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Articles by Kenrick Cleveland
Peeve Number One: The Victim Mentality
"Thou shalt not be a victim. Thou shalt not be a perpetrator. Above all, thou shalt not be a bystander." --Holocaust Museum, Washington, DC
Cleaning Up Your Language: Persuasive Oration
Language, like persuasion, is an art. It's an art that can be mangled, yes. And as with any art, unless you're a prodigy, as Mozart was with music, as H.P. Lovecraft was with poetry, as Pablo Picasso was with painting, then most likely you will have to practice to be good at the art of language.
"You will make more friends in a week by getting yourself interested in other people than you can in a year by trying to get other people interested in you." --Arnold Bennett
Going The Extra Mile For Your Affluent Clientle
I recently read a story about the Ritz Carlton Hotel that got me to thinking about how to really cater to and take care of a wealthy client, thereby keeping them interested and connected to you and your product or service.
I'm curious. . .
If you're anything like me, you're a very busy person. Not only am I busy with regular things--teaching, family, health maintenance--I'm also in the midst of a moving, requiring an added list of what needs to be done. It's hard to believe how much has to be done in a day and because this is on my mind, I'm inspired to write more on the topic of organization as I believe it has helped keep me on even footing in a time of change.
In business, we have rules of decorum, obviously, but I am of the opinion that some rules were meant to be bent. Not broken entirely, but molded and bent to suit your persuasive needs.
I recently came across the following list written/compiled by David Heenan: Ten Keys to Life Fulfillment: 1. Listen to your heart 2. Take one step at a time 3. Deliver daily 4. Maintain a maverick mind-set 5. Focus, focus, focus 6. Never stop learning 7. Build a brain trust (network of knowledgeable people) 8. Reinvent Yourself 9. Sell Yourself 10. Start now!
"If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail." --Abraham H. Maslow
Linguistical Pitfalls Part Two
Well. . .it seems like some of my readers have been paying careful attention. I like that. A while back I wrote an article about the eight most common avoidable pitfalls in language--but, if, try and might. Hey, that's not eight! What are the other four? Several people commented on my blog that I was utilizing the open loop method of persuasion by saying there were eight, and only revealing four. Was this intentional? Maybe.
Backing The Ambulance Up To The Door: The 'away' Perspective
First, a distinction. When I teach about 'towards and away' personalities, I get asked, 'Kenrick, isn't an away from person just a negative person?' My answer is no. That's not the case at all. There are negative people in the world who will complain about anything, but someone who is moving away from a problem does not necessarily have a negative attitude in life.
Persuading Kinesthetically: Touchy Feely
In a previous article, I gave an overview of VAK (recap: these are the visual, auditory and kinesthetic representational systems) and it's use in persuasion and gaining rapport. I also went into more detail about the 'V' (visual) in VAK in another article and obviously, with a title like having to do with touchy feely, I've moved on to the 'K' part, kinesthetic.
I'm often asked to listen to speeches or presentations or interactions between my students and their prospects to give comment on what more can be brought to their individual persuasion skills. The sad fact is, I haven't figured out a way to extend my days. I've only got 24 hours, as do all of us, and I simply don't have time to help in this way.
Getting Deeper Into Persuasion Continuums
In a previous article "Persuasion Continuums" I began to describe one of the most powerful tools of persuasion. When I last left you, you were either completely confused about or you were well on your way to understanding one of the slickest tools in the persuasion toolbox.
The Use Of Scapegoats In Persuasion
Seems like for a while there nearly every car in the U.S. had a "United We Stand" bumper sticker. These stickers imply that our standing united was our only salvation. When we don't stand united, what happens? Of course, we fall divided.
The Reframing Of A Killer: Sugar Is Good
As I was doing some internet research recently, I came across a banner ad that said, "Skip artificals. Go natural. Sugar: sweet by nature. Only 15 calories per teaspoon."
Seven Steps To Not Becoming A Millionaire
1. Wait for approval or permission from society.
At the core of presupposition is the idea that we can assume a mental position or thought which our prospects or clients must take for granted in order for everything else that we say to make sense without us actually having to name the core concept.
Pumping Up Your Persuasion Muscle
Over the last few years I've become a new man. How? Well, I'm finally becoming congruent with my thoughts and my body. I've shed over one hundred and forty unwanted pounds of fat. A new lease on life and a new attitude toward the gym, as well as a drastically revised relationship with food have combined to achieve huge results for me.
Getting Into The Flow Of Affluence
Included in my advanced coaching club, we've made a recent addition: monthly one-on-one calls with my students. These calls have been thrilling for me, and really amazing in terms of learning how to tailor more of what I'm teaching to my students' needs and desires. We've discussed all kinds of topics from persuasion to affluence attraction to more spiritually oriented matters.
We've all heard the old saying, 'You can't know someone until you've walked a mile in their shoes.' To add to the other 'energy' techniques I've written about in previous articles, I'd like to tell you about a great rapport builder of jumping into someone else's skin and walking a mile in their shoes. In "To Kill a Mockingbird" Harper Lee wrote, "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."
