influence

The call to action is the most important part of your presentation. This is where your audience understands exactly what you want them to do. It’s where you define yourself as a persuader instead of a presenter. This conclusion should not come as a shock to your audience. Throughout your presentation, you should have gently led them to the same conclusion that you are now giving them. You should have already prompted them to want to do what you are about to tell them to do.

Some people hate this part of persuasion because they are asking their prospects to do something. This should really be the best part–the action is the only reason you are giving the presentation in the first place; your audience is going to understand that. If you become tense and uneasy, so will your prospect. The whole presentation should be structured to make the call to action smooth and seamless. In fact, the prospect should not even see or feel your call to action coming.

You should prepare your audience for this conclusion before you even start on the rest of the presentation. Your entire presentation should be built around the call to action. I mean, write out the call to action word for word beforehand. From the outset of your message, you must be eager to get to this point. Be positive and enthusiastic. In your preparation, make sure your conclusion is explicit and that the audience is not left on their own to make sense of and understand your message. You need to tell them what to believe; you draw the conclusion for them. Make the call to action easy for them to follow and simple for them to do. There should be no doubt in your prospects’ minds about exactly what you want them to do. Act with authority. You are the expert — demonstrate your expertise. Strive for the teacher/pupil relationship

There is a story of an old man who goes to a dentist because he has a tooth that is killing him. He has been putting it off for months and finally he has to get the tooth taken care of. Once there, the dentist agrees that the tooth needs to come out. The man asks the dentist how much it will cost. The dentist replies that it will be about $250. The old man yelps and yells, “$250 to pull out a tooth?!!” Then he asks how long the procedure will take. He is told it will take about five minutes. “$250 for five minutes of work? That is highway robbery!” the old man protests. The man then asks the dentist how he can live with himself charging people that kind of money. The dentist smiles and says, “If it’s the time you are worried about, I can take as long as you want.”
When planning and preparing your call to action, remember that the process does not have to be long and painful. Be short, brief, and to the point.

Learning how to persuade and influence will make the difference between hoping for a better income and having a better income. Beware of the common mistakes presenters and persuaders commit that cause them to lose the deal. Get your free report 10 Mistakes That Continue Costing You Thousands and explode your income today.

Conclusion

Persuasion is the missing puzzle piece that will crack the code to dramatically increase your income, improve your relationships, and help you get what you want, when you want, and win friends for life. Ask yourself how much money and income you have lost because of your inability to persuade and influence. Think about it. Sure you’ve seen some success, but think of the times you couldn’t get it done. Has there ever been a time when you did not get your point across? Were you unable to convince someone to do something? Have you reached your full potential? Are you able to motivate yourself and others to achieve more and accomplish their goals? What about your relationships? Imagine being able to overcome objections before they happen, know what your prospect is thinking and feeling, feel more confident in your ability to persuade.

About the Author:

Kurt Mortensen’s trademark is Magnetic Persuasion; rather than convincing others, he teaches that you should attract them, just like a magnet attracts metal filings. He teaches that sales have changed and the consumer has become exponentially more skeptical and cynical within the last five years. Most persuaders are using only 2 or 3 persuasion techniques when there are actually 120 available!

Kurt teaches over a hundred techniques to give you the ability to effectively work with every customer that walks in your door. Professional success, personal happiness, leadership potential, and income depend on the ability to persuade, influence, and motivate others. Learning how to persuade and influence will make the difference between hoping for a better income and having a better income.

If you are ready to claim your success and learn what only the ultra-prosperous know, begin by going to http://www.PreWealth.com and getting my free report “10 Mistakes That Continue Costing You Thousands.” After reading my free report, go to http://www.PreWealth.com/IQ and take the free Persuasion IQ analysis to determine where you rank and what area of the sales cycle you need to improve in order to close every sale!

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We are affected when we are introduced to two vastly different alternatives in succession. We know that contrasting two alternatives can distort or amplify our perceptions of things. Generally, if the second item is quite different from the first, we will tend to see them even more differently than they actually are. As a Master Persuader, you can use this contrast to steer your audience toward the object of your persuasion.

