Hi Persuader,

Try this: I'm sure you'll get it real quick but because you're all such good folks out there, I want you to spell the word 'folk' three times. Do it right now in your mind. Spell the word 'folk' three times as fast as you can.

Now what do you call the white part of an egg?

Did you say yolk? Really?

Are you asking your prospects the right questions to get to their deepest values and criteria? When we elicit criteria, if we're doing it right, our prospects don't understand what they are really giving us.

So how can we make the most of each question we ask? An extremely important thing to remember is that the questions cause the answer. What does that mean? It means that as we learn to better ask the question, we're going to be a lot better at making persuasion happen.

If I were to look at you as a brand new client, and you've never bought anything from me before and let's say I'm an advisor and I'm there to help you with wealth planning throughout your generations and I say, "Would you just tell me the two or three things that you need to hear me say today to make you buy? Just tell me so that we can get this part out of the way. Go ahead. I'm listening."

What would happen? That's right. Nothing. They'd probably either tell you to leave or they'd get up and walk out. Yet magically, when we elicit their criteria, they gladly give that very same information to us.

Why? Well, to an extent, it's disguised.

Your prospect does not understand what they're giving you when you ask this way. They don't get it. Once in a blue moon you'll find someone giving you resistance to this, but it doesn't happen often.

Even if they did understand what they were giving us, it is socially correct and absolutely acceptable to find out what they need prior to recommending a product or service. Doctors don't just prescribe medicine prior to finding out about your history, finding out if you have allergies or without finding out why you're there to see them. Neither do consultants, lawyers, or sales people. We simply cannot give people any recommendation if we don't know what they want or need.

Here's the point and this is important: we're setting people's minds up so that we can enter them and we can get them to do what we want them to do. We can set them going along a direction that when we interrupt that direction, we can cause them to immediately, as if it was always so, go along with what we're saying. (What's the white part of an egg called?)

When I ask you 'what's important about X?' or 'if I were a magician and I had a magic wand and I could wave it and get you anything in business you want, what would it be?' I'm listening very intently for where you have the strongest emotional reaction to one of the words that you're saying.

We're opening the people's minds. We're opening them to their own desires, to their own things.

Until Next Time,

Kenrick E. Cleveland

Hi Persuader,

You know what's overrated? Rationality. I know, I know, it's important to have your feet firmly planted on the ground in order to grow roots, in order to have a foundation, a base from which to work. But in business the idea of rationality has become supreme and I think we've lost something in the transition from 'mom and pop' business to faceless corporations that is an integral part of selling our products or services, especially when dealing with an affluent clientele.

Our viability as people who sell, is intrinsically linked to our client's and prospect's emotions and their other-than-conscious minds. In past posts/articles, I've gotten very detailed about 'how' to access these emotions (i.e. eliciting their criteria, creating rapport), and I'd like to discuss here more the 'why' of the process.

Our emotions drive us. Core emotions and our DNA are what make us take action. We are primitive beings ruled by the same things our ancient ancestors were ruled by. They didn't have to contend with a bombardment of products or services vying for their business. They worried about the very basics: food, shelter, sex, fight or flight and had no concept of choice, luxury or affluence.

When we interact with a prospect, this should be a thought we hold foremost in our minds: appeal to the core. Gut instincts are far more powerful than the rational mind. Making the rational and the core emotions mesh, is our job.

Gut reactions happen instantly. In his book 'Blink', Malcolm Gladwell discusses rapid cognition, that which happens in the blink of an eye. He writes about thinking without thinking. Our emotional processes take only 1/5th of the time our rational brain takes to assimilate.

Think of this in terms of how sales used to be and how they are now. Despite the fact that at our cores we're like cavemen, we are incredibly sophisticated. If you consider even back to the fifties, sixties and seventies, the 'features and benefits' style of sales, the Dale Carnegie method, these were passable at the time, but as our choices have grown in the marketplace, so have our BS detectors. We know when someone's being slick with us and it doesn't feel good.

Now think of how good it feels to be understood, and at ease, and the fact that this response is absolutely duplicatable with the right training. Accessing our prospect's values, eliciting their criteria, and with sincerity, honesty and integrity, combining it with what our products or our services, all make for an emotional alchemy that is easy to feel good about.

