Maximize Your Influence

Happy New Year! We're back with the first episode of 2015!  If you we're asked "do you have a rewards card with us" last time you were shopping, you're not alone.  Business are loading up on rewards programs like never before, in hopes of enticing you to return and buy more stuff from them. As it turns out however, a good old fashioned "thank you" is more effective.  Kurt and Steve discuss this recent study on this episode. Well it's 2015.  It's time to set goals.  You're either excited about that or you're rolling your eyes saying "not again!"  Whatever you think about it, however, it's important.  Setting goals (in writing) is one of the main attributes that differentiates successful persuaders from failures.  Check out this episode for some concrete tips on how you can set goals more successfully in 2015!

If you have kids or employees (they're kind of the same, aren't they) you have probably used threats as a way to gain compliance before.  When we are in a rational state, we can all agree that most of the time threats are only good for very short term compliance.  But when we become emotional, it's easy for our brain to think that a threat is the best solution to the problem.  In a recent study by McGill University, researchers discovered that threatening children doesn't stop them from lying.  Here's some hope for humanity: researchers also concluded that kids are more likely to tell the truth when they feel like it's the right thing to do!  In Episode 79 of Maximize Your Influence, Kurt and Steve expand more on persuasive writing styles.  There are certain words that you should never use when persuading others.  Those words, however, may be beneficial when you are discussing the competiton!  Check out the episode for all the information.  Kurt and Steve will return in 2015 with more Maximize Your Influence!

Are you tired of faking that you like your boss when you really don't?  Michigan State University has good news.  Apparently, you don't need to fake it anymore!  Their study shows that your productivity and your bosses satsifaction with your work performance goes UP when you both can admit that you're just co-workers and not necessarily best buddies. After discussing the weekly article.  Kurt and Steve launch into the important topic of persuasive writing.  In order to persuade, you need people to talk to.  You need leads.  It's persuasive writing that does this.  Oftentimes, writing persuasively involves the use of pictures.  Yeah, this sounds like a bit of a contradiction.  But when we ssee words, how we feel about them is usually influnced by the pictures that accompany them.  Use pictures that involve attractive people, things, and places.  You can use bright colors as well as images that make others curious, happy, or even angry.  This makes them pay attention to what you write. Check out the rest of the episode for more information on how to structure your persuasive copy for optimal results. And finally, www.universityofpersuasion.com is half off for the rest of the year!  Wheverver you are in your persuasion journey, there's something on universityofpersuasion.com for you! 

Every year it happens.  Black Friday.  That one day where retailers apparently lose their mind and start giving away massive discounts in order to lure bargain hungry shoppers.  The urgency created on Black Friday is unparalleled! On this episode Kurt and Steve discuss what retailers do right on Black Friday as opposed to what they do wrong.  Using some of their tactics could turn your prospects away...or it could create massive legitimate urgency that will spike your sales, big time.  Tune into this episode for more info!

Do you work in an environment where you need to be motivated...but your boss just doesn't motivate you?  This is increasingly the norm, unfortunately.  A recent article by Harvard Business Review gives some helpful pointers if you find yourself in this type of environment.  Check out the article here. Are you your competitor's best sales person?  Let's rephrase.  Have you ever worked really hard building your products value with a prospect, only to have them go with a cheaper option or a competitor?  That's what we call "scratching the itch."  When you motivate your prospect to change, they often try to scratch the easiest itch they can find.  In other words, once you've identified the problem and created the pain, the prospect seeks to solve that pain in the easiest/cheapest way possible.  Kurt and Steve discuss some of the main methods for getting around the itch.  The first is obvious.  What are the cheaper options that your prospect will be tempted to go with?  Instead of covertly trying to sabotage these options, what is working best right now is to just drag the options all out into the light.  It's okay to tell your prospect: "look, a lot of individuals I talk to end up trying to find a cheaper version.  I'll tell you right now, it exists.  If price is all you're concerned about, you should go that direction.  Do you have other considerations besides price?"  This gets a critical yes from your prospect and they proceed to tell you all the things besides price that matter to them.  Now you can build value and take the sales cycle away from price.  Battling your prospect on price is seldom a winning proposition. Tune into the episode for more tools to manage "the itch."  And if you're ready to take things to the next level, visit us at www.universityofpersuasion.com.  There you'll see some of Kurt and Steve's top training programs...some of which are totally free! 

Are you one of those sports fans that feels like the officials are conspiring against your team?  Everybody has been THAT sports fan at some point in their life.  As it turns out you may not be that paranoid.  A recent study shows that shorter NBA refs call more fouls than their taller counter parts.  The question remains though: is this due to a bad case of vantage point or a bad case of "small man syndrome?"  Check out the article here.  It's a fact, though.  We judge people based on height.  The fact that this transcends into sports is no surprise. On episode 66 of Maximize Your Influence, Kurt and Steve discuss what all sales and business people deal with: rejection.  Dealing with rejection involves two key concepts: 1) how we think about it and 2) how we deal with it.  Having a healthy perspective on rejection and realizing that it happens to everybody, even the best, is where you should start.  Beyond that, there are various habits that successful persuaders get into that allow them to quickly move past rejection and even harness it to create more sales.  Check out episode 66 to learn more!