The use of contrast is based on our perception of items or events that happen one right after the other. If you’ve had a rotten day because you found out you’re losing your job and you come home to a new scratch on your car, you will have a vastly different reaction than if you were having a great day because you’re getting a promotion and then came home to the scratch on your car. It’s the same scratch, but there are very different perceptions and reactions to it, depending on your personal circumstances.

“Door in the Face” is one of the most common techniques for implementing the Law of Contrast. Basically, an initially large and almost unreasonable request is made, likely to be declined–hence the “door in the face” as the prospect rejects the proposal. Then a second smaller and more reasonable request is made. People accept the second request more readily than if they’d just been asked outright because the relativity between the two requests makes the second one seems so much better. The technique is effective because social standards state each concession must be exchanged with another concession. When you allow a rejection, it is considered a concession. The person you are persuading will then feel obligated to agree with your smaller request.

Demonstrating this point, researchers first asked college students to donate blood every two months for three consecutive years. Requiring a long-term commitment of not only time, but also of physical and emotional responsibility, the request was overwhelmingly turned down. The very next day, the same students were asked to donate blood just one time, the following day. Forty-nine percent agreed. The control group, wherein students were only approached with the second request, only demonstrated a 31 percent compliance rate.

The study continued the next day. As students showed up to donate blood, they were asked if they would provide their phone numbers so they could be called to see if they’d donate again later on. Of the first group (those who’d been given both requests), 84 percent consented to giving their phone numbers. Of the students in the control group, only 43 percent agreed to give their phone numbers.

In these examples, the second request seems much more logical and reasonable in comparison to the outrageous first request. We are creating a perceptual contrast whereby we are defining what we think the standard of comparison should be. When the second request comes along, it seems much smaller than the first request, and in our case, much smaller than the request would seem if presented alone.

The main reason the Door-in-the-Face technique is so effective is because the contrast between the two requests makes your prospects feel like they are getting more/or less than they would have if they’d gone with the original offering. They feel like they’ve made a fair compromise, while you get exactly what you wanted in the first place. Author Alan Schoonmaker made an especially interesting point:

A conservative first offer also creates the bargaining room needed for the mutual concession ritual (you give a little; they give a little; you give a little; and so on). You may regard this ritual as silly, but many people insist on it. If you do not perform it, they may feel you are not negotiating in good faith.It is far better for them to feel that they have defeated you, that they have driven you right to the wall. Lay the foundation for their victory with an initial offer that creates lots of bargaining room.”

By way of example, pretend your local scout troop is canvassing door to door to ask for donations to the scouting program. They ask you to donate $200, saying that all the other neighbors have donated this amount. After some discussion. you give them a $50 donation–and you feel lucky that you got away with giving less than your neighbors.

In the negotiation process, the Door in the Face can be a powerful tool. Watch a skilled property developer. He may look for quality properties that have been on the market for some months, often because of the seller’s high asking price of $500,000. To drive down the seller’s expectation, the property developer employs an agent who, acting anonymously, displays great enthusiasm for the property and then makes a very low aggressive offer–say $350,000–which the seller angrily rejects. The developer then moves in and offers a much more reasonable price–say $430,000–which, after some negotiating, is accepted. Labor negotiators frequently deploy this tool as well. They begin with extreme demands that they expect to be turned down. Abruptly, they repeat a series of smaller demands, or concessions, which will then be more easily accepted. These smaller demands are the real target of the labor group.

The Door in the Face technique can also save you from lots of headache and hassle. You can get people to go from hating you to thanking you for the same exact thing. For example, when I assign my college students a ten-page final paper, it makes the students tense and vocal. They complain about time, length, font size, etc., etc. You name it; they’ll bring it up. I was getting tired of the complaining, so I changed the way I approach the subject of the paper. I use this principle: I bring up the paper and wait for the moans, but then I tell them this twenty-page paper will have to include the following. The uproar starts: “Twenty pages! I won’t have time for that!” I then graciously acquiesce and tell them if they promise to do a great, concise paper with the proper research, I will make it only ten pages. The cheers erupt and everyone is happy. The students see the ten-page paper as a great deal compared to the twenty-page paper. Now the students thank me rather than hate me.