In our advanced state of civilization (depending on your perspective) we are given amazing choices and opportunities. There are products and services available to us that even a generation ago, wouldn't have been dreamed up. In this ever expanding atmosphere it seems likely that those of us who know how to access the core and our prospect's emotions are going to be the ones capable of rising to the top in our given fields. By elevating emotions and partially bypassing rationality, we find ourselves with incredible persuasion power.

Until Next Time,

Kenrick E. Cleveland

Hi Persuader,

I'm curious. . .

Just so I'm absolutely clear. . .

Excellent. That makes perfect sense. And so that I'm understanding you. . .

Once we get past the basics of rapport and criteria elicitation, we can then feel free to put a little polish on our persuasion package.

Softening statements and questions are just that. When we elicit criteria, the basic structure is, 'What's important about X? What's important about Y? And ultimately, what's important about Z?' (If you're new to MAXpersuasion or haven't yet learned the basics of rapport building and criteria elicitation, stop now! And contact Kim for more information to get you started.)

Okay. So once we are comfortable with criteria elicitation, we can then add some softeners to sooth and encourage our prospect.

'So, I'm just curious, tell me, what's important to you about finding a new financial advisor?'

'Well,' says our prospect, 'I'm just not feeling comfortable with my current advisor and I'm looking for a change.'

'Excellent. Really good. That makes perfect sense. And so that I'm understanding you completely, what's important about feeling comfortable with your financial advisor?'

'Well, I just really want to feel secure in knowing that I'm taken care of and that my best interests are being looked after, and I'm just not finding that to be the case right now.'

'Absolutely. I completely agree. And just so that I'm absolutely clear, ultimately, when you find this secure feeling that you're being taken care of, what will that mean to you?'

'It will mean that I don't have to worry about my family or my family's financial future.'

Softening statements/questions put the prospect at ease. They show that we're really, truly understanding and in compliance with our client's needs and desires.

Like playing a musical instrument, persuasion can either be taken directly off the page as written, but its power is best utilized when we get the basics down and then do a little improvisation. Obviously, without the basics, we get a lot of nonsense, but when we combine a solid foundation with these flourishes, it can be a beautiful symphony.

Until Next Time,

Kenrick E. Cleveland

"People will teach you how to sell them if you'll pay attention to the messages they send you." Source Unknown

Dear Persuader,

There's an old wives' tale that suggests you can tell when dinner is ready by throwing a piece of spaghetti against the wall to see if it sticks. If it sticks, it's done. If not, keep cooking. Whenever I think of 'features and benefits' selling, I think of someone throwing a whole pot of spaghetti noodles against the wall and trying to see what sticks. Stupid, right? I think so.

Dale Carnegie would say that you have features and benefits, listing all the features and benefits of your product or service in the hopes that if you say enough you'll finally hit on something of importance to your prospect and they'll scream out, "Ooh! I want that one!"

Features and benefits is the quickest way to expose yourself as an old-fashioned sales person. Does it work? About as well as throwing a whole bunch of pasta against the wall. And as an added bonus, it makes you seem smarmy and outdated.

It brings to mind the character of Gil Gunderson on 'The Simpson's' who is a hapless and nervous salesman who uses old-fashioned techniques to no avail. He sweats, he begs, he lists all the reasons why you should buy the product he's selling or the house he has listed or any number of things (he's had dozens of jobs), and he always ends up failing because it's all about Gil. It's never about his prospect or their needs.

Features and benefits doesn't work, first and foremost, because it focuses on you. You're not the one you're trying to sell. Secondly, features and benefits puts you in the perspective of continuing to ask the wrong questions.

What's the antidote to features and benefits? One word: criteria. In whatever you're doing, whether it be sales, whether it be real estate, whether you're working this in terms of relationships, or whatever you're doing, if you throw enough stuff on the wall, the old theory goes, some of it will stick. Maybe. But using by using criteria, you're laser focusing on exactly what the prospect wants and thereby significantly improving your odds and the predictability of sales.

So my new theory says, if you throw enough stuff on the wall, you've got dirty walls. Features and benefits, for the most part, are baloney, they're not effective, and they simply mark you as someone who is unskilled and unprofessional.

The exception to the rule is when the prospect knows absolutely nothing about what it is that they're there to buy from you. They've hardly ever seen or heard of the service or product, and they've come to you to ask you about buying it. Under those conditions, you might use some features and benefits, to help them to learn about the product, but even then, I'll tell you, that would be the second step, not the first step.

The first step is giving yourself the ability to target straight into their heart. Straight into their emotions, into their deepest desires. If I can speak directly to you about what it is you want, if I can talk about persuasion, and about the benefit to you of being able to master it, all of the sudden I might start having a little bit more of your attention.

