A Tool For Selling New Ideas!

By Daniel Levis
Posted Friday, January 21, 2005

Imagine tossing a pebble into a crystal clear pond on a still day, & watching the ripples make their way to the shore. A tiny cause has a massive effect.

But on a windswept stormy day, you could hurl the largest boulder into the same pool, and the effect would be felt for no more than a few feet.

And so it is with your sales message.

Your prospects are in a trance that is like a still pool of awareness. They are in an “I’m worried about money” trance. They are in an “I wish I could finally find that somebody special” trance. They are in an “I’m sick of my dead end job” trance, & so on.

If you enter that trance with your words, your prospects will follow you, & accept your suggestions. They will give those suggestions power, like the pebble that makes its presence felt on the shore.

Selling your product or service involves introducing new ideas, more often than not. How do you enter an existing trance, & turn it into a new one?

Frequently, your research will tell you that there is an ideological hurdle that you must clear in order to make the sale.

“Belief Is All-Powerful!”

To enter the buyer’s trance, begin your sales message by demonstrating where your position agrees with their accepted beliefs.

As you move forward, make a logical connection between that which is accepted, & another conclusion that is a step closer to the new conclusion you wish to promote.

This act of mental agreement creates momentum.

For example, if your target market believes that Guaranteed Investment Certificates are the best way to invest their money, they are unlikely to listen to you if you boldly proclaim the superiority of Mutual Funds.

But would they give you some attention if you began with, “Would you be interested in more of the kind of money growth you’ve enjoyed through Guaranteed Investment Certificates?”

And then, “If there were a low risk strategy for using GICs, together with Mutual Funds to increase your returns by 53% or more, would you want to find out about it?”

And then, “Give me just 15 minutes, & I’ll show you the failsafe secret to an earlier retirement!”

By establishing empathy in your sales message, you enter the trance.

Each successive point or question should do three things.

1) Echo accepted belief. 2) Introduce a new element that when logically combined with the previous conclusion, creates a new hypothesis. 3) Raise the level of commitment to the new idea.

Begin pursuing a small yes response, & gradually grow that agreement into a big YES response.

Use questions, statements, & logic that get your prospects responding in the affirmative!

Why Does This Work?

To be human, is to have unlimited freedom of choice. We are able to consciously decide our response to every stimulus. This is our god given gift.

However, we forget this. Instead, we are a bundle of conditioned responses. We hypnotize ourselves into believing that external circumstances give rise to our thoughts.

For instance, if I were to say to you that you are stupid, you would probably become angry, & think I was a jerk for saying so. That is a choice you make.

You could just as easily make a choice to ignore my remark. You could make any choice you wish. You could even decide to think that I am a jealous fool, & feel sorry for me. The choice is all yours.

On the other hand, if I were to say to you that you are brilliant, you would no doubt feel pleased with yourself. Again, this is a choice. You could just as easily decide to pay no attention to my opinion.

But you forget you are making a choice, and you automatically become angry or flattered, depending on the stimulus. You are in a trance of your own making.

To be human, is to be full of such conditioning.

When we see a logical conclusion that incorporates our own accepted beliefs, we are conditioned to accept another one, & then another. Until without even realizing it, we have accepted a new belief that we would not have accepted, had it been forced on us in the first place.

Such is the judo of persuasion.

About the Author
Daniel Levis is a top marketing consultant & direct response copywriter based in Toronto Canada. Recently, Daniel & world-renowned publicist & copywriter Joe Vitale teamed up to co author “Million Dollar Online Advertising Strategies – From The Greatest Letter Writer Of The 20th Century!”, a tribute to the late, great Robert Collier.

Let the legendary Robert Collier show you how to write words that sell...Visit the below site & get 3 FREE Chapters! (http://www.Advertising-Online-Strategies.com/ad-strategies.html)