Maximize Your Influence

Have you ever met somebody that didn't seem all that sharp but could sell circles around you?  Here at Maximize Your Influence we help you hone your persuasion skills to generate the income and results you want! As always, send your comments, questions, and ideas to maximizeyourinfluence@gmail.com. Also: Kurt is willing to give you a FREE audio download of his book Maximum Influence if you leave a...

In Episode 54 of Maximize Your Influence, Kurt and Steve start things off by discussing a recent study about the chemical oxytocin.  According to the study, the more oxytocin present in somebody's system, the more accepting they are of others.  This of course leads to better social skills and possibly, the more persuadeable they are.  Many business and marketing firms are trying to trigger the rel...

A whole year of Maximize Your Influence Podcasts are now behind us!  And listenrship in the Islamic Republic of Iran is still strong (that has to be a fluke, right)! After two podcasts delving into the female brain, Kurt and Steve discuss a recent article that reveals that women get cheated at the negotiation table more than men.  Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and UC Berkely found...

Don't worry, it's still us!  We just have a new Itunes and podcast logo.  Kurt and Steve discuss the recent news in the Middle East and the conflict between Israel and Hamas.  They discuss the generations of emotion that are involved in the conflict and why a resolution is unlikely.  They probably offend both sides of the issue as well, which is par for the podcast! They also discuss an entertaini...

The new www.maximizeyourinfluence.com is up!  Not so much running...but definitely up.  Pardon our dust as we continue to refine the new site.  You can still, however, download the latest podcast episodes and read the blog.  In the "geeky article moment" for the week, Kurt highlights a recent article from CNN.com.  A company in Chicago recently started timing how long employees were spending in th...

Remember: please subscribe to Maxmize Your Influence on Itunes, Stitcher Radio, the Windows Market Place, or whatever service you use to download podcasts!  We appreciate you listening to the show! After giving some nots so great (and un-licesned) legal advice, Kurt and Steve discuss a recent study about "moral code."  Individuals are more likely to compromise their morals when they are in a group...

We hope you had a great Fourth of July holiday!  Even if you didn't celebrate American indepencence day and the 4th of July was just a regular day for you...we hope you had a great one anyway! Remember to subscribe to the Maximize Your Influence Podcast via Itunes, the Windows Market Place, or Sticher Radio.  And as always, you can listen to the show at www.maximizeyourinfluence.com. The show begi...

After some useless banter about who should be allowed to wear bathing suits, the Fourth of July, and barbeques, Kurt and Steve launch into Episode 48.  First, they tackle an article about how word choice reflects somebody's mood.  It doesn't happen the way you think.  As it turns out, when somebody is feeling good they use more words with a long "i" vowell.  When they aren't feeling good they use...

After diving into "Negotiation's Dirty Deeds" last week, Kurt and Steve continue the discussion by uncovering even more of the underhanded tactics other's will use on you while negotiating.  Steve takes over today's "geeky article moment."  In a recent article by Harvard Business Review, we learn that managing conflict requires that we first ascertain whether we're dealing with a "hot" conflict or...

Due to listener demand, Kurt and Steve finally unleash "negotiation's dirty deeds."  These are underhanded tactics and strategies that others will use against you while negotiating.  Before this happens, however, Kurt discusses a recent article about "meeting productivity."  According to the Social Psycholigical and Personality Science Journal (that's a mouthful), standing during meetings creats m...

To start this episode, we lead off with another one of Kurt's geeky articles.  And this study, while strange, is compelling.  As it turns out, there is a vast personality difference between dog and cat owners.  In addition, cat owners actually score slightly higher on intelligence tests.  Dog lovers tend to be more extroverted and sociable, while cat lovers are more independent yet more cautious. ...

Kurt and Steve begin the show by discussing Steve's recent trip to Dallas and how may pounds he put on from eating too much barbeque.  They also discuss Kurt recently celebrating a birthday (happy 70th birthday, Kurt)! This turns into a rant about chicken wings until Kurt and Steve realize that you tune into the show for persuasion tips...not food commentary. There is a common saying in business t...