Until Next Time,

Kenrick E. Cleveland

Hi Persuader,

Sometimes it's hard to let go. We've all been there... not wanting to say goodbye to something that we've outgrown, not letting go of someone who wasn't good for us.

Think about a time you had to put a beloved pet to sleep because you knew it was the absolute best thing you could do to end their suffering.

As the things in our lives become outmoded, as we grow to learn and strive for more, we have to also learn to let go of ways that we existed in the past, ways that are no longer applicable to how we've advanced.

I'm about to reveal to you 1 of 2 things that I absolutely believe you should NOT be doing in persuasion. These things are NOT part of persuasion and will hinder your results when you carry them out (hint: the 2nd of the two is in the last sentence of this post)...

If you're in the Persuasion Factor or in my Elite Coaching Club, one thing that should have come to an end already, that you, by now, have buried or flushed, is the concept of cold calling.

I had a student ask me in a seminar recently how the process of criteria elicitation applies to cold calling. The hard, cold truth is: you cannot apply this to cold calling as a general rule.

Cold calls are not selling. Cold calls are marketing. For those of you that do cold calls, stop it. Learn how to market. Spend some money and actually market your product or service. Marketing works.

If you're in a business in which you must cold call, supplement it with real marketing.

Some businesses have to cold call. For example, realtors farm area, at least an awful lot of them do. There are other ways to do it, but some will choose to cold call. It does work in that profession.

Some stock brokers choose to prospect by telephone. It isn't easy, nor is it fun. But in some ways, the game is rigged. If they work for a company that has a compliance department, they may not allow them to do much else.

Nowadays, if you're an advisor of any kind, you probably aren't even allowed to send an email through the company's system to a customer, and if you did you probably can't say more than "hi" or compliance will stop it.

So in that instance, maybe all you have available to you is cold calling. Even if that's the case, don't confuse it with selling.

In sales, we are simply looking for someone with their hand raised. Cold calling is nothing more than getting someone to raise their hand. When they raise their hand you switch hats and move from marketing to sales. Now criteria becomes an issue, whereas in the 'marketing' side it was not.

The minute there's an interest, the context is present in which to do criteria. Before there's a context you can't elicit criteria. It won't do you any good. You won't get any answers and there's no rapport.

If you can, stop cold calling. Sell to current clients. Develop new clients from your current clients. Work with getting new clients through some systematic method of advertising that will create a steady stream of traffic.

It's time to let this one go. Sorry old pal, your time has come. As with 'features and benefits', our time together must come to an end.

Until Next Time,

Kenrick E. Cleveland

Hi Persuader,

Wow! I understand stage fright, but I don't understand this... Odds are, if you're much of an internet surfer, you've seen this clip already:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=WALIARHHLII

It's a clip of Laura Caitlin Upton, the Miss Teen America contestant from South Carolina, giving her answer to a question about education and geography: "Recent polls have shown that a fifth of Americans can't locate the U.S. on a world map. Why do you think this is?"

Seeing it written out word for word is almost scarier:

"I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some people out there in our nation don't have maps. And I believe that our education, like, such as in South Africa and the Iraq, everywhere, like such as, and I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S. or should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future for our children."

Maybe she got left behind, if you know what I mean.

This story is a few weeks old, but I just thought the clip with the subtitles was hilarious and when I saw it, it made me (of course) want to relate it back to persuasion and sales. This comes under the title of "Why talking too much loses the sale".

We're not all on stage in front of thousands or hundreds of people and so, in all fairness, don't understand the pressure the girl was under. On the other hand, there are fifty states (I think, I'll have to send Laura an e-mail to verify this) and I don't see video clips all over the internet and television of the other forty-nine contestants blathering on nonsensically.

When we persuade, (as Ms. Upton was trying to do with the judges - persuade them to choose her above the others), it is not about filling the air with words. It is about aiming our messages straight at what the client or prospect needs.

Regardless of whether or not her physicality was pleasing enough to win is really the issue in this case and the fact that she came in third is truly an indication that this was not a brains contest, but a beauty contest. She appeared poised, at least. I'll say that for her. Also, she's not hard to look at, just hard to listen to.

Without proper training, you may be perceived as a bumbling idiot. If we take a lesson from Ms. Upton's "answer" to the question, it should be this:

Sometimes less is better. If we don't have answers, we need to keep our traps shut unless we are blessed with the gift of gab and can fake it until we come up with something passable, at the very, very least.

