CHAPTER 4

The Law of Involvement

Create and Maintain Interest

Without involvement, there is no commitment. Mark it down, asterisk it, circle it, underline it. No involvement, no commitment.

—STEPHEN COVEY

Hopefully you have been to Hershey, Pennsylvania, home of world famous Hershey’s Chocolate Company. I am a big fan of chocolate and decided to take the tour of Hershey’s simulated chocolate factory. This is a Disneyland type of ride with all the smells you would expect from a chocolate tour. You can see them make chocolate and how they create all the Hershey magic. Do you know how much the tour costs? It is free. Why would Hershey spend millions of dollars on a free tour? Well, after the tour and right before you enter the largest chocolate shop in the world, you are given a free Hershey Kiss. You see countless sweets and all things chocolate ready for purchase. Hershey makes more money on chocolate sales after a free tour than it could on the tour itself. When you can get others involved, get them to participate; they are easier to persuade.

The Law of Involvement suggests that the more you engage someone’s five senses, involve them mentally and physically, and create the right atmosphere for persuasion, the more effective and persuasive you’ll be. Listening can be a very passive act; you can listen to an entire presentation and not feel or do a thing. As a persuader, you need to move your audience one step closer to taking action. As a Power Persuader, your goal is to decrease the distance someone has to go to reach your objective. Your task is to make it as easy and as simple as possible. You need to decrease the mental, social, or physical distance that they need to travel to be persuaded.

For example, getting people to take a sample of a product is easier than getting them to buy. Getting them to test-drive a car is easier than convincing them to buy a car. Getting them to agree to a five-minute meeting to discuss participation in a larger project is easier than asking them to participate in a three-hour project.

When you get people to start something, they are more likely follow through and complete your desired outcome. The more involved they become, the less psychological distance there is between the start and the finish. The desired outcome becomes more and more realistic instead of just an idea you are proposing. If you put on your shoes to go to the store, get your coat, and find your keys, each step increases the chances that you will continue in that direction. On the other hand, if you sit down and turn on the TV or get on the Internet, your goal of going to the store is less likely to be reached. This is also true on the Web. As the number of pages or steps you ask someone to click on or go through increases, compliance and sales decrease.

You can use involvement by:

1. Increasing participation.

2. Creating the right atmosphere.

3. Maintaining attention.

4. Using the art of questioning.

5. Telling mesmerizing stories.

6. Engaging the five senses.

INCREASING PARTICIPATION

You can create involvement through increased participation. The more individuals take an active role and get involved, the more open to persuasion they become. When they take an active part in something, they feel connected to and have stronger feelings for the issue at hand. They have a personal stake in what they are doing.

One of the keys to successful participation is making your problem their problem. This technique creates ownership and a willingness to help on the part of your prospects. Obviously, asking for help is much milder than telling someone what to do or think. You will have more success involving your prospects in the solution if you give them the option of participating. Feeling that it was their choice and their solution, your prospects will take ownership: They have persuaded themselves. It becomes their own problem and their own solution. By nature, people will support what they help create.

Store and mall owners understand participation. They attempt to get you participating by making eye contact with you, by arranging their stores to force you to spend more time in them, or by saying hello as you pass. When you shop for goods in a foreign country, the store owner knows that if he can get you inside the store and mentally or physically involved, there is a greater chance of persuasion and a purchase. The storekeeper will make eye contact and do everything possible to get you into the store. If you don’t go into the store, the owner might follow you for blocks, showing you the store’s products and trying to get you to buy.

The amount of time you spend in a store is directly related to how much you will buy: the more time spent, the more money spent. For example, in an electronics store, nonbuyers shopped for an average of about 5 minutes and 6 seconds, whereas buyers averaged 9 minutes and 29 seconds in the store. In a toy store, the longest any nonbuyer stayed was 10 minutes, while buyers spent just over 17 minutes. In some cases, buyers stayed up to four times longer than nonbuyers.¹

Stores make many other arrangements to persuade people to get interested and involved. For example, hallways and walking paths at malls are made of hard marble or tiles. But the floors of individual stores are soft and carpeted, encouraging you to stay longer. Have you ever noticed that it is easy to get disoriented in an unfamiliar mall? Malls purposely design their structures with hexagonal floor plans, which are the most difficult to navigate: They have complicated hallways and confusing angles. You can get lost; you can walk forever and still not know exactly where you are. This is also the reason why department stores are at the opposite ends of the mall. Department stores are draws. For people to get from one to another, they will have to walk past every other store in the mall. Grocery stores place their milk at the back of the store so that customers have to walk through the rest of the store to grab a carton. All of these techniques increase the time that customers spend in the store. And, as we know, increased time in a store means increased sales.

