Subconscious Triggers
The Automatic Yes
Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.
Has this ever happened to you? I made a commitment to myself earlier in the month to eat healthier, and I was doing pretty well. I was late for a meeting, I was starving, and I had time only for fast food. I thought it through and decided that having fast food would be OK as long it was a grilled chicken sandwich that was light on the mayo. I could add a diet drink and skip the French fries or replace them with a healthy salad. I would keep my commitment to be healthy, and I would be on time for my meeting. Then, at the drive-through order window, the young lady asked what I wanted. Without hesitating, I replied, “I want a double bacon cheeseburger with large fries and a regular drink.” Whoa! Where did that come from? That is not what I decided to do. What happened? It all occurred in a fraction of a second. Welcome to the world of subconscious triggers.
As a species whose thinking ability supposedly separates us from the animals, we really don’t spend much of our life thinking or reasoning. Most of the time our minds get stuck on cruise control; thinking takes up too much time and requires too much energy. Imagine having to analyze every decision we make. That process would overwhelm us, and it wouldn’t leave us much time to accomplish anything else. Most of us have an automatic way interpreting our world. When this subconscious mode is operating, our minds are perfectly primed to automatically respond to persuasion triggers.
What might be some of the subconscious triggers I experienced when I went to that fast-food restaurant? One could be the smell of cooking beef in the air. Maybe another was a commercial I saw the day before. Another might be a picture of that double bacon cheeseburger. Maybe someone recommended that same burger last week. Did I hear someone else order the same thing? These subconscious triggers are powerful and will affect your ability to persuade and influence. These subconscious triggers are the foundation of the Laws of Persuasion.
THE AUTOMATIC TRIGGERS OF PERSUASION
The Laws of Persuasion operate below our conscious thought radar. When these laws are employed properly, your audience doesn’t even realize you’re using them. On the other hand, if you blunder your way through a persuasion situation, your audience will be totally aware of what you’re doing. It’s like seeing a police car on the side of the road—it jars us back to reality. A skilled persuader will use the Laws of Persuasion so that the message is delivered below the radar.
Understanding the Laws of Persuasion involves understanding human nature, which empowers you to improve your persuasive abilities. Influence magnifies your effectiveness in relationships, improves sales enhances your leadership ability, and helps you sell yourself and your ideas. In short, it maximizes your effectiveness.
THINKING ABOUT NOT THINKING
In his book Triggers, best-selling author Joseph Sugarman reveals that 95 percent of a consumer’s purchase is associated with a subconscious decision. In other words, most buying is done for reasons a person hasn’t fully formulated.
Whether we realize it or not, we love shortcuts to thinking. When we buy an item, we don’t always take the time to research the product or read the latest consumer guide’s ratings on the product. Instead, we may rely on the salesperson’s advice. We might just buy the most popular brand, or the cheapest, or rely on a friend’s opinion. Although we would never admit it, we sometimes even buy an item just because of its color, smell, or packaging. Certainly we know this is not the best way to make decisions, but we all do it anyway, even when we know we might make a mistake or feel regretful afterward. If we meticulously considered every single decision, we would be so constantly overwhelmed that our brain would shut down, and we’d never get anything done.
This tendency means that inclinations like, “It just feels right,” “I like this product,” or “I don’t trust this person” are all based on subconscious triggers. Such thoughts and emotional reactions occur in the unconscious mind, without our awareness. What’s more, our conscious awareness of reality is the result of the neurons in our brain processing all the information around us in unconscious ways.4
The reason for this type of behavior is the amygdala. Joseph Ledoux of New York University says the amygdala allows emotions to dominate and control our thinking. The amygdala has control over the cortex in the brain. What does that mean? The cortex is responsible for memory, perceptual awareness, thought, and consciousness. The amygdala stores the memories that we associate with emotional events. As a result, subconscious triggers are constantly occurring and triggering feelings and emotions, usually without our awareness. Neuroscientist Antonio Demasio said it best: “We are not thinking machines that feel, we are feeling machines that think.”
Why do we let these feelings guide our decision making? First, sometimes the amount of incoming information is so overwhelming we don’t even attempt to digest any of it. Sometimes our decisions simply aren’t important enough to warrant the effort of researching all the available information. Consciously and subconsciously, from the bombardment of information we receive, we selectively choose what to acknowledge and what to ignore.
