Maximize Your Influence

Do you suffer from the Wobegon Effect? What is it that you've been telling yourself and everyone else you do really well, when in fact you don't do it well at all—or at least you're not above average, as you've been trying to convince yourself and everyone else? Join me for this week's podcast on 10 Sales Mistakes Costing You Money. Find out what mistakes you are making (and don't even know it) and how to fix those mistakes. New Research Suggests We Shouldn't Trust Facial Expressions

Let's discuss how the fear we all have can destroy your ability to persuade and influence. We all experience rejection in small doses every day. But what about when we persuade for a living? Rejection seems to take a higher toll. We avoid rejection like the plague, but it affects your income. Running away from the rejection solves nothing. Letting our fears overtake us and paralyze us also solves nothing. People bend truth, even at personal monetary cost, to avoid appearing dishonest Do you have sales phobia? Do certain fears hold you back from achieving greatness? How much money have these fears cost you? Did you know you were only born with 2 fears? Did you know fear is easier to conquer than you think? Join me on this week's podcast as I address: "How To Conquer Your Sales Phobia."

Scarcity plays a large role in the persuasion process. Opportunities are always more valuable and exciting when they are scarce and less available. We want to be the ones to own the rare items or to get the last one on the shelf. The more the scarcity of an item increases, the more the item increases in value, and the greater the urge to own it. Now the key with scarcity and urgency is in the application. There are key elements that have to be implemented to make sure scarcity works. Most people use scarcity the wrong way and it becomes high lactose or cheesy. Join me for this week's podcast The Most Abused, Overused, Still Need to Use Persuasion Technique

Commitment has a lot to do with perspective. When you consider your personal perspective, do you see the big picture, or are you swept up by the whims of the moment? You have to make sure your perspective is rock solid; otherwise, your commitments will be flimsy. We all know that when someone says, "I'll try," it will never happen. "I'll try" versus "I will" are two different attitudes. With one, you are committing. With the other, you're leaving yourself room for a way out. Make sure the commitments you make in a moment of excitement have the sustaining motivation to take you to the next level. Great persuaders make their commitments stronger than their moods. One of the key ways to make sure our commitment remains strong is to develop willpower and the ability to delay gratification. How can you increase your commitment level? How do you keep those promises to yourself? Is there a goal that keeps nagging at you? Good news! There are solutions. Join me for this week's podcast as I interview Jason Hewlett. We are going to discuss three questions and reveal the solutions.

Join me for this week's Podcast on How To Apply Behavioral Design to Persuasion. We will discuss the two simple psychological shifts that will increase your ability to influence. Discover how to get your prospect in the right "MindState" that will open the doors to persuasion. I also interview Will Leach, who wrote : Marketing to Mindstates." He said: If you're a salesperson, you can likely attest to the fact that selling is more difficult today than it's ever been. Landing that meeting with a prospect is nearly impossible because we're all dealing with endless distractions and overtaxed schedules. And when you do land that meeting, you must often overcome their psychological feelings of choice overload and aversion to making the wrong choice. To put it simply, we (and prospective buyers) are overwhelmed. These twin forces — choice overload and loss aversion — can paralyze our prospects from making decisions, which can cause us to lose time and sales. Check out Will's Book: "Marketing to Mindstates - the Practical Guide to Applying Behavioral Design to Research and Marketing" and his website: www.Triggerpointdesign.com

It is common sense to realize you have to keep your audience's attention in order to persuade them. If you lose them, you lose your chance for them to understand and accept your proposal. We know from our own personal experience that we tend to let our minds naturally drift when we are listening to other people. Another helpful tip is the primacy and recency effect. You should strategize the sequence or order of your presentations. Sometimes you should go first in the persuasion process. Sometimes you should go last. Join me for this week's podcast as I explore The Primacy vs Recency vs Von Restorff Effect.

Great persuaders can maintain the attention of their audience. Research shows that people's attention spans are getting shorter and shorter. The moment you lose their attention, you can no longer persuade them. You could have a great Website, be a sharp dresser, publish a great brochure, or have any manner of impressive credentials. The reality is, however, that the number-one persuasion tool is you, and a big part of how you present yourself is through your communication. Long gone are the days of counting on the subject matter to speak compellingly for itself, compensating for your inadequacies as a presenter. Nowadays, you've got to get inside your audience's minds, and you've got to get there fast.

It is not your new goals that will cause you to fail this year – it is how you motivate yourself to stay on track to keep your goals. Motivation is everything to a great persuader. Motivation is critical not only for achieving the big goals but also for making all the little steps in between. Unlimited Long-Term Motivation Join me for this week's podcast on how to consistently stay motivated to achieve your goals. The great news is this is also the same formula you can use to motivate your prospects. This groundbreaking research will help you stay motivated and achieve all your goals.

Do you know when it is time to shut-up? Are you talking too much? Do you data dump, vomit or do the show up and throw up? Upward Physical Movement Brings Back Happy Memories Many times, when we are trying to be persuasive, we want to highlight all the perks and plusses. It's only natural. Wouldn't helping someone see the potential gains of your product or service be a good thing? Yes, but here is the issue: Your audience will buy for their own reasons and only their reasons. They don't care about why you like the product or service. They don't care how much you know about it—don't bury them in detail. The more you spout off about features, the more your audience mentally checks out. Santa Sweater Walmart Article

We have all heard that during the persuasion process you need to focus on getting the "yes" from your audience. Does that work? Is that true? The answer is – it depends. Great persuaders look for times when they can get affirmation from their audience. They engineer their persuasive message to get as many verbal, mental, or physical "yeses" as they can throughout their presentation. And there is good evidence to support this practice. Listen for all the answers!