The Power of Persuasion

Have you ever sat down and thought about how much of a sales person you are? If you're a sales person, then chances are, you have reflected this thought. For anyone who is not, I know what you're thinking, "me...a sales person? Yeah, right!" If we take a close look at ourselves and reflect upon our day, week, month or even the last year, it wouldn't take long before you'd be able to recognize times where the sales person inside of you came out to play! Still not convinced? Hold the thought while I jump off on a bit of a tangent here!

As an experienced sales person, I have always done my best to surround myself with other sales people who are successful. I guess I've always found a mentor with every job I've had. I've also picked up any book that I feel could lend greater perspective to be more effective not just in sales, but in life.

Hang in there. I'm getting to the point shortly. I promise. So, in my travels of becoming more knowledgeable I have come across and studied NLP or Neuro-Linguistic Programming. NLP can be described in many different ways. For anyone who has never studied or really read up on NLP may describe it as "mind control" or "manipulation". Unfortunately, this is where NLP gets a bad rap and I have news for you, it's not deserved. The mistaken impression of NLP leans closer to a negative connotation rather than one of positivity. Let me tell you, everyone could use a little NLP tune up!

Now, back to how we all have that hidden sales person inside of us! We can easily remember a recent time where we may have been hanging out with some buddies and discussing which club to go to or which movie we should go see. In this case, your level of influence will depend on whether or not you end up at the movie you wanted to see or some other flick that doesn't really interest you.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, we are constantly selling ourselves. Buying new clothes, getting a haircut, kissing up to our boss or your in-laws are all times where we've had to be a sales person. There are thousands of interactions throughout our lives where we have been wearing our "sales person" hat without even realizing.

I'm attempting to clean the slate for all us practitioners of language, communication, influence and persuasion. It's easy to judge anyone who wants to know how to use all of the above techniques as being slimy or greasy. The truth of the matter is that we all say and do things to manipulate or persuade our closest friends and family day in and day out, but don't consciously accept it. So if we all do it, all the time, don't you think we should wash away any negative connotations? What's the harm in learning a little bit more about how we think and communicate? Is it wrong that I may have an advantage in influencing my wife to go to Red Lobster for dinner even though, she doesn't eat sea food?

In any given interaction, if an individual was able to see your exact thoughts and personal justifications there would be no need to "sell" them why they should buy the Honda Civic over the Toyota Corolla. They would just do it. An important understanding of communication is that each of us as individuals think and act based on our personal interpretations of the millions of experiences we've had over our life time. These "experiences" shape our reality. Because of this, no two realities are the same. So remember, regardless of what you're thinking, your customer or spouse can't really see things as clearly as it is upstairs in your own mind. It's our job to "communicate" effectively to allow an opportunity for an individual's perspective to change in such a way where they, themselves see the Honda Civic as the right choice for their next automobile and or just to give Red Lobster a try anyway! That's the Power of Persuasion!