Casinos

Casinos are examples of extreme involvement. Everything in a casino is designed to get you mentally, emotionally, and physically involved. A casino is a subconscious-trigger war zone. There are no clocks to let you know what time it is and how long you have been gaming. Rarely does a dealer wear a watch. There are also no windows to help you tell the time, and the air and temperature are regulated so that you never think about going outside. The carpets are loud and obnoxious to look at, so you look at all the blinking lights on the machines, watch the wheels spinning, and see everyone having fun and gambling. It looks and sounds as though everyone is winning but you. There are plenty of distractions while you are playing: free drinks, the winner in the next row, or the revealing outfit of the cocktail waitress.

The lighting in a casino tends to be low and inviting. It has a friendly, homelike feel and increases our comfort level. The music is just below our radar. This music is soft, is easy to listen to, and has been known to put people in a slight trance. We feel obligated to continue gambling (even though we lost money) by the free meals, the casino points, the comped rooms, and the free show tickets. We keep spending and losing money, but who cares because we are earning points to redeem at a later date? So even though we lose money, at least we feel as though we earned something.

Walking down the strip at Las Vegas, I found it very easy to enter a large and famous casino (via escalator). However, getting out was quite the adventure and harder to navigate. Have you noticed that you never need to leave a casino because the food and lodging are all under one roof? The casino has been designed to be very easy to get into and very difficult to leave. The patterns and layout maximize your time spent in the casino. If you need to find anything (i.e., a restroom, restaurant, parking, check in, cashier), you must walk farther into the casino past the many stores and additional gambling places. Then guess what? You have to walk by everything again on the way out; there are more chances you will stop and buy or play.

Role-Playing

One way to get your audience involved is to use role-playing, which helps people see themselves doing the task. The task becomes more realistic and usually appears easier than they thought. This technique has proven to be effective in getting people to actually convince themselves of something. Role-playing is the single most powerful way to induce attitude change through a vicarious experience. In essence, you are getting people to create arguments against their own beliefs.

Do you want to know just how powerful role-playing is? One experiment used role-playing to convince people to stop smoking. The subjects role-played having x-rays, receiving news of lung cancer, and coughing with emphysema. When compared with a control group of smokers who were educated about cancer, those who role-played were more likely to quit than those who passively learned about lung cancer.²

During World War II, the U.S. government had to ration traditional meats such as beef, chicken, and pork. However, Americans tend to be very picky about the meats they eat and often do not accept other types. The Committee on Food Habits was charged with overcoming the shortages of popular foods. How could they overcome the aversion to eating other types of meat?

Psychologist Kurt Lewin devised a program to persuade Americans to eat intestinal meats. Yes, our favorite—intestinal meats (not hot dogs). He set up an experiment with two groups. One group was lectured on the benefits of eating intestinal meats. Members of the committee emphasized to them how making the switch would help the war effort. Then they heard fervent testimonials and were given recipes. The second group was led in a group discussion about how they could persuade other people to eat intestinal meat. This group covered the same main topics as the other group, role-playing and discussing the question, “How would they persuade and convince others to eat intestinal meats?” Of that group, 32 percent went on to serve their families intestinal meats, compared to 3 percent of the first group.³ Often when you attempt to persuade an audience and they know you are attempting to persuade them, they will resist you. Coming across as the consultant, getting them involved, is much more persuasive. In fact, they will persuade themselves.

Asking for Advice

Another way to get people to participate with you is to ask their opinions or advice. Simple phrases can immediately spark the interest of your listener: “I need your help.” “What is your opinion?” “What do you think about … ?” “How could I do this?” “How would you do this?” “Do you think I am doing it right?” “Do you have any ideas?” Seeking advice boosts their esteem, and their brain automatically starts work toward a solution.

Watch how another person brightens up when you ask for his or her advice. For example, suppose you ask your colleague, “Frank, how about helping me with this proposal?” He will probably tell you he is busy and has his plate full for the next 12 months. But suppose you say something like this:

Frank, I have a challenge with this proposal that I can’t solve. I don’t know what I am doing wrong and can’t seem to get anywhere. I am not sure if I am doing it right or what to do next. Do you have ideas about how I could rework this paperwork? Could you take a quick look?

You will see a marked difference in response between the first request and the second.

People have an innate desire to feel wanted and needed (see Law of Esteem). When you fulfill this need, you open the door to persuasion and action, a fact that has been proved beyond a doubt by records kept on industrial workers. Workers who have no voice whatsoever in management, who cannot make suggestions, or who are not allowed to express their ideas simply do not do as much work as workers who are encouraged to contribute. The same is true in families. As family relations expert Ruth Barbee has said: “It is surprising how willingly a child will accept the final authority of the parents, even if the decision goes against him, provided he has had a chance to voice his opinions, and make his suggestions, before the final decision is reached.”⁴

Visualization

Another participation technique is to use visualization. No one can follow through on an act or message without first thinking or mentally seeing that accomplishing it is possible. You can mentally achieve participation by helping your audience visualize and see in their minds how your product or service will help them. Real estate agents attempt to help their clients visualize living with their family in a home. When showing the home, the agents want the people to envision it as their own. They have the children pick out their own room. They ask the parents to decide where they could put the piano. They might even introduce the neighbors.