Until Next Time,

Kenrick E. Cleveland

"The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself." - Peter F. Drucker

Hi Persuader,

What is a pitch?

It's an attempt at a logical series of steps, to arrive at an outcome.

What is a script?

See: pitch. Same thing.

Two ways scripts/pitches can be useful - number one, a script can be useful to learn something new. Number two, it can be used to persuade the writer of that script, because that's who it's really designed to influence.

Otherwise, both are useless.

Now here's the alternative route that you will find a zillion times easier, more effective, and more efficient...

The ultimate alternative to scripts and pitches: Persuasion.

What is persuasion?

Persuasion is understanding the customer so well that the product or service fits him/her and sells itself. It's rapport, and it's giving someone exactly what they want.

What do you want the most? I'm going to give it to you. If you perceive that I'm going to give you what you want, and it is exactly what you want, and it makes you feel really good, and you are really excited about it, are you going to buy it?

Yes.

It's like stepping into you, and giving yourself the idea that this is what you want to do, and so since it came from you, you say "yes, of course, I want to do it".

Sometimes, pitches are useful to give you an overall series of points that you might want to cover, and so for that reason you might just want to make a list of things you want to touch on.

For example, if your prospect is going to sign an agreement, they need to know what's in the agreement, they need to know what they're agreeing to, so there are a few points that maybe you need to make sure to bring up.

And (now, here's where persuasion comes in) you're always going to bring those points up in light of what?

Your prospect's CRITERIA. Their highest values. What they want.

We use criteria elicitation so that we can marry their criteria to our product. That's our sole intention in life. If your criteria equals my product, are you going to own it?

Yes.

If I want a relationship with you and I equal every single desire you have, are you going to have a relationship with me?

Yes.

If what you want in life-- desires and goals--are identical to mine, are we going to be best friends? Are we going to really understand each other?

You bet.

Our job is to marry the person's values with our product/service, (or with ourselves, if that's what you're selling - and to some extent you are always selling yourself).

That's exactly what we're trying do. We do it with intention, rapport, intention, criteria, intention, marriage, bringing it all together.

Everything you say, everything you do, everything you are about when you're with that person is putting your stuff into their criteria, making them see how their criteria is exactly what you have, you are the only place where they can get that criteria met. That's it, that's all there is to this.

If you were using a pitch before reading this, fine. But now that you have even the tiniest most basic understanding of persuasion given this context, it's time to ditch the pitch.

Tell us about your successes in ditching the pitch! Post a comment to this post. And while you're at it, make sure you know exactly how to elicit your prospect's criteria.

If you don't know about criteria elicitation, or even if you think you know, you need to check out Persuasion Factor and become the very best at eliciting your prospect's criteria.

Until Next Time,

Kenrick E. Cleveland

Side Stepping Logic to Get to the Boss:

The Unconscious

"Logic: The art of thinking and reasoning in strict accordance with the limitations and incapacities of the human misunderstanding." ~ Ambrose Bierce

When it comes to persuading the affluent, or anyone for that matter, we've got to dig deeper... into uncharted waters... where most business people are afraid to go. We've got to appeal to the unconscious mind, using emotions in our selling.

Our conscious mind can only hold seven (plus or minus two) bits of information at a time. Seven bits of information. . . that's not a whole lot, is it?

Think about how many things there are to think about--the smell of a peeled orange, the way the ceiling fan feels, the pebble in your shoes, the feel of the ring on your finger, the sound of the car outside, the child crying, the rumble in your stomach, the itch on your neck, the song on the radio. . . on and on and on.

There are so many things going on around us at any given moment that there is absolutely no way for the conscious mind to pay attention to and process almost all of it. It just goes to show you just what a huge job our unconscious has.

So what happens to the information around us that is available to us at any moment in time, but that we don't pay attention to. Where's it going? Well, it goes into our other-than-conscious. It's not that it isn't perceived--it is often being perceived--it's just that we're not consciously aware of it.

I would argue that there's too much being made of what we are as a consciousness, so to speak. People think that we have logic therefore we are and that's not true. What's in our conscious mind is of the least importance.
It does separate us from lesser conscious things like maybe dirt or trees or a building, but the mind is like an iceberg; It's the tiny sliver that sticks above the water compared to the giant amount that's actually underneath.