Is power different than influence?  Absolutely.  One can be influential without having a lot of power.  But as power increases, it gives you more ability to influence.  On this episode, Kurt and Steve discuss some examples of when power is used and what the long term implications are.  Many times as persuaders, parents, co-workers, we fall into the influence/power cycle.  We want somebody to do so...

You've met these people before.  The kind of person who has it all together.  They're dressed right.  They know how to talk and they seem very knowledgable.  But something just isn't right.  On this episode, Kurt and Steve talk about "gut instinct" and to what extent our prospecs can tell if we're "full of it" or not.  In this week's "geeky article moment brought to you by Kurt", we learn that "gu...

After a brief rant about their listeners in Iran and the intimidation tactics of police in the United States (get off topic much, guys?), Kurt and Steve discuss a recent study about confidence.  According to the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, well all have some internal wiring that makes us want to trust strangers.  Despite being told not to trust them our whole life, strangers are...

Charismatic people have a presence whenever they walk into a room.  You can actually be in introverted person and not have a very outgoing personality and still be charismatic.  Once you have charisma people what to be around you.  They WANT to be persuaded by you.  Sales reps, business owners, politicians all know that they can get a lot more lattitude when they have charisma. Next in the podcast...

Leading off this episode, Kurt introduces a recent article that discusses the effect of an optimistic spouse.  This study was conducted by the University of Michigan and is the first study we know of that links the optimism of others to ourselves.  Not only does it make us more optimistic, but it also shows increased health!  In another effort to offend their listeners, Kurt and Steve discuss that...

If Kurt and Steve haven't yet offended you on the podcast, they give it a good try here (all in good fun, of course).  They also discuss the strange fact that a lot of listners to the podcast seem to be from Iran.  After the initial banter that for some reason didn't involve any "food talk", Steve apologizes profusely for not posting the link to the Advanced Influence Course from last week.  Kurt...

Do you like green tea?  Then we have good news.  The Journal of Psycho Pharmacology (yeah, that's a thing) recently released a study showing that those who drink at least two cups a day are "sharper" mentally.  You can read a summary of the study here.  The study essentially discusses how green tea increases the brain's ability to quickly process information.  Kurt and Steve discuss how, if you ca...

Whatever the reason may be, the average person's self esteem is lower than it has ever been in history.  While it's not great to hear that people are feeling worse and worse about themselves, persuaders can use this to their advantage.  In this episode, Kurt and Steve discuss how to use esteem and ego to build long lasting and profitable business relationships.  They also cover a recent article fr...

We've all exeperienced times in our lives when we've felt "out of allignment."  Maybe one particular area of our life, such as finances, just wasn't going the way we wanted it to.  Most of the time we try to fix this by spending more time on the part of our life that isn't going well.  On this episode, Kurt and Steve discuss why doing that is the exact opposite of what we should really do.  Develo...

Do you like this podcast?  Do you hate it?  Either way, please leave us your feedback on Itunes!  Also if you have anyone to nominate for the weekly "persuasion blunder" or the weekly "persuasion ninja", please send your comments to maximizeyourinfluence@gmail.com.  After a brief chat about March Madness and the inevitable disappointment that every fan sets themselves up for every single year, Kur...

Have you ever met a sales person who just came on too freindly too fast?  How did it make you feel?  Chances are you couldn't get away from them fast enough!  All persuaders know they need to develop a rapport with their prospects.  But the seasoned pros know how to build enough value to open the door and then build enough rapport to seal the deal.  On this episode, Kurt and Steve get into the mec...

If you stood in front of a mirror and gave your typical sales pitch, you'd likely be shocked at the amount of non verbal behavior you display.  More often than not, this non verbal behavior detracts from your message and causes subconsious alarms in your prospect.  First, you must eliminate bad non verbals.  Second, you must implement GOOD ones.  Kurt and Steve give some valuable tips for doing th...

When presenting, especially to a group, it's often impossible to know what personality type your audience is.  That's why it's important to use the T.E.S.S. system (testimoinals, examples, stories, and statistics).  This allows you as the presenter to speak the language of everybody in your audience.  Most people in an audience will relate to stories.  However, there are always others who prefer t...