A group of researchers went door-to-door selling cable TV subscriptions. When they included the phrase “imagine how cable TV will provide you with broader entertainment,” they immediately achieved more success. Forty-seven percent of those who were told to imagine cable TV bought a subscription, whereas only 20 percent of the control group purchased. The mind is activated when you help your prospect visualize your product or service.⁵

Here is a great example of visualization. Imagine seeing a homeless person with a sign that says, “I am hungry.” That will get some response. Now imagine if the sign read, “What if your parents were hungry?”

In many persuasive situations, your audience may pretend not be interested at all in your message, service, or product. How do you pull them in? Often, when we see a persuasive situation, we like to remain anonymous. We don’t want to feel any pressure, so we watch from a distance. If someone at the clothing store asks whether we want help, we say, “No, just looking.” We avoid the involvement because deep down we know that becoming involved will decrease our resistance.

Every night before dusk in Key West in the Florida Keys, people gather at Sunset Pier to watch the sunset and enjoy the view. It is a great time of the day to unwind and enjoy nature’s beauty. It is also the perfect opportunity for vendors and street performers to hawk their wares—jugglers, sword swallowers, magic tricks, the works. One night, as I watched people walk by, many of them wanted to watch but felt timid unless a crowd had already gathered around the performers. The performers knew that, if they didn’t get a crowd, they wouldn’t make any money. When people remain anonymous, they feel little pressure to donate. I saw a performer who was doing a magic act call over to someone who was trying to remain anonymous. Soon, the performer got the man involved in his act. This attracted more people to watch and also got a donation from the gentleman, who was no longer anonymous.

If someone around you or in your audience is avoiding or rejecting your message, try to get him or her involved. Get that person, as a volunteer from your audience, to willingly participate, and you will completely change his or her perspective. Pet store owners are famous for this. They see children come in just to look around. The parents don’t want to have a dog in the house, but their son or daughter still wants to look. The owner waits patiently to see the child’s eyes light up, as the child falls in love with a new puppy. The child holds and hugs the puppy, and the dad knows he is in for a struggle. The owner is wise and does not want to fight the father. He just says, “It looks like she’s fallen in love with this puppy. I understand your apprehension about having a new puppy. Tell you what—just take the puppy home for the weekend and if it doesn’t work out, bring him back.” The rest is history. Who can’t fall in love with a puppy after a weekend? The owner has successfully gotten a reluctant customer involved.

Many studies show the relationship between visualization and success in sports. In a well-known study, Russian scientists wanted to know the relationship between physical and mental training and which is more important. They tested four groups of athletes. This is what they found:

1. Group 1 received 100 percent physical training with no mental training.

2. Group 2 received 75 percent physical training with 25 percent mental training.

3. Group 3 received 50 percent physical training with 50 percent mental training.

4. Group 4 received 25 percent physical training with 75 percent mental training.

The fourth group had the best results, revealing that visualization has measurable results in sports. The same is true for persuasion. If your prospects can’t see themselves doing it, they won’t do it.

Physical Movement

Making your audience physically move can also affect the way your message is received. Involvement can be something as simple as getting people to say yes, to raise their hands, or even just to nod their heads yes. The more movement and involvement you can create, the greater your ability is to persuade. 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 yesses as they can throughout their presentation.

There is good evidence to support this practice. One study brought in a large group of students to do “market research on high-tech headphones.” The students were told that the researchers wanted to test how well the headphones worked while they were in motion. (Students were dancing up and down and moving their heads to the beat of music.) Following the songs, the researchers played a commercial about how the university’s tuition should be raised. One group of students had been told to move their heads up and down throughout the music and the speaking. Another group was told to move their heads from side to side. A last group was told to make no movements at all.

After “testing the headsets,” the students were asked to fill out a questionnaire about not only the headsets but also the university’s tuition. Those nodding their heads up and down (in a yes motion) overall rated a jump in tuition as favorable. Those shaking their heads side to side (no motion) overall wanted the tuition to be lowered. Those who had not moved their heads didn’t really seem to be persuaded one way or the other.⁶ In a similar study at the University of Missouri, the researchers found that TV advertisements were more persuasive when the visual display had repetitive vertical movements, that is, up-and-down yes movements, such as a bouncing ball.⁷

The Power of Yes

Use questions that will create yesses. As you create your marketing and persuasive presentations, you must engineer the number of times you get your audience to raise their hands, say yes, or nod their heads. How many verbal yeses are you getting? One easy and effective way to get more affirmative responses is to engineer questions that will receive a positive answer. For example, when a word ends in -n’t, it will usually bring a yes response. Consider the following phrases:

Wouldn’t it?

