Dear Persuader,

In today's blog post I have a fascinating case study to share with you about the persuasive power of enemies.

The Columbus Dispatch in Warsaw Ohio reported on a story so funny that I could barely contain myself as I read it.

I'll present the gist of it here for you along with my analysis. There are profound lessons in persuasion to be learned here.

For the past four years churchgoers from a local church gather approximately 7 miles from the church near a strip club. They videotape customers coming in and out of the club and post them online.  They use bullhorns and signs to try and dissuade customers from frequenting the strip club.  And of course they invite everyone, including the dancers to “come to church”.

This last weekend the dancers decided to take the church up on their invitation.  They showed up for church.  Only thing is, they came wearing see-through shorts and sporting super soakers.

They sat on the front lawn of the church and grilled hamburgers, corn on the cob and in general had a good time.  They waved at the passersby while waving their own signs.

Signs like: “Matthew 7:15: Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing.”  And–“Revelations 22:11: He that is unjust, let him be unjust still.

If this isn't funny enough, there's more.

The strip club owner sued the church in federal court several years ago claiming a violation of his constitutional rights, but he lost.  So now he feels turnabout is fair play.  If they can come to his club, he can come to their church.

Several members of the church came and offered to pray for a couple of the dancers to which the dancers graciously accepted. One of the dancers said she was grateful for the prayers and went on to explain that after all the majority of the dancers were also religious.

One of the dancers, a 30-year-old married mother of six explained that she has worked there the last 10 years and does so to keep her home together and give her children what they need.

This story presents some powerful lessons in persuasion.

So tell me, who will win?  The church or the strippers?

Here's the answer… Neither One.  However, both will probably help the other in powerful ways.

Do you believe the church will ever accept the strippers?  The problem is, that they really can't – even if they wanted to.  Why? Because they've made the strippers the enemy… the devil incarnate.

The church, by creating this enemy and by publicly making a show of trying to shut them down has locked themselves into a position of having to defeat the strip club or accept defeat… something they can't do.

Their choice of enemy has helped define who they are.

I asked the question above, 'who will win?'  But a better question to ask would be, 'who will benefit?'  And in this case, the very business that the church would like to run out, will probably grow in size and power because of the free publicity the church is ensuring they get.

The church may also grow in size due to the publicity.  But probably not.  The way in which they'll benefit is having their membership grow even more committed to ousting this evil business.

We can only hope that the church will not cross the line and commit violence in the pursuit of their ideals.

This is a great case study in the use of enemies.  Your use of persuasion can be made infinitely more powerful if you have an enemy.  All companies and organizations can have enemies (real or imagined).  However, your choice of enemy helps define you – so choose wisely.

If the church had done this type of analysis, do you think they would have chosen this particular enemy?  All I can say is, they might have but they would have been much better off being a bit more general with this instead of so specific.  In this case they might actually be helping the very group they wish to hurt.

Enemies can be clearly definable or can be ideas.  For example, look at the “war on terror” or the “war on drugs”.  In these instances the enemies are terror and drugs.  These are both extremely intangible.  These “wars” have done nothing but line the government's pockets with money.  Well that's not true, they've given the drug cartels the capability of giant profits, thus ensuring that they continue.

These wars have also caused ongoing fear and unrest in the population at large.  Are they worth it?  Only you can decide.

So in your selection of an enemy, choose wisely.  It's best if your enemy actually stirs up the emotion in the group you want to persuade.  But common sense dictates that you use discretion in your choice.

I hope this case study has been eye-opening.  And it would be great if you shared with everyone your thoughts on the use of enemies.

And why not post other examples of organizations and enemies as they come to mind.  It could be quite eye-opening.

I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Kenrick

Hi,

Recently I began looking for quotes that show the power of belief.

What I found surprised me.

While I prefer to focus on the positive, these show just how powerful beliefs can be. (I'll be posting more of these on Twitter so be sure you are following me there. And of course, I'll follow you back. Just click here to add me.)

Here's a few of what I found.

"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible." (Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895)

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." (Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943)

"There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home." (Ken Olsen, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977)

"The telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." (Western Union internal memo, 1876)

"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value." (Marshal Ferdinand Foch, French commander of Allied forces during the closing months of World War I, 1918)

From a persuasion standpoint, you can clearly see the problem you'd have if you needed persuade any of these people. Their beliefs would clearly need to be addressed. But it goes beyond merely addressing them. This effects their entire world view. And if others had bought into their positions, where would we be today?

