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Persuasion Continuums: The Key To Your Prospect's Particulars
Recently I heard a pretty funny joke: 'I have the idea that one person's dream is another person's nightmare. For example, it's my dream to sleep with Cindy Crawford. I'll bet you anything that would be her nightmare.'
Recently I heard a pretty funny joke: ‘I have the idea that one person’s dream is another person’s nightmare. For example, it’s my dream to sleep with Cindy Crawford. I’ll bet you anything that would be her nightmare.’
Some people like to take tests, others like puzzles or math or reading maps, some of us even love to clean. . . Our differences make us unique. And our client’s differences are what make persuasion extra powerful.
When we figure out the key to unlocking our prospects particulars, we can decipher their messages and understand how uniquely we’re all configured.
This is a strategy that will make understanding and grasping persuasion continuums easier.
What is a persuasion continuum? Draw a straight line on a piece of paper. One of the directions of the continuum on the right side and the opposite on the left side, then you’ll know what I’m talking about when I say ‘continuum’. These are patterns that exist in the minds of people as they exist in particular contexts. When the context changes, so will a continuum. They won’t always hold the same across all contexts.
In future articles I’ll explore these more specifically, but a few of the continuums we’re working with are: ‘towards and away’, ‘sameness and difference’, ‘internal and external’ and ‘options and procedures.’
Many of these are intricately intertwined and dependent upon their criteria or your understanding of their criteria. We define criteria as that which points our prospects and clients to what is relevant for them.
Have you heard of ‘WIIFM’? It’s ‘what’s in it for me’. In essence, that is the concept of criteria and values. Your affluent prospect or client is coming to you to see what’s in it for them.
Continuums are content free strategies, meaning they’re not dependent on what you’re going to be saying, it depends upon the context that you’re talking about.
If you are a financial adviser then you talk to people about their finances. That is the context with which contiuums hold. They will remain a constant within that particular context.
What we’re doing here is increasing rapport dramatically and forward our persuasion skills immeasurably.
The continuums I’ve mentioned are ones that we can spot and find everywhere. There are significantly more but over the next few articles, we’ll just be focusing in on these four.
Phew! This is some deep, powerful persuasion and if you’re feeling a little overwhelmed, it’s perfectly natural. I’ll explore more deeply in these upcoming articles each of the continuums I mentioned above, so stay tuned for deeper persuasion understanding.