Isn’t it?

Couldn’t it?

Doesn’t it?

Shouldn’t it?

Won’t you?

Can’t you?

Wasn’t it?

Obviously, this technique won’t work if they don’t like or trust you.

Contact

Obviously, this technique won’t work if they don’t like or trust you.

Engaging customers with human contact also works well for retail stores. Human beings are naturally drawn to other human activity.⁸ The sight of other humans in motion attracts people—and increases sales. Studies show that the more contact employees make with customers, the greater the average sale is.⁹ In fact, any contact initiated by a store employee increases the likelihood that a shopper will buy something.¹⁰ A shopper who talks to a salesperson and tries something on is twice as likely to buy as a shopper who does neither. Talking with an employee has a way of drawing customers in closer and actively involving them.

CREATING THE RIGHT ATMOSPHERE

Another way to boost participation is with atmosphere. Atmosphere is really just a state of mind that you can create. Think about the following locations and the atmosphere they purposefully create:

Hardware stores

Bookstores

Malls

Casinos

Themed restaurants

Amusement parks

Hospitals

Law offices

Each establishment is vastly different, but, when you walk in, you know immediately the atmosphere or feeling that it evokes. In this way, the atmosphere moves you. Antique stores purposefully create an atmosphere of chaos. They appear to be unorganized with everything strewn around or disheveled. This is done so that customers believe they have stumbled upon a great find, a piece of buried treasure. What about large sporting good stores, each with an athletic theme. Customers who are successfully seduced by the excitement and energy of the athletic atmosphere will want to make themselves just a little worthier of it. This means buying a new pair of running shoes.

Rushed Versus Relaxed

Atmosphere can also include the tension in the air. Are customers rushing or relaxed? What type of climate are you trying to create? Do you want a quick, fast decision, or do you want your customers to feel comfortable enough to stay for a while? An interesting study on what happens when you create an atmosphere of being rushed can be seen in the following example:

Princeton University psychologists John Darley and Daniel Batson wanted to see how seminary students would respond if they were in a situation replicating the biblical account of the Good Samaritan.¹¹ As the story goes, a band of thieves beat a traveler, robbed him, and left him by the roadside to die. A devout priest and a reputable Levite passed by. Neither of the men stopped to help the dying man. Finally, a Samaritan stopped to help him. The Samaritan bound up his wounds, took him to an inn, and even paid the innkeeper to care for him until he returned.

Darley and Batson asked seminarians on a one-on-one basis to prepare and present a short speech on an assigned biblical topic. The test was set up so that, on their way to the location where they would deliver their speech, each student would cross a man slumped over, coughing and groaning. Which students would actually stop and help? Before preparing their speeches, the students filled out a questionnaire asking why they had chosen to study theology. They stated on their questionnaires that they had chosen to study theology so that they could help people. Then a variety of speech topics were assigned, including the story of the Good Samaritan. As the students were leaving to deliver their speeches, some were told, “You’d better hurry. They were expecting you about three minutes ago.” Others were told, “They won’t be ready for a few minutes, but you may as well head over now.”

Now, most people would assume that seminarians, assigned to speak on the Good Samaritan, would be very likely to stop and help the ailing man on their way. Interestingly, neither their intended profession or their desire to help people seemed to make much difference. In fact, Darley and Batson stated, “Indeed, on several occasions, a seminary student going to give his talk on the parable of the Good Samaritan literally stepped over the victim as he hurried on his way.” The element that seemed to be most influential was whether the student was in a rush. Of the students who were told they were already a little late, only 10 percent stopped to help. Of the students who were told they had a little bit more time, 63 percent stopped to help.¹²

We can learn from this example that we can create atmospheres in which people are so involved that they ignore other factors they normally would not overlook. On the flip side, if participants are too relaxed, they become difficult to persuade.

Hands-On Experience

Another good way to get people involved is to get your product into their hands. If they can begin to use it, chances are they will continue to use it. That is why car dealers encourage test drives. You will even see car dealerships give their loyal customers a newer model to drive for a few days. How can you go back to your old car after driving around in a new car? By that point, neighbors and coworkers have already seen you in the car and have commented about your new vehicle. You’re thoroughly involved, and the new car is yours. You want people to experience your product for free. Free trials can be seen in food courts, at beauty counters, in software sales, and at vacation resorts.

