Language Pattern Awareness

•The Persuasive Power Of Supporting Evidence
I got a call from an acquaintance a while back. He said, 'Do you remember the conversation we had about Africa? Well, I checked my e-mail and found, unbelievably, that I won an international lottery which originated in Africa. I'm just convinced that everything happens for a reason, aren't you?' Before I responded, I thought about this a moment. 'You know, maybe you're right. Everything does happen for a reason. It's a very fortuitous thing that you called me today to tell me about this, for...

•Loops Language Patterns For Persuasion
Persuasion is made up of a lot of ingredients and one of the most powerful techniques is the language pattern. The temporal pattern loop is one of my favorites. When we open loops in the minds of our prospects, it creates a tiny vacuum that the prospect really wants to have filled. In order to understand open loops, there are three important things to know: The first is, people need to have closure, a definitive answer, a yes or a no. I'll need to think it over, is a common open loop that a...

•Sprouting Paper Seeds Manifesting What You Want
I lived on my grandpa's farm as a kid and he taught me some very important life lessons including the Biblical verse: As you sow, so shall you reap. There is a magic to growing things from seeds which we've planted. When we tend to sprouting seeds, when we give them fertile soil and water, when we nurture and care for them, these seeds grow into a bounty of life. This can be taken both literally and figuratively. There is a caution when we start growing something to tug at the sprouts in an...

•Saying Yes
All that man achieves, and all that he fails to achieve is a direct result of his own thoughts. -James Allen John Lennon, at the height of his popularity, had his heart captured by one simple word: yes. He was rich, talented, desired and loved by people all over the world and had the option of nearly any woman he wanted. And 'yes' was what did it for him. He attended an exhibit in England and Yoko Ono was one of the artists. The piece in question was a ladder which led to a tiny sign and a...

•Ways We Learn Small Pieces Of Persuasion
A student recently asked me, Kenrick, how the heck do you keep track of all of the persuasion strategies you know? Each time we have a coaching call, it seems like you pull out some new strategy. I can't even remember the basics like using the unconscious hello. How can I remember to remember?' So I asked my student, Have you ever learned a second language? He said, Yes. I asked, Well, were you fluent within a week of starting it? And I asked him, And have you ever learned to play a musical...

•Learning Persuasion
I had a student ask me recently, Kenrick, how do you keep track of all of these persuasion strategies? Every time we have a conference call or seminar, you pull out another technique adding to the dozens and dozens of techniques we've already learned. I can't even remember to use the 'unconscious hello'. I responded to my student by saying, 'When you learn a new language, are you fluent in a week?' When you learn a new instrument, are you playing concerts within a week? The subject of...

•More Linguistic Pitfalls
Seems like some of my readers are paying attention and that's awesome. I wrote part one of this article a while back. It talks about eight common and avoidable pitfalls we have in language. In the article I wrote about 'but', 'if', 'try', and 'might' and how these words dilute the power of our language and dull our ability to persuade. Well, a few of my more observant readers noticed that if there are eight pitfalls and I only cited four, there must be four more traps out there with the...

•Repetition In Threes Soothing Persuasion
Rhythm is something you either have or don't have, and when you have it, you have it all over. -Elvis Presley Rhythm is something we feel before we're even born. . .our mother's heartbeat. Then come lullabies and rocking chairs and bouncing the baby to soothe. Rhythms lull us as babies and lull us as adults. Rhythm is the goal of the pattern of repetition in threes. We use this lullaby effect to embed suggestions. The number three has symbolic power in our society. Think of the Holy...

•Hopping Into Someone Else s Skin
We've all heard the saying, you can't know a person until you've walked a mile in their shoes. This technique is a figurative expression of that saying. It is about how to gain rapport by putting ourselves inside the person we're trying to persuade. 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. As we step into the skin of our prospects, we experience them...

•Full Of It
Confidence... when we interact with our affluent clients and prospects, we need to exude confidence. We need to show them what we are made of. There's a point where confidence becomes over confident and self assuredness becomes arrogance. These are not good things to be full of. Being competent, self assured and having a solid sense of self are excellent things to be full of. Persuasion relies on our prospects perceptions of us. The reputation of people who sell isn't always flattering or...