The Unthinkable
I saw a funny bumper sticker the other day that said, "Don't believe everything you think." I'm not suggesting that thinking is overrated, although sometimes, well, maybe thinking is overrated.
Wikipedia defines thought or thinking as: a mental process that allows beings to model the world and to deal with it effectively according to their objectives, plans, ends and desires.
According to C.S. Lewis there are three levels of human thought. The first level is 'will'. The will contains everything that is real and factual. These thoughts influence your day to day actions and are usually influencing you on a sub/other-than-conscious level.
The next level of human thought is your intellect. The intellect tends consists of your conscious thoughts and decisions, things we've studied, academics, true and verifiable information.
And the third level of thought is fantasy. It's the most random and often makes very little sense at all. It is most active in children and artists but even non-artistic adults have the potential for rich fantasy lives. For persuasion purposes, we are most likely to have the best advantage dealing with the will and fantasy aspects of our prospects and clients as these are the most malleable and less entrenched in "reason". For example, with the fantasy level, we can create pictures for our prospects which they will internally experience of what their life will be like once they are involved with our product or service.
By giving them a "fantasy" so to speak, we've got them already partially invested in having, owning, or being involved with, what we have to offer them. It's as easy as saying, "I'd like you to picture this. . . " or, "Think about what it will be like to have ________ (fill in the blank with whatever their highest criteria might be)." This puts them in the mental position of feeling like they've had their highest criteria met. And when you follow it up, depending on whether your prospect has an away from or towards orientation, you will show how your service can achieve that in "real life" or how your product can help them to avoid not having what they want.
The will is also an interesting area to work with in terms of persuasion. We all like to think we have strong or solid wills, and this may be true for some of us. I know I am not someone who is easily swayed or influenced and I believe my students and clients, in part because of the work we do together and the information and material they've learned in MaxPersuasion, are not easily moved either. However, most of the world doesn't have this information and that is a distinct advantage as we learn how to unlock the minds of our affluent prospects and clients.
Kenrick Cleveland teaches techniques to sell to affluent clients using persuasion strategies. He runs unique public and private seminars and offers home study courses, audio/visual learning tools, and coaching programs in persuasion techniques. Find more free articles at http://www.MAXpersuasion.com/blog . Be sure to sign up for his free report entitled "Yes! Persuasion."
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/
Added: March 26, 2008
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