Many TV advertisers offer a free one-month trial before you have to pay for their product. After the month is up, most consumers will keep the product, even if they didn’t use it. The trial period has created a sense of ownership in the product, and consumers don’t like to relinquish ownership. This is also why so many companies use introductory offers. Credit card issuers are known for tempting customers with introductory deals that give very low interest rates. One study showed that offering samples increased sales by 500 percent.¹³

To get your product into your prospects’ hands, get them to open the box and play with the object, give them the feeling of ownership, make them feel as if they already bought it, and suggest how the product can be used. There are many other examples of the Law of Involvement: the listening stations in the music stores, the comfortable chairs in which you can kick back and read in the bookstores, booths set up at the malls for you to try out and test products and equipment, software you can demo, frequent-user programs, coupons, contests, and the variety of services offering free estimates.

The 3M Company certainly discovered the value of putting products into customers’ hands. At their outset, Post-it® Notes were not very successful. 3M was going to discontinue the whole product line until the brand manager sent a case of Post-it Notes to 499 of the Fortune 500 Companies. Because of their trial run, the Fortune 500 companies loved the effectiveness of the notes, and the rest is history.¹⁴

Think about it. Post-it notes were a new, cutting-edge product. Nobody knew they needed sticky notes because they had never used or needed them in the past. Verbally explaining what a Post-it Note is and what it does would have been difficult. Just letting customers use the notes enabled them to see that they needed it, and they bought the product.

Usually we are inclined to favor our own ideas over those of others, right? Knowing that people do not typically resist their own ideas can be key when you are trying to influence others. Always seek to get your prospects to think your ideas are their own. An example of this strategy in action is when companies have customers fill out a sales agreement. Cancellations are amazingly low when customers have filled out their agreements on their own. It’s a double whammy: Not only are your prospects agreeing to what you want, but they are also putting it in writing!

MAINTAINING ATTENTION

It is common sense: 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 drift when we are listening to other people. We cannot focus on one item for too long unless we are forced to do so. Power Persuaders can make a person want to pay attention and stay focused. You may lose your audience’s attention from time to time, but it is your job to get back to their full attention. You can help your prospect lose track of time.

Some studies estimate that the average adult attention span is about 15–20 minutes.¹⁵ What’s more, studies indicate that attention spans have been decreasing steadily over the past decade. The blame tends to be put on the media, on the lack of circumstances that require concentration, and the current generation always wanting to be entertained or tuning out. Whatever the reason, after our attention span has lapsed, we become bored and no longer listen. You have to be creative to maintain the mental involvement that is required to persuade someone. One way to keep the mind harnessed is to give your audience enough time to process what you are telling them. You can tell by the look in their eyes if you have lost them. Recall the seminars or college classes during which you have been completely lost. When the professor asks questions, you don’t raise your hand because you have no idea what is going on. Give your listeners enough time to absorb what you’re saying, but obviously not so long that they become bored and detached.

You can see that these techniques are used to seize the attention of your listeners when their minds have started wandering. Use these techniques, and you will be able to bring back your audience’s attention.

Movement is another common technique for grabbing attention. It causes us to be alert. Stores utilizing movement-oriented end-caps (displays at the end of the aisle) always have more shoppers in the store than those using end-caps without movement. You will see movement at the grocery store as the coupon flies toward you when it detects your movement. You will also see people dancing on the street in strange costumes and waving large signs drawing your attention toward the store. You can use this strategy to your advantage during a presentation. When your movements are purposeful and well timed, your audience will be more tuned in to your message.

When all else fails and you are losing your audience, maybe you should try a little caffeine. Caffeine can arouse and increase attention, and it can therefore help in the world of persuasion. A study was done where participants drank orange juice laced with caffeine before reading a persuasive communication. The study found that those who had the caffeine in their orange juice had greater processing and were more influenced by the persuasive communication.¹⁶

USING THE ART OF QUESTIONING

Of all the tools in your persuasion toolbox, questioning is probably the one that Power Persuaders use the most.. Questions are used in the persuasion process to create mental involvement, to guide the conversation, and to find out what your prospect needs. Questioning is a very diverse and useful tool. An important study observed hundreds of negotiators in action in an attempt to discover what it takes to be a top negotiator. Their key finding was that skilled negotiators ask more than twice as many questions as average negotiators.¹⁷

Much like movement, questions elicit an automatic response from our brains. We are taught to answer questions. We automatically think of a response when asked a question. Even if we don’t verbalize the answer, we think about it. Most people want to be cooperative. We don’t want to be considered rude by not answering the question. Questions stimulate a thinking response.

