What can you learn from a 6-year old that can be useful in your marketing? You might be surprised. I learned some valuable tips from my son, and this presentation explains how you can put it to use in your strategies. To get a FREE guide to craft your perfect sales hook plus further resources for your marketing from acclaimed copywriter Kevin Rogers, check out http://www.60secondsaleshook.com
2. My 6-year-old son is a natural born persuader.
Hereās an example:
He loves eating breakfast at Bob Evans (not a natural born gourmet, apparently)ā¦ so, on a recent Tuesday morning he announcesā¦
āYou know what would be great? If we all had breakfast at Bob Evans before school.ā
My wife and I told him while that sure sounded nice, thereās no time for restaurants before school, plus Dad has to workā¦ and blah, blah, blah.
My son, recognizing these excuses for the knee-jerk parental āfun blocksā they were, calmly agreed that it may not have been the most logical idea heās hadā¦
3. āButā¦ā he says, āletās just say we did go to Bob Evansā¦ what would you order, Dad?ā
Playing along, I said, āIād probably order that Sunrise Sampler with scrambled eggs and sausage.ā
āPatties or links?ā he says.
āUhhhā¦ patties.ā I replied, and at this point Iām recalling how tasty those Bob Evans sausage patties are.
āPattiesā¦ good choice,ā he says.
4. Then he turns to my wife and says:
āWhat are you having, Mom?ā
She replies with the specifics of her order, of which she can now smell and taste.
āGreatā says Ben. āIāll go wake up āSweetieā (his sister) and find out what she wants so we can get going.ā
Seconds later heās escorting a groggy 3-year old down the hallway as she mutters: āPancakesā¦ I want pancakes.ā
5. By now, all the stubborn logic reasoning why we canāt go for breakfast on a school day is long goneā¦
ā¦ and the whole family is loading into the van headed for Bob Evans with their orders ready to go.
Nowā¦ as parents we all think our kids are little geniuses ā it comes with the job.
And thereās no doubt my son has skillfully harnessed his ability to transfer enthusiasm in a way that persuades people to follow his lead.
6. However, I believe we are all natural born persuaders, only we have it kicked out of us by all the stringent rules and social parameters we encounter on the path to adulthood.
For example, weāre taught that ābeing politeā is the number one virtue. When, in reality, too much āpolitenessā can be a negative force in your life.
7. A colleague of mine used to say:
āThere are 2 kinds of people in the worldā¦ those who feel pressure, and those who apply pressure. Only one gets what they want out of life.ā
Simple as it is, this was a pretty startling idea to me the first time I heard it. Because it forced me to recognize that I had walked through 30 years of life on the wrong side of that line.
8. I was guilty of being a pushoverā¦ and had vindicated myself by embracing the title of ānice guy.ā
And I knew I wasnāt alone.
Think about it. How often have you felt bullied into doing something you didnāt want to do?
Or realized too late that a āfriendā was manipulating you for their benefit? Then justified their actions, even after you knew the score.
9. Itās maddening, isnāt it? To be taken advantage of just because youāre ānice.ā
But, change is uncomfortable. Itās much easier to justify your deficits than to work on making them assets.
Iāve discussed this idea with people who say theyād rather be taken advantage of once in a while than to cross over to being a pushy āused car salesman-eyā type.
I tell those people to stop whining and go get me some coffee.
Relaxā¦ Iām kidding.
10. Truth isā¦ you donāt have to become an obnoxious jerk to be a good persuader. And applying pressure doesnāt always mean the other person has to feel pressure from you.
The goal is to develop a smooth, persuasive touch.
It starts by regaining the natural persuader we are all born to beā¦
ā¦ surviving its awkward, cracked-voice pubescenceā¦
ā¦ and blossoming into the confident, influential adult that true success demands we become.
11. If you own a business, you simply must master the art of persuasive selling. There is no more important task.
If sales slow or stop ā everything else goes haywire. Yet an incredible number of entrepreneurs do not consider themselves natural ā or even good ā salespeople.
12. Closing is selling and selling is persuading. Without learning this crucial skill, youāre racing towards Doomsville at full throttle.
And noā¦ you donāt have to be a toothpick chomping grease-ball to sell. Get that out of your head.
You can be just as charming in your salesmanship as you are on a really good first date. (If youāve ever had a good second date, then youāve already proven you can sell.)
13. So, letās take a lesson in organic persuasion from my sonās breakfast antics.
Here are the 3 things he did to smoothly rocket past our resistance to his desire to eat at a restaurant before schoolā¦
14. 1. He introduced the idea with enthusiasm. By saying āDo you know what would be great?ā he piqued our curiosity and got us to open our minds to his idea.
Had he chosen one of his other popular lead-ins, like āKnow what I want?ā or the more common: āI want!ā thereās a 100% chance he would have failed in his quest.
15. 2. He never rebutted our objection directly. When we spouted off the many reasons a trip to Bob Evans wasnāt logical, instead of whining, he took the āJiu Jitsu approachā and used the force of our own weight against us.
āYouāre rightā¦ā
Then, once we were lulled into believing we were winning, he took his opening to turn our thinking aroundā¦
āā¦ but letās just say we did goā¦ā
Then he got us to picture enjoying the benefitsā¦
āā¦ what would you order?ā
16. 3. He forced us to imagine his idea as our new reality. NLPers call this āpresupposition.ā The goal is to move your prospect from a spectatorās mindset into an ownership mindset.
This is what really good sales copy does without you noticing. The great copywriter, Gary Bencivenga, was a master at this. My son did a pretty good job of it, too, when, after getting me to speak my breakfast order, he switched his phrasing when asking wifeā¦
āWhat are you having, Mom?ā
Not āWhat would you have ifā but, āWhat are you having?ā
The wording is crucial thereā¦ by using the exact phrasing a waitress would use to ask the question, he instantly put his mom in the booth with a steaming cup of Joe in front of her.
By that point, we could smell the food cooking on the grill and it was a done deal.
No pressure at all.
You can do it.
17. To get a FREE guide to craft your perfect sales hook plus further resources for your marketing from acclaimed copywriter Kevin Rogers, check out http://www.60secondsaleshook.com