Persuasion Continuums: The Key To Your Prospect's Particulars
By Kenrick Cleveland+
Advanced Persuasion, Persuasion Continuums
Recently I heard a comedian tell this 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 of us like to take tests. Some of us like maps. Some of us actually enjoy cleaning. Our differences are what make us unique. And our differences are what can make persuasion unbelievably powerful.
The key to unlocking your prospect’s particulars is finding the key, deciphering their messages and understanding that all of our keys are uniquely configured.
This is a strategy that will make it easier for you to grasp persuasion continuums and how you can take advantage of them in your life.
Persuasion continuums are an interesting phenomenon. What is a persuasion continuum? If you were to draw a straight line on a piece of paper and if you were to put 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 and they exist in particular contexts. As the context changes, so too can 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.’
A lot of these are intertwined with or are dependent upon or utilize your understanding of criteria. If we define criteria as that what which points people to relevance, we are in fact giving people relevance.
You’ve heard of WIIFM. What’s in it for me? Well, that, in essence, is the concept of criteria and values. Is there something here for me or is this not for me? That’s the big question everybody has when they come to talk to you.
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.
So if you’re an advisor and you’re talking to people about their finances, then that’s the context with which these will hold, then they’ll hold today, tomorrow, next week, next year. They tend to not change over time much if at all.
What are we doing here? We’re increasing rapport, increasing our persuasion skills and creating magical differences fast.
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. This discussion of continuums will be continued in an upcoming article but if you’re as fascinated by this stuff as I am, and can’t wait for more, check out my Persuasion Factor program.
P.S. The discussion of continuums now continues in my post “Persuasion Continuum II: Getting in Deeper“.
Kenrick E. Cleveland