pattern of who and what you are, such that when I step inside you, it already has constructed what's going to happen. Once I'm inside you, I'm modeling you, or mirroring you so completely and so powerfully that the results can be startling both for you and for the person that this is being done with.

Sounds weird? Yeah. I guess it does. But I don't care about my internal feeling of weirdness, especially if it works. As a mental construct, no one else needs to know about it. (I'm sharing it with you, but I don't share it with potential clients while I'm doing it.)

A student of mine has brought to my attention another way to do this. You build the same picture of "becoming" and then you turn around so you're facing the same direction and just step on in. This is a lot like mirroring.

I've experienced this as one of the quickest ways to gain incredible rapport. When we're working with the affluent, it's likely we're working with people who have more wealth than we do. By assuming their mannerisms, as we do when stepping into their skin, we have a very powerful simulation of them where they emulate the level of affluence which their client has.

This technique works if you spend a lot of your day on the phone as well. Maybe you have no idea what your prospects look like, well, it's enough to have their voice. You can do this kind of mirroring with just their voice. Voices have characteristics and patterns that your unconscious mind recognizes.

If we assume there is a finite number of patterns, then we can base those patterns on different systems of classification (astrology, for example). With these systems, we narrow the number of possible combinations.

Humans are infinite obviously. However, isn't it interesting to know that your other than conscious, in its vast experience of dealing with all the people it has dealt with, has come across most all of the major patterns and major characteristics of the people that you're dealing with? It knows what that other person can be like, can build a pattern and you can step right in, even if you're just on the phone.

This is a mental construct and as such, it will be imperfect. Even imperfect is okay. Because we're only hearing them and not seeing them, our construct is going to be different. Every minute we speak with them, however, our mental construct gets stronger, whether we are in their presence or on the phone. We are locking on to what that person needs and wants and seeing how we can best blend it with what we have to offer.

Here are a few things to ask yourself once you've stepped into their skin: What are their physical characteristics? How does it feel to have those characteristics? Notice when you step into the other person, where you feel the connection to them. Do you feel the connection in your stomach, in your feet, in your hands, in your chest, in your head? Where do you feel the connection? By asking yourself these questions you'll deepen the rapport.

One word of warning: don't try this if the person is sick or if they have something wrong with them. Sometimes being that empathetic can also make you sick.

This exercise, even if you're not particularly in touch with energy, can still be used effectively.

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

Kenrick Cleveland teaches strategies to earn the business of affluent clients using persuasion. He runs public and private seminars and offers home study courses and coaching programs in persuasion strategies.

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