The same is true with the way our conscious and unconscious mind works. We pay attention to that tiny little sliver that we see out there in the world when in reality it's all of the other perceptions that are also coming in to influence us.

How do we take the conscious mind of another individual, the tip of their iceberg, and set it aside so it doesn't object to us as we go directly and access the real boss, the unconscious mind?

Knowing that this is the case, we need to realize it's true that people are actually persuaded based on emotional things that are going on with them, not logical things. Logic helps, but people make the decision emotionally and they back it up logically.

So we want to give them some logic at the end so that they feel good about what they've done emotionally, but that's about the extent of it. We need not over-stress about what the person is consciously thinking, but learn to appeal to the unconscious through all these different kinds of strategies that we're talking about here in these posts.

When we elicit criteria we're side stepping logic and getting to the core of what's important for the prospect or client.

For example, let's say their top value is 'Freedom'. When we trigger their need for freedom we're stirring up a whole cauldron of emotions. For an 'away from' personality this could range from when that ex-employer humiliated them, to when they felt trapped in a bad relationship, to, possibly, when they were stuck in traffic on the way to see you.

For that 'towards' person, they're feeling that time when they were on their yacht or the day they finally had enough money in the bank, I like to call it 'F-you' money, to dictate their own terms in business and in life. They're feeling that freedom and want more of it.

So the way you interact with that emotion of humiliation or frustration or rage (in the 'away from' person) or the liberation and feeling of dominion (in the 'towards' personality) and make your product or service the antidote (away) or access to more of (towards), then you will have succeeded in navigating the uncharted, murky (emotional) landscape where most business transactions are afraid to go.

What are some examples from your business life when you allowed yourself to be fearless in the face of (gasp!) emotion? How were you able to make a connection that transcended the logical mind?

Keep checking in to the MAXpersuasion blog for upcoming posts on hundreds of other persuasion topics!

Until next time,

Kenrick E. Cleveland

P.S. Like what you're reading? Want more of it? Want more of something else? Let me know your thoughts by writing to newsletter@MAXpersuasion.com.

The Power Of Need: Using Need To Persuade

"Nothing has more strength than dire necessity." ~ Euripides

One of the most basic strategies in sales and marketing is fulfilling a need. You always want to feed a hungry crowd. Every crowd has a different hunger, so how do you know who wants what? And how do you use this strategy to persuade your affluent prospects?

What are you thinking about right now? Maybe the words on the screen, maybe just the sentences as you read them. You're probably not thinking about bananas. Well. . .now you are, but you weren't before I brought them up. Right? But if your doctor told you that you needed to eat one banana a day to help with your potassium levels, you might think about bananas more often.

We do not, nor could we, think about bananas twenty-four hours a day. But necessity (i.e. a doctor's advice for your health) can bring them to the forefront more often than normal.

The part of the brain responsible for consciousness is the Reticular Activating System. It is thought to be the center of motivation and arousal and is involved in most of the central nervous system's activity (including sleep and wakefulness). The reticular activating system is what helps us pay attention to things that we need to pay attention to and put away those things we can afford to disregard.

Studies have shown that the conscious mind can hold about seven bits of information at any given point in time. (What happens to all the information around us that is available to us at any moment in time, but that we don't pay attention to? Look for more information on this in an upcoming article: 'Side Stepping Logic to Get to the Big Boss: The Unconscious'.)

I just got a new car. When I was shopping around and finally decided on what I wanted, a Lexus 350 ES, all of the sudden, everywhere I went, I began seeing Lexus 350 ES's on the road. I thought, "I had no idea that there were this many Lexus 350 ES's out there".

The thing is. . . they were there all along. I just wasn't paying attention to them and so didn't realize how many there were. My Reticular Activating System didn't direct my attention to this particular car because it had nothing to do with what I needed (or wanted) until that point and therefore wasn't necessary in my conscious mind.

When you're driving down the freeway, singing along to the radio, you're probably thinking about what you're going to do when you get to your destination, you aren't thinking of using the bathroom, unless you need to. You aren't thinking of getting some water, unless you're thirsty. You aren't thinking of stopping at a gas station for gas, unless you're running out. You aren't thinking of stopping for food, unless you're hungry.

But once you need any of these, they become extremely important and they are part of your conscious thought processes until the need has been satisfied. All of the sudden, it doesn't matter what's on the stereo or what the scenery looks like. All that matters are the road signs telling us what's available to eat, where the next gas station is, etc.