But the bigger lesson here is the realization that beliefs (including values) really do run our lives. They shape what we see and what we don't see. They enable us to be rich and successful or poor and limited.

The great thing is that WE HAVE CHOICE.

Examine what you believe about why you are where you are today. Examine why you do or do not have the money you want. And examine why you are creating the life of your dreams or are manifesting the excuses as to why you don't have it. It's your choice - choose well.

Now, tell me your thoughts. I'd love to hear from you. And while you're at it, share this post on Twitter, if you would.

Kenrick

Sure enough. Tony Robbins said that to a woman crying her eyes out when
we worked with her on stage.

And guess what happened.

She stopped crying.

In fact, she just stopped.

Finally she stammered, "What do you mean?"

And Tony told her she was crying so hard it looked like someone peed on her
face.

She was silent and than began to laugh.

Tony was able to move her to a place where he could work on her problem.

A lot of the people you meet as a persuader are stuck in their own minds.

And we as persuaders need to be able to ask them - "Who Peed On Their Face".

However, I suspect if you aren't on stage like Tony AND you don't have
Tony's leverage,
that might not be the wisest strategy.

Instead, let me show you how I persuade today using Kenrick's Persuasion
Interrupts.

Go here to view the short video:

http://www.maxpersuasion.com/persuasion_interrupts

Hi Persuader,

There are many reasons for conflict but they ultimately can be distilled into the fact that we all have different mental models of how the world works. These mental models are both helpful and hurtful. On the one hand, they are incredibly helpful in the way that they simplify our lives and save us the energy of having to rethink every single viewpoint we have each time we're confronted with a situation.

These models are all contextual. We have different models for each facet of life, from who we decide to be friends with, to what kind of music we listen to, to the kinds of food we eat and the make of car we drive.

Your parameters and mental model for restaurant selection might be that the restaurant use only locally grown produce and have primarily a vegetarian selection at reasonable prices. Your friend might have a mental model that dictates they only dine in higher end restaurants that have the finest wines and choicest cuts of meat. These are the opposite ends of the spectrum and there probably isn't much of a compromise for the people at either end in finding a place they can dine together (i.e. the financial aspect alone is in essence a "deal breaker" if neither is willing to budge).

Or take for example your choice in where you live. One person wants to live in a metropolitan area surrounded by activity, shops, theater, restaurants, galleries, and diversity and their partner wants to live in a rural or small town atmosphere where there is grass in between the houses and one stop sign in town.

We don't really understand consciously that these mental models are in action until we come up against someone who has opposing mental models. If you're among likeminded people in an isolated atmosphere, you can definitely avoid the knowledge of personally understanding there are other models of the world that are possible. It's not that you don't realize these other beliefs are out there, however, because you know differences of belief are out there at least according to television, movies, and the internet.

Problem arise when we are not conscious of our mental models. We can get stuck and be stubborn and think ours is the only way. I've seen this happen with older folks in my family -- there's a right way and a wrong way, and that's how it is. Period. They think that there is only one way for the world to work and the problems of the world lay in the non-compliance of everyone who doesn't share their world view.

That would be an incredibly heavy burden, to be the keeper of the "truth" as to how the world works.

How does this fit into persuasion? Well, this falls under the heading of knowing thyself. When we excavate our own mental models, we can reverse engineer where things aren't working, or if they are working, we can reverse engineer to see how we've become so successful at what we manifest.

Until Next Time,

Kenrick E. Cleveland

Hi Persuader,

Because I have a teenager, I'm hip to some of the more . . . well, hip things going on out there. And because my business is primarily virtual, I am well aware of the extreme power of the internet. In combining both the cutting edge hipness and the extreme power of the internet, I've recently (I know, I know, it's a little after the fact) become acquainted with Facebook.

I had heard about Facebook, but didn't really understand what it could bring to me, or what I could bring to it. And now I'm sold (despite the fact that it's free).

This site along with Twitter (which I recently blogged about) are social and business networking sites, Web 2.0 style, that absolutely have the ability to revolutionize business.