SOME OF YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS TRIGGERS
An aroma that reminds you of a past sweetheart
Music that increases your adrenaline level
A color that makes you calm
Trusting someone you have just met for the first time
Gestures that subconsciously make you uneasy
The tone of someone’s voice that is an instant turn-on (or turnoff)
Not connecting with someone because he or she acts like someone you don’t like
Most persuasion involves both conscious (logical) and subconscious (emotional) paths. The key is knowing when to use either method and when to combine them. You might think you are an analytical person who uses the logical path of persuasion, but whether you are an emotional or logical person, you use both paths during the persuasion process. Think of an iceberg. The logical side of persuasion is the part showing above the water surface. The emotional or subconscious side is the submerged part of the iceberg. The successful application of all the laws and techniques taught in this book will help you to quickly identify which ones will be the most effective in a given situation.
We all tend to think that persuasion does not affect us. You might think it works on other people but not on you. Yet mindless persuasion or subconscious triggers are working on us constantly. The Monkey Business Illusion was a famous study that was called the invisible gorilla study and that you can find on youtube.com. The video shows two basketball teams, one in white and the other in black. They begin to pass the basketball to the other members of the team. Your job is to count how many times the white team passes the ball. Your brain focuses on the passing. Most people get the answer correct, but they don’t see the black gorilla that walks out right in the middle of the game. This gorilla even looks at the camera and beats its chest, yet most people never see it. Our brain selectively see/hears what it wants.5
THE 12 LAWS OF PERSUASION
This book explores and categorizes the 12 Laws of Persuasion. These laws form the basis of the art and science of persuasion and influence. Adherence to these laws can help you understand and gain control of any situation requiring persuasion. Our minds are programmed with automatic persuasion triggers. Most of us experience persuasive situations without realizing or thinking about them. Power Persuaders know what these triggers are and how to use them to their advantage. Understanding the Laws of Persuasion help us become aware of how we are influenced without having conscious knowledge of it.
Learning to influence and persuade takes time, skill, and experience. What most people don’t realize is that we already instinctively use many of these laws in our daily communications. The Laws of Persuasion that we unknowingly use every day are the very same ones that Power Persuaders use deliberately, consciously, and consistently. Power Persuaders make persuasion a habit. For example, recall how conscientious you were when you first started driving. Now, after years of practice, driving a car doesn’t require as much thought or focus. Power Persuaders understand the laws of persuasion, have practiced them constantly, and can therefore apply the techniques without even thinking about them. For them, the application of persuasion has become second nature. Learn, implement, and make the 12 Laws of Persuasion a part of your life.
THE 12 UNIVERSAL LAWS OF POWER PERSUASION
Figure 2-1 maps out the 12 Laws of Persuasion. Each law can be used at any time, although they will always have a higher impact when used at the right time and in the correct way. The first key is to understand the foundational principles of Maximum Influence. The more of these elements that exist during the influence process, the faster and easier persuasion will be. They will cause your prospects to be more open, lower their resistance, and prepare them to be persuaded.
Foundational Principles of Maximum Influence
When your prospects have a definite need or want for your product or service, they are much easier to influence. They are qualified and interested in your solution. Back to the old saying: “What’s in it for me? (WIIFM)?”
Figure 2-1. The 12 Laws of Persuation.
Motivation creates prospects who are ready to move out of their comfort zone. They are prepared to be influenced by you and driven to use your product or service. Can you tap into their inspiration or desperation?
Your foundation to persuade and influence is also strengthened when you possess various forms of power. If you have positional power, you are the prospects’ supervisor or boss, and that enhances your ability to persuade. You might have more knowledge than your prospect or have built respect power over time.
Then there is the key element of trust. When your prospect trusts you, the doors of persuasion swing open. You are credible and competent, and they are willing to be influenced by you.
The rest of the illustration covers the laws that I will reveal during this book.
Four Laws of Persuasion not only work well during your introduction but are also critical during the whole persuasion process: Connectivity, Involvement, Esteem, and Obligation.
During your persuasive presentation, the important laws are Dissonance, Verbal Packaging, Association, and Balance.
When you are ready for your call to action, the laws that will seal the deal are Expectations, Contrast, Social Validation, and Scarcity.
Master the implementation and timing of these laws, and you will become a Power Persuader.
Additional Resources: Maximum Influence Newsletter (maximuminfluence.com)