Monitoring the Ability to Change: Getting Inside the Closed Mind

Life is change; persuasion is change. As a Master Persuader, you must be able to create and motivate change. Understanding human nature is knowing that most people will resist change and burrow into their comfort zones. We tend to follow the path of least resistance. However, change is the only thing that can lift us up from where we currently lie. Oliver Wendell Holmes said, ‘‘Man’s mind, stretched to a new idea, never goes back to its original dimensions.’’ We all want to become a better person and to be ‘‘stretched’’ to accomplish more things, but we are stuck in our daily patterns.

As you go through the Pre-Persuasion Checklist, find out how resistant to change your audience is likely to be. Will persuading them be like breaking through a brick wall or a cardboard box? Are they ready to make changes because of their circumstances and surroundings? Are they already trying to change? Some of your prospects will oppose you and blatantly resist your persuasive message. This is great news—this means they are listening and it’s a sign of involvement. If the audience gives no feedback, then they are not involved in your message.

There are three ways people make changes in their life. One is through drastic change. This could be a heart attack, a personal tragedy, or losing a job. These events force people to change their lives. They did not feel a need to change until threatening, life-changing events occurred. The second is through gradual change. This is a process that evolves from events or personal relationships. Gradual change happens over time, so much so that you usually don’t notice that it is happening. The third way people change their lives is through internal change. This can come from inspiration or desperation, but either way, you have consciously decided you are going to make changes in your life.

To get change to stick, you must make sure three things occur, whether within yourself or your audience. First, there must be a long-term, enthusiastic commitment to change. You have to decide there is no other option. The second thing is that you must be willing to pay the price, persisting even when you feel weak. Third, you have to know where the change is taking them. How is this going to affect their lives? What are the end results?

The biggest obstacles to change are lack of motivation, lack of knowledge, and fear. People will not change if they don’t know where that change is taking them. We naturally watch out for our own future and want to prevent harm from reaching us. As a persuader, you need to create a vision for your audience, one that shows them what they will be like in the future. If you can get people to see themselves in the future and witness where that change will take them, they will be more willing to embrace change. Understand that people will resist change unless sufficient reinforcement and tools are provided to assist them. Without having this knowledge, their attitudes won’t change, and if their attitudes won’t change, then their actions won’t change.

Monitoring the Acceptance Level: Determine

Where the Audience Stands

An important part of the Pre-Persuasion Checklist is determining what the audience’s current acceptance level is for the subject you want to present. Ask yourself the following questions when making this determination:

1.

Knowledge: What does my audience know about the topic I want to talk about?

2.

Interest: How interested is the audience in my subject?

3.

Background: What are the common demographics of my audience?

4.

Support: How much support already exists for my views?

5.

Beliefs: What are my audience’s common beliefs?

Understanding different types of audiences will also help you determine their acceptance level. Following are some different categories of audiences and how to deal with each of them.

The Hostile Audience

This group disagrees with you and may even actively work against you. For a hostile audience, use these techniques:

Find common beliefs and values.

Use humor to break the ice.

Don’t start the presentation with an attack on their position.

You are only trying to persuade on one point; don’t talk about anything else that could be considered hostile.

Because of your differences, they will question your credibility. Increase your credibility with studies from experts or anything that will support your claim.

They will try to find reasons to not like you; don’t give them any.

Don’t tell them you are going to try to persuade them.

Express that you are looking for a win-win outcome rather than a win-lose situation.

If possible, meet with the audience more than once before confronting them on areas of disagreement.

Show them you’ve done your homework.

Respect their feelings, values, and integrity.

Use logical reasoning as clearly and as carefully as possible.

Use the Law of Connectivity and the Law of Balance.

The Neutral or Indifferent Audience

This audience understands your position but doesn’t care about the outcome. The key to dealing with this group is creating motivation and energy—be dynamic. To persuade the indifferent audience:

Spell out the benefits to them or the things around them.

Point out the downside of not accepting your proposals.

Grab their attention by using a story. Make them care by showing them how the topic affects them.

Get them to feel connected to your issues.

Avoid complex arguments.

Use concrete examples with familiar situations or events.

Identify why they should care.

Use the Law of Involvement and the Law of Social Validation.

The Uninformed Audience

An uninformed audience lacks the information they need to be convinced. To persuade them, you should employ the following tactics:

Encourage them to ask questions throughout the presentation.

Keep the facts simple and straightforward.

Find out why they are uninformed.

Use examples and simple statistics.

Quote experts the audience respects.

Stress your credibility, such as degrees, special expertise, and experience.

Make your message interesting in order to keep their attention.

Use the Law of Dissonance and the Law of Scarcity.

The Supportive Audience

A supportive audience already agrees with you. You may think that persuading these people is easy, but remember that your goal is to get them to take action, not necessarily to just agree with you. These techniques should be used with a supportive audience:

Increase energy and enthusiasm with inspiration.

Prepare them for future attacks by inoculating them against other arguments.

Get them to take action and to support your cause.

Let them know what needs to be done.

Use testimonials to intensify the commitment.

Use the Law of Esteem and the Law of Expectation.

Most audiences are a mix of all four of these types. Find out the dominant audience type that will be present and tailor your remarks accordingly. Of course, mix in some techniques from the other three areas since your prospects will always be a blend of all four.

The Persuasion Pitfall

Understand your audience and what laws of persuasion you are going to use on them. There are times and situations where certain persuasive laws or techniques are not appropriate. You cannot treat every person or every audience the

same way. If you take persuasion too far, you will run into what I call the Persuasion Pitfall.

People are persuaded and influenced until they feel cheated, misled, or taken advantage of, and then they never tell you about their feelings or do business with you again.

In sales and marketing, we have a tendency push the envelope a little too hard when trying to persuade others. This could be in a personal one-on-one encounter with a friend or in a visit to the local furniture store. Persuaders who do not possess the ability to read others or who do not have the skills necessary to persuade typically fall victim to the Persuasion Pitfall. They will take persuasion a little too far, using extreme pressure or trying to sell you a product you don’t need or want. Use persuasion, influence, or power the wrong way and people lose all trust in you, never to be persuaded by you again. When over-persuading, you do or say something that sets off silent alarms in you prospects’ minds. It could be a feeling of uneasiness, or a bad feeling toward you, your store, or your product.

This pitfall also includes selling a faulty product. The challenge with this pitfall is that 99 percent of the people in the world will say nothing to you about the defective item or about your over-persuading. They simply will never go into your store again. They will never want to associate with your product. Or, if you are a friend or member of the family, they will never trust or listen to your point of view again. This pitfall is a silent killer because most persuaders don’t even realize the mistake was ever made. The duped person will never come back to the store and will probably tell others not to go back too. You have probably had this happen to you many times, at a car dealership, in retail stores, and on the phone. You have to have a sixth sense in persuasion and know how hard you can push.

We hate to feel manipulated or pressured. We have all been burned or taken advantage of, and when we see signs of such behavior we start to run. Many uneducated persuaders can be offensive, condescending, obnoxious, and insulting. Some people will need to have space, some will have to talk to a spouse, and still others will have to come back later before making a decision. You have to sense and know via knowledge and experience and nonverbal cues how many tools of persuasion you can use without running up against this pitfall. You have to sense your limits before you cross the line.