Maximize Your Influence

Closing skills were the big thing twenty years ago. We were taught that closing skills were all you needed. If you did not persuade enough people, you had to learn more closing skills. Nowadays, sure, it's nice to have a few closing skills in your persuasion toolbox, but shouldn't you spend more time opening up your audience before you even think about closing a deal with them? Join me for this we...

More than anything else, passion recruits the hearts and minds of your audience.  Great persuaders radiate heartfelt passion.  When the audience can sense your passion and genuine conviction for your cause or product, they will emotionally jump on board.  We all love people who are excited and filled with believable zeal for their subject.  Passion is critical to influencing others, yet less than...

Great persuaders know and understand how to use different forms of power, but if you're like most people, you just cringed at the word "power."  Is power something we're really allowed to talk about?  Is it good or bad?  Can we have power over our audience? Eyes and citrus smell could help cut hospital infections There are many other positive forms of power that can be used during the persuasion p...

Do you suffer from the Wobegon Effect?  What is it that you've been telling yourself and everyone else you do really well, when in fact you don't do it well at all—or at least you're not above average, as you've been trying to convince yourself and everyone else?   Join me for this week's podcast on 10 Sales Mistakes Costing You Money.  Find out what mistakes you are making (and don't even know it...

Let's discuss how the fear we all have can destroy your ability to persuade and influence.  We all experience rejection in small doses every day.  But what about when we persuade for a living?  Rejection seems to take a higher toll. We avoid rejection like the plague, but it affects your income.  Running away from the rejection solves nothing. Letting our fears overtake us and paralyze us also sol...

Scarcity plays a large role in the persuasion process. Opportunities are always more valuable and exciting when they are scarce and less available. We want to be the ones to own the rare items or to get the last one on the shelf. The more the scarcity of an item increases, the more the item increases in value, and the greater the urge to own it.   Now the key with scarcity and urgency is in the ap...

Commitment has a lot to do with perspective.  When you consider your personal perspective, do you see the big picture, or are you swept up by the whims of the moment?  You have to make sure your perspective is rock solid; otherwise, your commitments will be flimsy.  We all know that when someone says, "I'll try," it will never happen. "I'll try" versus "I will" are two different attitudes.   With...

Join me for this week's Podcast on How To Apply Behavioral Design to Persuasion.  We will discuss the two simple psychological shifts that will increase your ability to influence.  Discover  how to get your prospect in the right "MindState" that will open the doors to persuasion. I also interview Will Leach, who wrote : Marketing to Mindstates."   He said: If you're a salesperson, you can likely a...

It is common sense to realize you have to keep your audience's attention in order to persuade them.  If you lose them, you lose your chance for them to understand and accept your proposal. We know from our own personal experience that we tend to let our minds naturally drift when we are listening to other people.   Another helpful tip is the primacy and recency effect.  You should strategize the s...

Great persuaders can maintain the attention of their audience. Research shows that people's attention spans are getting shorter and shorter.  The moment you lose their attention, you can no longer persuade them. You could have a great Website, be a sharp dresser, publish a great brochure, or have any manner of impressive credentials. The reality is, however, that the number-one persuasion tool is...

It is not your new goals that will cause you to fail this year – it is how you motivate yourself to stay on track to keep your goals.  Motivation is everything to a great persuader.  Motivation is critical not only for achieving the big goals but also for making all the little steps in between.   Unlimited Long-Term Motivation Join me for this week's podcast on how to consistently stay motivated t...

Do you know when it is time to shut-up? Are you talking too much? Do you data dump, vomit or do the show up and throw up? Upward Physical Movement Brings Back Happy Memories Many times, when we are trying to be persuasive, we want to highlight all the perks and plusses. It's only natural. Wouldn't helping someone see the potential gains of your product or service be a good thing? Yes, but here is...