In my university class, students learning about the Law of Contrast were asked to write letters to their parents requesting money. They were instructed to create a scenario so the request seemed inconsequential.

Dear Mom and Dad,

Jill

Everyone persuades for a living. There’s no way around it. Whether you’re a sales professional, an entrepreneur, or even a stay at home parent, if you are unable to convince others to your way of thinking, you will be constantly left behind. Get your free reports at Magnetic Persuasion to make sure that you are not left watching others pass you on the road to success. Donald Trump said it best, “Study the art of persuasion. Practice it. Develop an understanding of its profound value across all aspects of life.”

Conclusion

Persuasion is the missing puzzle piece that will crack the code to dramatically increase your income, improve your relationships, and help you get what you want, when you want, and win friends for life. Ask yourself how much money and income you have lost because of your inability to persuade and influence. Think about it. Sure you’ve seen some success, but think of the times you couldn’t get it done. Has there ever been a time when you did not get your point across? Were you unable to convince someone to do something? Have you reached your full potential? Are you able to motivate yourself and others to achieve more and accomplish their goals? What about your relationships? Imagine being able to overcome objections before they happen, know what your prospect is thinking and feeling, feel more confident in your ability to persuade.

Kurt Mortensen teaches over a hundred techniques to give you the ability to effectively work with every customer that walks in your door. Professional success, personal happiness, leadership potential, and income depend on the ability to persuade, influence, and motivate others. Learning how to persuade and influence will make the difference between hoping for a better income and having a better income.

If you are ready to claim your success and learn what only the ultra-prosperous know, begin by going to http://www.PreWealth.com and getting my free report “10 Mistakes That Continue Costing You Thousands.” After reading my free report, go to http://www.PreWealth.com/IQ and take the free Persuasion IQ analysis to determine where you rank and what area of the sales cycle you need to improve in order to close every sale!

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Do you do what you do because you’re expected to, or do you do what you do because you want to? Do you do what you do because you hope you’re being watched or do you do what you do because it’s right?

The Force really is at work in our lives. It is something that is within us and surrounds us and influences us in our actions and choices.

There is the Light side and the Dark side. We can choose which side to associate with. But we need to consciously realize that while the Light would seem to restrict us, it actually gives us the most joy and freedom. And while the Dark side would seem to be the least restrictive, it is actually the most limiting and enslaving.

This is not just written rhetoric. It is actual, real-life fact.

Following the Light can seem like an uphill climb a lot of the time. It involves effort, commitment, and perseverance. At times we may feel discouraged or down-hearted. But they are not lasting afflictions and will dissipate as the morning dews on the grass as we forge ahead and do what is right because it is right.

The dark side is more of a subtle mien. It gradually lulls us into apathetic complacency. It never throws a full-frontal attack at us. That would be too obvious and simple to side-step. It begins by whispering coldly in our ears that something-or-other really is alright. It tells us that it’s not really too serious a side road or divergent path of performance. It tells us that everyone else does it, too. Then slowly, gradually, we are led away from the highway of our great expectations and we get caught up in the mire and bogs of despair and indecision. And the most insidious tactic is that the Dark side endeavor to convince us that we can not go back, that we are lost and without hope.

Such untruth has wrecked many lives and potential accomplishments. Such are the lies of the Dark side.

Both sides are real. Both sides offer power and influence. The light will lift and build you and those you surround yourself with. The Dark will tear you down, tear you apart, and destroy your friends and your futures.

Make no mistake. You must immerse yourself in the Light in order to overcome the Dark. That is the truth, and the only way.

Bob Curtis has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology, and has been writing about the elements of relationships for a number of years. He is the manager of the Essential Sunshine Association, a new website for positive relationship development at http://www.essun.blogspot.com

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