Persuasion is one of those skills that gives you a leg up on the competition.  When it comes to sales, there is no award for second place.  And advantage you can get goes a long way towards coming in first place!  Make sure you regularly tune up your persuasion ane influence skills.  These are skills that can atrophy over time if you don't use them.  And when you need to use them...it's too late to learn! So why not use Maximize Your Influence to stay fresh! In Kurt's geeky article moment, we learn what motivates people to pursue their dream job.  Because we all need money, most of us end up selling out our dream job.  But if it's something you really want, you need to have a vivid mindset.  Having a vivid, clear picture of your future will make you sink or swim.  This equally applies in sales.  If your prospects don't have a vivid and clear picture of what it'll be like to use your product, they'll say no. Continuing on, Kurt and Steve wrap up the series on the 4 R's of Resistance.  The 4th "R" is "Representative."  In other words...it's YOU.  Sometimes people will resist doing business not because of the product, the price, or something else.  It's just something about you.  This has been discussed at length on the show.  People do business with "better looking" people.  This doesn't mean you have to be a model.  But it is time to ask yourself some questions.  Are you dressing fashionably (but not over the top)?  Are you over weight?  Are you still sporting the same haircut you thought looked super cool in 1982? Take a hard look at yourself.  You want too look good...but not too slick.  Beyond looking good, it comes down to rapport.  Increasingly, however, prospects are getting a lot better at sniffing out the "bs" that sales people throw at them.  The best way to connect is to initially prove your worth.  Once you do this, your prospects will subconsiously give you permission to connect with them and "shoot the bull" as they say. 

After discussing Kurt's upcoming visit to the Middle East, Kurt and Steve launch right into this week's article.  According to a recent article from Science Daily, toddlers who exhibit low empathy are in for a tough life.  The study says that there will be long term problems with aggression.  The good news is, it's not too late to fix it.  After the article, Kurt and Steve get into the Third R of Resistance, which is "resources."  We're all taught in sales that we need to qualify our prospect.  Mostly this centers around money, but there are other resources that need to be in place such as time, support, staff, etc.  We know that most of the time when prospects tell us they don't have the resources, it's not true.  They've just learned over the years that lying about resources is a quick way to make you (the evil salesperson) go away.  When it comes right down to it, most of the things that we buy are not based on price.  Value is the key, and value is a perception. What are your prospects comparing your product or service to?  This allows you to benchmark value.  You get to decide what they compare it to!  Be careful to choose what other products and services your compare and contrast your product with.  Do it right, and people will pay a lot more.  Do it wrong, and they won't pay you anything!

Do you enjoy the Maximize Your Influence Podcast?  Learn more at www.universityofpersuasion.com.  You'll have access to all of our top persuasion and influence training!  You'll get our 52 week persuasion mastery course, our persuasion university library, persuasion software (solves objections for you), and much much more!   On this episode of Maximize Your Influence, Kurt and Steve discuss the second R of resources.  One of the main reasons we encounter resistance from prospects, employees, family, etc is due to perceived risk.  Whether it's time, money, respect, or some other resource, your prospect is not sure if what they are giving up to do business with you is truly worth it.  There's too much risk.  Sometimes they state this out loud...other time sthey feel it subconsciously.  Either way, your goal as a persuader is to get your prospect to feel like they have absolutely nothing to lose by doing business with you.  Part of this is through creating involvement (see our earler podcasts on the law of involvement).  When your prospect feels like they are participating in the product or service they begin to feel that it WILL be worth it.  Get them started down the right road and they will typically want to finish.  This is typically done through some kind of free trial of your product or service.  Sure, when you offer a free trial people will periodcially take advantage of you.  However, implementing a free trial usually increases sales so much that any "free loaders" are totally worth it. Another way is to establish a bold guarantee.  If you don't feel like you CAN guarantee your product or service, it's time to re-think things. What can you promise that will make prospects feel like they have a way "out" if the product doesn't work for them?  Remember, guarnatees are like free trials.  Most typically won't turn around and ask for their money back once they've purchased the product.  Guarantees more than pay for themselves! 

On this episode, Kurt and Steve interview the CEO of Entrepreneur on Fire, John Lee Dumas.  John is one of the most successful "virtual" entrepreneurs out there.  His podcast is by far one of the most popular business downloads on the internet.  He is known for producing massive amounts of valuable content and giving it away for FREE.  His audience is large and he has a very high level of trust with them. This allows him to sell hundreds of thousands of dollars of his products every month.  And even better...he documents it all!  His model of complete transparency allows him to cut right to the pain of what his prospects want and need.  He then provides it and makes huge profits in the process.  If you're an entrepreneur his show is a must!   Learn more by visiting www.entrepreneuronfire.com.