How do you form a good question? First, design your questions ahead of time. The structure of your questions dictates how your listener will answer them. When asked to estimate a person’s height, people will answer differently depending on whether the question is “How tall is he?” versus “How short is he?” In one study, when asking how tall versus how short a basketball player was, researchers received dramatically different results. The how-tall question received an average guess of 79 inches, whereas the how-short question received the guess of 69 inches.¹⁸ Words have a definite effect on how people respond. “How fast was the car going?” suggests a high speed, but “At what speed was the car traveling?” suggests a moderate speed. “How far was the intersection?” suggests that the intersection was far away.

One questioning technique is the use of leading questions. Stanford professor Elizabeth Loftus researched how leading questions influenced eye-witness testimonies. In one project, her subjects watched a multiple-car accident. One group was asked, “About how fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?” The second group was asked, “How fast were the cars going when they hit?” The third group was asked, “How fast were they going when they contacted?” The first group estimated that the cars were going about 40.8 miles an hour, the second group estimated 34 miles an hour, and the third group estimated 31.8 miles an hour.¹⁹ The same question, worded three ways, led to three different answers.

Leading questions not only alter the way we interpret facts, but they also influence what we remember. In another study conducted by Loftus, subjects who were asked, “Did you see the broken headlight?” were three times more likely to answer yes than subjects who were asked, “Did you see a broken headlight?”²⁰

When you are probing for information, ask open-ended questions. Responding to a question that can be answered with a simple yes or no is just too easy. For example, instead of saying, “Do you wish you had decided differently?” ask, “How did you feel after you made that decision?” Then the person’s answer can be used to lead to your more detailed questions without seeming too intrusive: ”Why did you make that decision?” or “What do you wish you could change about your decision?”

A good rule of thumb is to start with the easiest questions first. Draw your audience into the conversation, and help them feel relaxed and comfortable. People are encouraged by answers they know are right. Begin the conversation by starting with a general topic instead of a specific subject. You need to get the wheels in your listeners’ minds rolling before you ask them to answer the more specific questions.

A Two-Way Street

Questioning can measure your prospects’ level of receptivity. How receptive your audience is correlates with how many questions they ask or how many statements they make. So what do you do if there are no questions? A lack of questions could be due to several reasons: The audience needs time to think about what you have just said. They could be afraid to ask because of what others might think. Or they just might not be able to think of a good question to ask. Maybe you went on too long or stepped on a sensitive issue. Perhaps the audience has already made up their minds, or maybe they don’t speak English.

The best questions draw a person into a conversation. So it is to your advantage to direct questions at your prospects that will reel them in:

What do you think about … ?

Have you ever thought about … ?

How do you feel about … ?

When did you start … ?

Where did you find … ?

Be prepared to field questions that the audience will ask and want answers for. Brainstorm ahead of time for possible questions, scenarios, and answers. There will always be someone who asks the tough questions. If you are the expert, you are expected to know the answers. Obviously, if you don’t know the answer, you should not make one up. If the question is way out of line, you can say you don’t know the answer. But what do you do when your audience expects you to know the answer and you don’t? How do you save yourself from losing credibility?

One way is to throw the question back to the audience and ask for the audience’s help or opinions. Another strategy is asking the person to repeat the question, giving you more time to think of a response. To make sure you understand the question, you could also restate the question and ask whether that is correct. You can request that the person asking the question consult with you later: “Get with me at the break so we can talk about that.” It is always better to tell one person you don’t know than admitting it to the whole audience. Alternatively, you can ask questioners whether they have any of their own insights into the subject.

Handling Objections

When you get people involved in the process, you will get some objections. How you handle objections will correlate with how mentally involved people become with your message. The better you become at handling objections, the more persuasive you will become.

When you become a Power Persuader, you will learn to love objections. You will come to understand that voicing objections indicates interest and shows that the listeners are paying attention to what you are saying. The key to persuasion is anticipating all objections before you hear them. Fielding questions and handling objections can make or break you as a persuader. These skills will help you in every aspect of your life.

Note: If you are dealing with a stubborn person who absolutely will not change his mind about anything, don’t panic. This person is probably just closed-minded and always says no to everything. He might not have a clear idea about what you are proposing, he may have been hurt in the past, he may be afraid of being judged, or he may feel his ideas are not appreciated. Don’t take it personally; it will happen from time to time. Keep the door open to revisit the issue at another time.

TELLING MESMERIZING STORIES

Stories are powerful tools for persuaders. Compelling storytelling automatically creates attention and involvement with your audience. We have all been in an audience and not paying attention to the speaker, off in our own world. All of a sudden we perk up and start to listen because the speaker begins to tell a story. We sit up, listen attentively, take note of what is being said, and want to know what happens next. Whenever you sense your audience is starting to wander, have a relevant story ready for the telling. As human beings, we are drawn to anything that gives us answers, and stories give us answers. Stories give people the room and ability to think and persuade themselves. Studies also show that stories statistically will connect with more people than facts, numbers, examples, or testimonials.²¹

Note the word relevant. You can capture attention by telling a story, but you will lose long-term persuasiveness if the story does not relate to you or your topic. When your stories work well to underscore your main points, your presentation will hold greater impact. Remember, facts presented alone will not persuade as powerfully as they will when coupled with stories that strike a chord within your listeners. By tapping into inspiration, hope, and a person’s innermost feelings, you will move your prospects with your story.

