Invisible Influence: The Power to Persuade Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere

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Understanding, and the Alternative

Influence often comes down to someone deciding to do or not do something based upon how they feel now, regardless of what might happen in the future.

In this moment, feelings carry a lot more weight in the brain than do images of future possibilities.

Therefore most people will say no to most proposals where something good in the future is pitted against something in the present.

If you were to say to someone, “This $500 advertisement should bring in $5,000 for your business over the next year. Sound good?” the answer is generally “No.”

The good news is you’ll never again have to make that kind of an offer to your prospective client.

Instead, you are going to have them get into a different frame of mind. They are shortly going to be processing information in such a way that peripheral feelings are not considered, and only the options presented are evaluated.

“That’s it. You could take the big screen plasma home and never use it. The $1,000 investment easily could go unused. You could easily get busy and really rarely watch anything on TV. That’s a very real possibility.

“It’s also possible that you could put that $1,000 out there, have a beautiful 50" plasma TV and watch it an hour or so each day. Your favorite shows. Big Bang Theory, Person of Interest, football, Two Broke Girls, Survivor, Revolution, The Apprentice, The Last Resort, and on and on. It’s really 100 percent your decision. Do what you want to do.”

Contrast the person’s feared ...