We have all heard that during the persuasion process you need to focus on getting the "yes" from your audience.  Does that work?  Is that true?  The answer is – it depends.  Great persuaders look for times when they can get affirmation from their audience.  They engineer their persuasive message to get as many verbal, mental, or physical "yeses" as they can throughout their presentation.  And ther...

The objection you get the most is the objection you still have. So you need to go back to the drawing board.  Do you really believe in your product or service?  Do you really believe it's worth that price?  Do you really believe it's helping out, changing lives and making the world a better place?  You have to believe in your product or service. What Your Desk Reveals About Your Personality Join m...

Do you have RBF?  I sure do.  I have it bad.  Do you know what RBF is?  Well the nice version is resting brat face .  The "B" is actually a word that is a little harsher.  (I will let you google it.)  What is RBF?  Well, it is when you are neutral or unemotional – your face looks mean and upset.  You look unapproachable.  In this state, you will have a harder time with influence,  building trust a...

One of the biggest surprises in 20 years of influence research is the importance of self-esteem.  We have to understand human nature and ego. Now, what is Self-esteem? Basically a simple definition is how much you like yourself. So what do we need to know? You need to understand the trend, that self-esteem is at a all-time low. Two out of three Americans suffer from low self-esteem and I'll put it...

Are you perceived as competent? Are you sure? You could be the smartest person in the room, but your verbal and nonverbal behavior could tell your prospects something else.    Competence is your knowledge and ability in a particular subject area. Competency exists on many levels. When we are observing someone from a distance, or when we are meeting them for the first time and our experience with t...

A great persuader can connect with anyone in thirty seconds or less. First impressions take only seconds to form, but they last a lifetime. This is a critical skill to develop because the cement dries fast. 7 Simple Behaviors That Make You More Attractive Do your prospects like you?  Are you sure?  How do you make sure you're really connecting? You want to be friendly, but not fake. You aim to be...

Power Persuaders know that each audience and individual has a different balance between logic and emotion. Your analytical type personalities need more logic than emotion. Your amiable personalities require more emotion and less logic. Always remember, you have to have both elements present in your message, regardless of the personality types listening. Emotion is a power you can harness and use i...

Want success?  Wondering what is taking so long?  Ask yourself this question.  Have you given yourself permission to win?  If you are not winning - think about this.  If you are playing the game of success not to lose, you are going to lose.   Imposter syndrome When you decide to play the game to win, you are eventually going to win.  Striking power poses won't boost your confidence or make you fe...

Have you ever felt something was not quite right?  That something was out of whack?  Your motivation was decreasing instead of increasing? Just as in a mutual fund, where one bad stock can pull down the fund's overall value, one bad area in your life can pull you down and destroy your motivation. When we look at life, we have to realize that it is not lived in segments, but rather, it is part of a...

Every aspect of success and wealth includes your ability to generate multiple streams of income. I just finished a training in San Diego, CA. talking with entrepreneurs on creating multiple streams of income. I am very passionate about this topic because so many people just don't have the right vehicles to generate wealth.    This is a key factor to success and many people have a great vehicle, bu...

It all starts with your thoughts. Your thoughts lead to emotions and your emotions lead to your daily actions. Take an honest look at your life right now. Where do you find yourself? That place is the sum total of your thoughts over the course of a lifetime. Where have your thoughts taken you thus far? Where will they take you tomorrow, next week, or next year? Join Kurt as he interviews expert Da...

One of the major distinctions between mediocre persuaders and highly successful persuaders is the amount of talking they do and the number of questions they ask. We have found that great persuaders ask 2.7 more questions of their audience than average persuaders do. Think about that statistic. An average persuader will ask six questions; a great persuader will ask sixteen.   As you apply this prin...

On this episode Kurt interviews Dave Kurlan. They discuss the biggest mistake that sales people make, baseball and sales, biggest mindset obstacles, self-limiting beliefs and how to reprogram your beliefs, how to get your prospect to pay more attention to you than to your competition, the sales process, good closing techniques, how to create urgency early, how to get past a "slump," how to know wh...