Stories answer questions in the audience’s mind about who you are and what you represent. If you don’t answer these questions for your listeners, they will make up the answers themselves. Your audience members can tell from a story whether you are funny, honest, or even whether you want to be with them. Remember, building rapport is a key ingredient for persuasion. Because you usually don’t have time to build trust based on personal experience, the best you can do is tell your prospects a story that simulates an experience of your trustworthiness. Hearing your story is as close as they can get to the firsthand experience of watching you in action.

Your goal is to have the listeners arrive at your conclusions of their own free will. Your story needs to take them on a step-by-step tour of your message. A persuasive story simplifies your concepts so that your audience can understand what you are talking about and what you want them to do. We love stories that give us answers to our problems. We accept the answers a story gives more than if someone were to just provide the answers.

Courtroom lawyers often create reenactments of events. They make the stories so rich in sensory detail that the jury literally sees, hears, and feels the event as it unfolded. The trial lawyer’s goal is to make the description so vivid that the jurors feel the client’s distress as their own and are moved by it. The more concrete and specific your descriptive details, the more persuasive your storytelling will be. Using specific details pulls the listener into the story, making it real, making it believable.

Pack your stories with authenticity, emotion, and humor. Make sure they are straightforward and that the timeline or character development is not confusing. A confusing story will not convince. Use your body, voice, props, or music if necessary to intensify your message because they reach all the senses. Engaging the senses of your listeners will make your story more effective. When you can get your listeners to see, hear, smell, feel, and taste the elements of your story, their imaginations will drive them to the point of experiencing without actually being there.

As you learn to incorporate the senses in your stories, you will find that their effects can persuade faster than your words. For example, smells and tastes can be very powerful. Both can evoke strong emotional memories and even physiological reactions in your listeners. Invite your audience to imagine the smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, and you will see noses flare and faces relax with the feeling associated with that special aroma. Such sensations will fill their minds with feeling. You want the experience to come alive in their minds as if it were happening to them. Paint the picture in such a way that it becomes so real that your audience feels a part of it. People will participate in your stories when you let them.

The Zeigarnik Effect

Being left hanging drives us crazy! We want to know the end of the story—the missing piece. We want our tasks to be completed so that we can check them off our list. This reaction is known as the Zeigarnik effect, named after Bluma Zeigarnik, a Russian psychologist. This effect is the tendency we have to remember uncompleted thoughts, ideas, or tasks more than completed ones.

The story goes that the Bluma Zeigarnik was sitting in a café in Vienna when she observed that a waiter could remember everything someone had ordered but that, once the food was delivered, the waiter forgot everything. This led her to realize that it is easier to remember everything about an uncompleted task but that, once the task is completed, the memory immediately fades. That uncompleted task will hold onto our memory, improve the recall, and help us remember. We experience intrusive and almost nagging thoughts about a goal or an objective that was left incomplete. It is built into our psyche to want to finish what we start.²²

We see the Zeigarnik effect on the television news and other programs. Right before a commercial break, the newscasters announce an interesting tidbit that will come later in the hour. This piques your interest, and, rather than flipping the channel, you stay tuned. Movies and dramas on television also leave you in suspense. By leaving something uncompleted right before the commercial break, the programs draw our attention, keep us involved, and motivate us to continue watching. We don’t feel satisfaction until we receive finality, closure, or resolution of the message, our goals, or any aspect of our life. Incomplete tasks trigger thoughts, and the thoughts of the incomplete task trigger more memory retention. More memory retention triggers anxiety that triggers more thoughts of the uncompleted business.²³

You also see the Zeigarnik effect in the courtroom. People feel more confident and impressed with information that they discover for themselves over time. Persuaders must therefore slowly disperse information, rather than dumping large volumes of it all at once. A good lawyer does not disclose everything known about the case or the plaintiff during the opening statement. As the trial progresses, the jury can fill in the blanks for themselves with the additional information they gradually receive. This works much better than dumping all the information on them at the beginning. Limiting the amount of information holds the jurors’ attention longer and gives the message more validity. The jury discovers the answers for themselves and is more likely to arrive at the desired conclusion.

