Many years ago, I took a training with John Childers who all the marketing gurus swore by. He supposedly taught speaking skills that would show you how to sell from the platform.
But what made me take this super expensive course was the idea that he combined NLP with selling.
I was so bored. My dogs had more effective NLP skills. I took more bathroom breaks during that seminar than any other. I couldn’t believe I had gotten suckered in to this program.
And at the end of the program, he sold another program. Yes, he had secretly planted the overwhelming desire for us to purchase his next expensive program.
Yawn. I had no desire to continue my studies and I was amazed at the big name people who gave him credit for increasing their sales.
What was it that PT Barnum said about suckers being born any minute?
So now there’s another breakthrough NLP discovery used in video and selling.
Ready? Stop yawning. I haven’t told you yet.
Okay here it is.
When you are talking, when you talk about your prospects shake your hands in the direction of your prospects. When you talk about you, point to you.
Now don’t you feel an overwhelming desire to send me money?
Didn’t think so.
When you see someone using this technique, they are trying to manipulate you. And they are setting you up for the sale.
A real sale is when you connect with the buyers wants and needs and your ability to fullfil them.
No hand shaking needed.
Harlan
PS. I just saved you about $50,000 in advanced speakers trainings in this little post.
Just had to add this video
The one that cracks me up even more and is when they still use the by now statement over and over again. Or what about the latest…I am walking on water video 🙂
Hope all is well!
Jared
Harlan,
I have never seen a world so full of snake-oil salesman as the so called sales training/internet marketing/get rich quick industries. Sure, everyone wants more money for less effort, but it seems that offering anything of genuine utility and value that actually meets client’s wants and needs is distinctly unfashionable.
Do we really need all these so called “persuasion” techniques? Are clients so dim that you need to resort to such techniques to persuade them to buy?
Discuss!
I am walking on water. I use Jesus imagery in my videos. See my crown of thorns. See me go from dark clothing to resurrection white. And watch me fool all these people.
Persuasion isn’t the problem. Snake oil is. All these people trying to fall over one another to fool people into buying their products.
Is finger-clicking in sales (sorry, I mean free content) videos meant to increase sales or is it just to make sure we don’t fall asleep?
Keep up the vigil Harlan
Hmm,,, not much new in the snake oil department.
It seems like there are a lot of clowns that think a second-hand idea dolled up in a new NLP label makes them a guru.
The only thing they have right is “a fool and his money are soon parted”.
But there are so many damn fools these days that I guess these gooroos can make good money fleecing them 😉
It’s funny you bring this up. Just yesterday I was watching a video of a guy who “used” to be a hypnotist but now wants to sell some kind of self help something or other.
I really liked his presentation until he began talking about “the one” and pointing to himself.
Reminds me of Tony Robbins (years ago) saying, “Jesus Christ’ and pounding his chest. LOL
Like many things in persuasion, there are ways of doing it so it does have an impact but people who don’t know better abuse it, over use it and with any luck, soon lose it.
I have an analysis I did of some of the most talked about strategies and I included Childers. What I figured out is that he is the classic example of giving a person a fish instead of teaching them how. He uses the same examples for everything. Once his students start doing the same thing, telling the same stories, they lose their effect.
Persuasion like most things takes work and practice. It doesn’t hurt to have someone help you to learn and implement it more effectively.
Thanks for the great post Harlen. Its so true that the industry has turned for the worse. Where is NLP heading and who can you rely on to teach the skills necessary to become a master at persuasion?
Who can you trust to help you learn and implement the tools NLP and hypnosis have to offer?
Thanks,
Mel
Great post Harlen, I have spent many years teaching new sales people and working with great sales people and you are completely correct when you say:
“A real sale is when you connect with the buyers wants and needs and your ability to fullfil them”
my simple rule is Problem x Solution = Purchase and no tricky techniques alters the basics.
I think that there are so many snake oil salesmen now because there are so many people desperate to find any way to improve their financial situation. Couple that with greedy, unscrupulous marketers (and in some cases, ignorant but desperate followers)with nothing of value to offer, but who see the desperation in that market, and we arrive at the current state of internet marketing.
The sad thing is that desperate people don’t have the luxury of checking out the offers, they just act from their desperation. (And most of them can’t afford to waste their money paying the charlatans, but keep falling for the lies.)