What happened to those thoughts before? Well, they really weren't in our consciousness. Once these thoughts begin to hold relevancy we can seize control of them and leverage them to our advantage, then put them away when they're no longer applicable to us.

This speaks a lot to criteria (the values, wants, and needs of a person). By eliciting a person's criteria we can bring to bear those subtle aspects in a person's reality that apply to their criteria. When you elicit the criteria of your affluent prospect, you speak to their values at even a higher level and essentially you are fine tuning their Reticular Activating System to your advantage (and to their's).

What are some examples of how we can use 'need' in business? In real estate? In financial planning? Criteria elicitation (finding the very deepest desires of your prospect) is crucial to pointing us in the right direction to satisfy those needs. Once you know the direction to take a person, persuading him/her will come naturally.

Until next time,

Kenrick E. Cleveland

"People are generally better persuaded by the reasons which they have themselves discovered than by those which have come into the mind of others."
--Blaise Pascal (1623 - 1662)

I define criteria as that which needs to be accomplished or met in order to take action.

When someone is listening to you about what you do, they already have an image of buying or being involved with your product or service. That is the truism of all truisms. When you're sitting in front of somebody or talking to them on the phone, they already have that image in their mind. To the extent that you can focus them on that picture, and put yourself in it, the sale will be made. To the extent that you violate that picture and take them out of it, they will go away and you will be left empty-handed.

How can we make the power of what we do more powerful in persuasion? How do we make it seem like what we want them to do comes from their own thoughts? The fact is, it genuinely must be their own thoughts so we must start first with their own thoughts.

Criteria is, first and foremost, one of the most powerful things you'll ever do. Used right, it's going to increase your money, it's going to increase your skills, your persuasion will go through the roof, but most people either don't know how to do it or don't know how to do it right.

Criteria is what is necessary for you to aim your message. Without criteria all you're doing is thinking that you know what the person wants. That's called 'features and benefits' (and if you don't know how I feel about 'features and benefits' yet, you will find out soon in an upcoming article). So with features and benefits you're bringing up EVERYTHING about your products or services. This is the hit or miss way. That's what it really is. It's hit or miss.

Instead of directing everything you say like a laser at what they want, you're hoping you'll say something that will make them stop and go, 'Wow, tell me more about that, would you? That's really why I'm here. In fact, I'm so glad you said that because now that you've said that, I know that I want to do all of my business with you.'

This holds true no matter what industry you're in. If you can't get the criteria from your prospect, in my opinion, you need to stop presenting. You're not a sales monkey. It's a cooperative effort between you and the person and I would frame it as such right from the get go. And I would frame it without saying it in so many words but through your use of question. And that question that I would probably look to ask and have answered is, 'Why are we here?'

So why does eliciting criteria really work? Well, number one the prospect doesn't understand what they're really giving us. They think they're just telling us basic stuff. They don't realize that they're literally opening themselves up much like a book and allowing us to see deep within them and if they did, they may not give it to us. From time to time you'll find people that don't want to give this to you. That's an indication of your lack of rapport should that happen. If that happens, there's little reason to proceed. Stop immediately and get rapport.

Maybe you want to try to continue on a little bit, but basically if they're not going to respect you from the minute you begin talking, the situation is probably not going to work out well and you probably will not close the deal so stop kidding yourself and move on and work harder on gaining rapport in the future.

So even if the prospect does understand what they're giving us, it is socially correct to find out what is needed prior to recommending something. This is what doctors and lawyers and consultants do. You're simply doing what everyone believes is the appropriate and right thing to do anyway.

Can you remember a time when you stalled out because of a lack of rapport? What was your first indication? Were you able to go back, gain rapport, and move forward with the elicitation of criteria?

As you use criteria more and more, you'll be amazed at how far ahead you'll be able to get in life. You won't stall out anymore and you'll be able to recover more easily. We'll be delving more deeply into criteria in future postings and I'd love some stories from you to deconstruct and/or give as examples. Just post them at this link: http://www.askkenrickcleveland.com.

In July 2007, I'm hosting a 3-day seminar in Las Vegas where I'll be teaching some strategies that I've never taught before. These are strategies that will allow you to link to your prospect's deepest desires to you, even better than criteria and values. This is brand new material. We'll also be going into many other exciting persuasion topics that you will want to hear! Look for upcoming emails with details on the Vegas Seminar.

Kenrick E. Cleveland, CEO
Chief Persuasion Officer
www.MAXpersuasion.com