ENGAGING THE SENSES

Our five senses help us create generalizations about our world. You should engage as many senses as possible when trying to persuade an audience. When we learn, 75 percent comes to us visually, 13 percent comes through hearing, and 12 percent comes through smell, taste, and touch.²⁴

However, keep in mind that we gravitate toward three dominant senses: sight, hearing, and feeling, or, visual, auditory, and kinesthetic sensations. Most people tend to favor one of these perceptions over the others. As a Power Persuader, you need to identify and use your prospect’s dominant perspective of the world. Granted, we generally make use of all three senses, but the point is to find the dominant perception. As you determine the dominant mode, consider the size of your audience. If you are speaking to one person, for example, you would want to pinpoint the one dominant perception in that person. If you have an audience of one hundred, on the other hand, you need to use all three styles.

For example, if you were to ask an auditory person who was a eyewitness to a robbery, she might describe the situation as follows: “I was walking down First Avenue listening to the singing birds when I heard a scream for help. The yelling got louder, there was another scream, and the thief ran off.” A visual person might describe the same situation this way: “I was walking down First Avenue watching the birds play in the air. I observed this large man coming around the corner. He looked mean and attacked the smaller man. I saw him take his wallet and run from the scene.” The kinesthetic person might use this description: “I was walking down First Avenue, and I felt a lump in my throat, feeling that something bad was going to happen. There was a scream, there was tension, and I knew that a man was getting robbed. I felt helpless to do anything.”

The most common sense is sight, or visual perception. One study showed that those who used visual presentation tools (slides, overheads, etc.) were 43 percent more persuasive than subjects who didn’t. Also, those using a computer to present their visual aids were considered more professional, interesting, and effective.²⁵ Visually oriented people understand the world according to how it looks to them. They notice the details, like an object’s shape, color, size, and texture. They say things like, “I see what you mean,” “From your point of view … ,” “How does that look to you?” “I can’t picture it,” and “Do you see what I mean?” They tend to use words like see, show, view, look, watch, and observe.”

Auditory people perceive everything according to sound and rhythm. Phrases you would commonly hear would be, “I hear you,” “That sounds good to me,” “Can you hear what I’m saying?” “It doesn’t ring a bell,” and “Let’s talk about it.” They use words such as hear, listen, sounds, silence, harmony, say, speak, discuss, and verbalize.

Kinesthetic people go with what they touch or feel, not only in a tactile way, but also internally. They are very into feelings and emotions. A kinesthetic person would say things like, “That feels right to me,” “I will be in touch with you,” “Do you feel that?” “I understand how you feel,” and “I can sense it.” They use words such as feel, touch, hold, connect, reach, tension, sense, lift, and understand.

On average, 40 percent of the population tends to be visual, 20 percent tends to be auditory and the other 40 percent tends to be kinesthetic. Visual people want images, visual aids, pictures, and props. Auditory people need it written down; they love a great story and the use of the spoken word. Kinesthetic people need it to feel right, touch the props, and perform tasks or exercises.

One last word on visual, auditory, and kinesthetic sensations: A general way to tell which type describes a person is to watch the movement of their eyes when they have to think about a question. Ask them a question, watch their eyes, and make sure the question is difficult enough that they have to ponder for a moment. Generally, although not 100 percent of the time, if they look up when they think, they are visual. When they look to either side, they are usually auditory. When they look down, they are kinesthetic. I am simplifying a complicated science, but, if you try it, you will be amazed at the accuracy of this technique.

Keep your audience mentally and physically involved, and watch your ability to persuade increase. Your job is to keep it simple, keep them involved, and turn those large steps into baby steps. It is very difficult to persuade someone who is:

  Bored.

  Confused.

  Not listening.

  Too comfortable.

  Too hot or cold.

  Overwhelmed.

The Law of Involvement will never work if those in your audience don’t like you or don’t trust you. The law will also be useless if your product or service has no perceived value or if the prospects don’t have a need or want for it. Learn to reduce the distance from introduction to the call-to-action.

CASE STUDY

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Walking into a local gym, I passed the front counter and made eye contact with the owner of the nutritional/smoothie store. The store offered professional advice, fresh smoothies, and pills and powders for everything. I noticed that my smile was not returned, so I asked him “How’s business?” “Not good,” he replied. He had plenty of foot traffic to do a good business, but sales were not soaring. I said, make me a smoothie and I will give you a strategy that will increase your sales by 50 percent. He agreed and made me a great smoothie. What would you recommend using the Law of Involvement?

Remember that the goal with involvement is to make it as easy as possible for your potential prospect to do business with you or consider doing business with you. The first thing I recommended was to offer monthly accounts. Think about it. You have just worked out, a smoothie sounds good, but your wallet is in the car. The store was losing sales because, to make a purchase, potential customers had that extra step. They had to had to go out to the car and come back. The next step would be to give out free samples to show people what they were missing or free consults to prove their worth.

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Additional Resources: Increase Involvement Report (maximuminfluence.com)