Persuasion is, at its core, the study of human nature. Human nature is sometimes predictable, sometimes not so predictable. We are complex organisms and even if all things were equal (environment, education, parenting, nutrition, finances) there would be some of us who would achieve and some of us who would not.
Do You Need A Swift Kick In The Butt?
Ever since I can remember, starting from when I was a young boy, I've struggled with my weight. I was stuck in a body that didn't represent my mind's view of myself, but did represent a weakness I had in relation to food. It always brought to mind the Andrew Carnegie quote, "People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents." I knew that this struggle was holding me back from total mastery and it frustrated me to no end.
To Be (sneaky) Or Not To Be (sneaky)
A student of mine recently called me out on an example of presupposition I used wherein I used the relationship between a student and teacher to illustrate my point. She suggested (nicely) that maybe my use of the student/teacher relationship was a little sneaky and maybe I was trying to persuade my students.
Practical Persuasion: Ways We Learn
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?'
Overcoming The Collective Negativity
"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." --Seneca, Roman philosopher, mid-1st century AD
Storytelling For Quick Rapport
So say you're face to face with a brand new prospect. They've heard a little bit about you, your reputation, what kind of a person you are and yet, maybe they still have some defenses which you are going to need to overcome before rapport has been established and they can feel good trusting you completely.
Organize The Clutter, Organize Your Mind
"Three Rules of Work: Out of clutter find simplicity; From discord find harmony; In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity." -Albert Einstein
Spare Parts: Segmenting Personality For Sales Persuasion
'A part of me really wants to buy your product.' What does 'a part of me' mean? When someone says, 'well, part of me wants this, but another part wants that', what is that person talking about? Well, one thing is, this is a way for us to talk about our experiences.
"All blame is a waste of time. No matter how much fault you find with another, and regardless of how much you blame him, it will not change you. The only thing blame does is to keep the focus off you when you are looking for external reasons to explain your unhappiness or frustration. You may succeed in making another feel guilty about something by blaming him, but you won't succeed in changing whatever it is about you that is making you unhappy." -Wayne Dyer
'Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.' --Albert Einstein
"So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will win a hundred times in a hundred battles. If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you win one and lose the next. If you do not know yourself or your enemy, you will always lose." -Ancient Chinese Proverb
Visual Represetational Systems: See The Light
Representational systems, we all use them whether we're oriented visually, auditorily or kinesthetically. In previous articles, I've given an overview of VAK. These are the ways we view the world. There is tremendous value in gaining rapport with your affluent clients and prospects by focusing on their representational system. This article focuses our gaze on visual language.
The Dumb Leading The Blind: The Persuasive Power Of The Media
"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." -Friedrich Nietzsche
"I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy." -Tom Waits
I've been updating my computer system (again!) lately and have been making periodic trips out to the local super computer chain store in my area for this or that. A fair amount of the time, I'm able to find what I need, get in and out, without much hoopla. But when I'm looking for a more expensive piece of equipment, I have experienced a little of what I'm calling the Attack of the Sales Zombies.
Reframing Obstacles Into Opportunities
"It still holds true that man is most uniquely human when he turns obstacles into opportunities." --Eric Hoffer
"Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it's always your choice." --Wayne Dyer
"The saddest thing I can imagine is to get used to luxury." --Charlie Chaplin
Here's a bit of an advanced technique. It's called future pacing and it works to remind your prospect or client of all the reasons they made the decision to buy your product or service. It transfers all of these reasons to a future point in time and triggers your prospect to remember them when an anchor is fired off.
How To Maintain Good Boundaries In Rapport
"It is the business of thought to define things, to find the boundaries; thought, indeed, is a ceaseless process of definition. It is the business of art to give things shape." -Vance Palmer
Picking And Choosing: Power Persuasion Metaphors
While the concept of 'energy' may seem new-agey, I personally find it integral to the understanding of self, which is the first step in understanding persuasion.
Using The Forbidden To Persuade
'Forbid us something, and that thing we desire.' - Geoffrey Chaucer
"The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself." -Henry Miller
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
The Courage To Master Your Fears
"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear-not absence of fear."--Mark Twain
Blame As Persuasion: Use With Caution
In previous articles I've written about using superstition and people's beliefs as a means to persuade. The term 'everything happens for a reason' is one of these concepts; 'there are no accidents' is another. If you've read these articles, you're already familiar with the power that they can hold in persuasion.
Your Own Personal Genie: Creating Your Universe In Pictures
Is there something that you've always wanted but which has eluded you? Some of us excel in the accumulation of wealth, others of us know exactly how to create the relationships we want, and for others, everything seems to come to them simply.
Adjusting Your Lens For Maximum Persuasion
I've written about framing basics in previous articles. Framing is a vast subject and couldn't possibly be summed up in just a few articles, but it's a foundation.
Self Improvements For The New Year
Here we are again, starting a new year with a clean slate. I love this time of year because it has all the hope of a new beginning and the opportunity to recreate ourselves one more time. I find this a very optimistic time and enjoy setting an intention each new year. The concept of creating our resolutions thrills me as I am relentless about self improvement and welcome every opportunity to map out a beautiful future.