It all starts out like kids in schoolyard, sort of sweet, like, 'Will you be my friend?' People you've worked with in the past, current clients and potential prospects, people with similar interests, friends that you may have in common, even strangers who just like the look of you or the message you're putting out -- you can respond to their friend requests (or they can respond to yours) and you will get a little message on your thread that simply says that you and that person are now friends.

As I write this, I now have 183 friends and growing, and that after only one month on Facebook. (If you want to be my friend, here's my page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=715037097)

What are the possibilities here? I happen to think the sky's the limit. (I always think the sky's the limit.) I am looking for people who have their hands raised. This is the real core of marketing and networking. I am looking for people I can connect with who I can truly help to flourish and grow with persuasion training. My intention is to reach as many people I can for mutually beneficial relationships.

On a side note: another aspect of marketing I'm exploring is that I now offer my clients 20% of every student they bring me. That's 20 % of every Elite Coaching Club member, every Persuasion Factor member, and any future program I offer. What does this mean to my students? Well, as long as they're in the program, if they bring me five Elite Coaching Club students, they can be in my Coaching Club for free. WOW!! That's huge.

I have really exciting plans for 2008 that I will be unveiling in the coming months that I'm absolutely thrilled about and that I am certain will thrill you too. As always, I am eager to hear what is on your mind, my students, and what I can do to improve your experience and learning of persuasion and the benefits it is bringing to your life.

So for now, I'd ask you to sign up on Facebook, look me up, become my friend, and stay tuned for the amazing things to come.

Until Next Time,

Kenrick E. Cleveland

"It is necessary, then, to cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude." -Wallace D. Wattles,The Science of Getting Rich or Financial Success Through Creative Thought

Hi Persuader,

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity.... It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow." -Melodie Beattie

Why is gratitude important? When we are grateful for what we have, we draw more things to us to be grateful for.

I mention gratitude at the end of each of my Persuasion Factor calls and my Elite Coaching Club because gratitude should be our constant companion not just a Thanksgiving Day foot note or brief prayer on Sunday. It should permeate all of our interactions.

Experiencing gratitude does not have to be limited to when someone gives you a gift or does you a favor. True gratitude is about looking deeply at our lives and understanding how truly lucky we are to be alive at this moment in time.

I think on this every night and every day. I have a huge list of things to be grateful for, as do all of us: family, friends, colleagues, students, employees, health, financial success, future successes and advancements. I am grateful when it rains (and here in the Pacific Northwest it rains a lot) because I know that's part of why the area is so lush and fruitful. I am grateful when the sun comes out (because, as I mentioned above, here in the Pacific Northwest it rains A LOT).

I'm grateful for simple things and complicated things. And throughout my day, I stop to consider other people's situations, whether they be more challenging or easier than mine, and I am grateful for the struggles I've had to endure, and grateful for the things I accomplish with ease, both, because these are the things that have made me what I am and brought me to this point in life.

Gratitude can be powerful especially if something about our life is not quite right. For instance, if your health is not as good as it could be, instead of cursing our bodies for what they are not, try being grateful for what you can do.

There's an old Irish proverb that says, 'Count your joys instead of your woes; count your friends instead of your foes.' I love this. It's all in where we place our focus. It's all in what we choose to highlight and what we choose to minimize.

When you begin to take notice of all that is good in your life, this gratitude will turn your life around.

Until Next Time,

Kenrick E. Cleveland

Hi,

For quite some time friends of mine kept suggesting I get on Twitter. For the life of me I couldn't figure out why I would want to do that.

It seemed like another medium that would suck away my time and I just didn't get it.

Finally after enough pressure, I decided to at least check it out - it's free. And all of a sudden the light went on.

Twitter is a great way to connect, stay informed, follow industry leaders, make friends - all in 140 characters or less.

If you don't yet know about Twitter, here's a great article by Lynn Terry that will quickly give you the basics. Check it out.

If you are already on Twitter, let's connect. You can find me on Twitter here - just click on follow.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on Twitter, how long you've been using it, how you use it etc.

Oh, and check this out - just under the words Share and Enjoy belowj, you'll see the 5th icon (last one on the right) is a faint blue "T". If you hover over it, it says "Twit this". Now you can easily share articles you like with your Twitter friends. Try it.

Persuasively,

Kenrick Cleveland
@TalkMagic