Before class the students all got together and agreed that if the professor moved to the right of the classroom, to the student's right as they were facing the classroom, the students would sit up and pay close attention. They would be attentive, quiet, smile, and nod approvingly at the professor. But if the professor moved to the left of the classroom, the farther left he went, the students would cut up, act out, throw things, look away from the professor and act disinterested.
As the class began and the professor began to speak, the students followed through with their plan. They noted that after about half an hour the professor was practically glued to the wall on the right side of the room. And the students, as agreed, were eager to hear everything, listening excitedly.
They did the same the next day only reversing the sides. As the class began, the professor was already pinned to the right side of the class. But as the reverse experiment started taking shape, it didn't take long for the professor to make his way to the left side.
The professor was totally in the dark throughout the experiment. And he was massively affected by what they did.
How did this shake out? We are very approval oriented. We love to be smiled at and encouraged and loved. We really like knowing that we are having a good impact on people. We like it when people are interested in what we're saying. These are all emotional responses.
How would you like to be able to affect people in that same way and get them doing things and responding to you in ways that up to now has been happenstance?
Here's something to remember: first and foremost, people are led to the decisions they make based on their emotions. Emotions bring people to decisions and logic cements or breaks the decision. In the scheme of things, logic plays a very minor part. Of course, every person is different, but generally, 80-85 percent of decision making is based on emotion and only 15-20 percent is based on logic.
If you are making your living persuading but aren't using emotions well, you will most likely never make much money, at least the cards are stacked strongly against you. A person who can make strong logical arguments but is not adept at utilizing emotion has the cards strongly stacked against them.
So how do we do this? Well, stay tuned for an upcoming article for more information about getting to your prospect's and client's emotions.
Kenrick Cleveland teaches techniques to sell to affluent clients using persuasion strategies. He runs unique public and private seminars and offers home study courses, audio/visual learning tools, and coaching programs in persuasion techniques. Find more free articles at www.MAXpersuasion.com/blog. Be sure to sign up for his free report entitled "Yes! Persuasion."