Persuasion Note Cards: preview

For Designers, Engineers, Marketers,

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Speakers, Salespeople, Womanisers...

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THE PERSUASION
NOTE CARDS
A visual aid that reminds you the tricks and
techniques that influence human behaviour

52 ways to persuade
from the sciences of behavioural economics
and social psychology

Be more creative when brainstorming ideas
Be more persuasive in your business and social circles

It all began 9 years ago, during my first creative project.
As a young and inexperienced engineer, and then later as a marketer, I was
often in the library. When working on new products or marketing projects,
I constantly looked for information on design ethnography and, how to
understand and influence human behaviour. For quick and easy reference,
I noted the techniques on cards.
Then I’ve realised that having ideas is good, but you must still be able to sell
them. In business and engineering schools, my lecturers had taught me how
to think, but not how to talk. “I am a creative person, not a salesperson”, is a
common excuse in the creative community. That’s why so many great projects,
strategies and causes are lost. Good ideas, bad presenters.
Learning how to pitch in front of clients and my superiors was costly. After
several mistakes, and with the development of the Grapho-Persuasion method,
I began also noting sales techniques on cards.
The Persuasion Note Cards is a collection of the best persuasion techniques
and principles, used for centuries by the greatest marketers, salesmen, product
designers, politicians and womanisers. The 52-card deck is fun, easy to use and
easy to carry.
Each card illustrates a “weapon of mass persuasion”, drawn from the sciences
of behavioural economics and social psychology, with real-life examples. When
brainstorming with your team and clients during a project, or when preparing
yourself for a meeting, keep these cards visible at all times. They will remind
you how persuasion works, and how to integrate elements of it in your work.
From business and personal experiences, I guarantee you that you will find the
52-card deck useful. If you don’t, offer it to someone who will benefit from it,
or contact me at www.grapho-persuasion.com for a 100% refund. No quibble.

Victor Semo,
Creator of the Persuasion Note Cards

www.grapho-persuasion.com

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Created by Victor Semo:
twitter/victorsemo
victors [at] glocalpen [dot] com

The Techniques

The Laws

The Rules

The Fundamentals
(cornerstone)

The Basics

Persuasion

The Basics
Basic 1: Persuasion is a battle of perception, not
who is truthfully right.
Basic 2: Persuasion is a two step process. First,
soften the person’s resistance, then break it.
Basic 3: Be versatile, improvise. Your persuasion
approach depends on the context and your target’s
character.
Basic 4: Never take anyone for granted. Nurture
your relationships from the cradle to the grave, or
they’ll shop somewhere else.
Basic 5: Get your timing right. When people are
mentally exhausted, or already busy doing something,
they are less likely to resist you.
Basic 6: Persuasion is seduction. Whatever the
product, service or idea you sell, you sell yourself
first. You are a brand.
Basic 7: Always appear confident. Look into their
eyes when speaking, avoid reading notes.
Basic 8: Posture. Those who don’t look hungry get
fed. Never look desperate.
Basic 9: You cannot please everyone. Don’t take
rejections personally.
Basic 10: Never lie. People will find out eventually,
and the Internet never forgets. Better filter the truth,
like a spin doctor.

(mosquito)

The Fundamentals
Emotional contagion
Your emotional expressions are contagious,
affecting everyone around you and many
others.
We are social creatures and creatures of emotion. The
people around us are affected by our moods. When
you smile and laugh, people “catch” your happy mood.
When you’re angry, they mirror your attitude or avoid
you.
The spread of influence and emotional contagion
follows a ‘Three Degrees of Influence Rule’ which
states that everything we do, feel or believe has an
impact within three degrees of our social network
(up to our friends’ friends’ friends).
For example, when you are in a bad mood, you affect
your spouse, your parents’ spouse and the best friend
of your parents’ spouse.
• In a team, self-awareness of mood is important,
starting with the team leader.
• When people focus on what they do best, they are
happier and perform better.
• To foster creativity, always put creative people in a
positive mood and an environment with “good vibes.”

The Fundamentals
Primacy effect & self-fulfilling prophecy
Perception breeds expectations,
and expectations tend to create the
predicted outcomes.

Perception outlasts reality. When the packaging looks
good, people expect the product to be good..

Example:
• You can alter the taste of food solely by the way you
present it. A cheap wine will be perceived as tasting
better if it is served in a crystal glass than a plastic
cup.
If someone does not like you at the
time of your first encounter, you will
have a hard time convincing him or
her later to buy from you.

1. Locate a target: find a 1. Locate a target: find one
gap in the market, identify in a bar, club, garden, library,
a niche. supermarket, etc.
2. Attract: exhibit your 2. Attract: exhibit your
unique selling points by unique selling points by
demonstrating you are an demonstrating you are
expert. (publish reports, different from other men
articles, books, adverts, (your grooming, attitude,
etc.) intelligence, etc.)
3. Build/reinforce credibil- 3. Bait and hook: look for a
ity and hook: participate minimum of three signs that
in all major seminars and she is interested in you. For
conferences in your field; example, she blushes when
make yourself known and you look at her; she mirrors
desirable. The more people your body language, etc.
seek you out, the more
attractive you become.
4. Build/reinforce 4. Play selective: now that
selective friendship: be you know she is interested,
selective in the type of draw back and play hard to
clients you work with. It get. Make her chase you.
increases your value.
5. Close the deal/sell 5. Isolate: take her to a place
more: discuss only the a bit more private, create
client’s needs, never about emotional and physical
your products or services. connections.
Show how your solutions 6. Close: arouse sexual
are their solutions. desires by being more
sensual and sexual in your
body language. Kiss.

The Fundamentals
Persuasion is seduction
There is no difference between selling
like sales professionals do, and seducing
like womanisers do. It is the same process.

A Woman falls in love through her ears.
A Man falls in love through his eyes.
(Woodrow Wyatt)


The Rules
Make them feel important
Create trust and comfort by focusing
on them. Always.

People crave attention and they are not interested in
what you think or like. The topic of conversation you
have with anyone should always be centred on them
and what their interests are.

• Use ‘you’ instead of ‘I’ as much as possible during
the conversation.
• Direct any conversation to a subject related to them
or what you know interests them, and then shut up.
Just be quiet and listen. Do not interrupt your
interlocutors when they are talking about something
they like. Time will fly.
• If you disagree with what they are saying, never tell
them point blank, “you are wrong”, because you will
bruise their ego (unless it is part of your persuasion
strategy).

The Rules
Stand in their shoes

People buy benefits, not features
or advantages.

A rule in market research is that people don’t know
what they really like until they see, touch, try and
feel it.
Understand their needs by asking questions, but
remember that actions speak louder than words.
Watch what they do, and you will have a better
understanding of what they really need or want.

The Laws
Reciprocity
People feel indebted when they
receive a favour or something for free,
especially if it is unexpected.

Examples:
• Offer freebies.
• During a negotiation, be the first to make a
concession. The other party will feel the need to
reciprocate.
• Bait: sweeten your offer with something
unexpected at the last minute, or offer a free drink
while the person is considering your offer.
Surprised by the “free gift”, the person is more
likely to look at your offer with a more
positive emotion, if he or she accepts your “gift.”

Photo by Lee Jordan, 2007, leejordan.org.uk
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0

The Laws
Social proof
When people see others embracing
a belief or a product, especially those
they strongly identify with, there is
a far greater likelihood that they will
conform to avoid being left out of the
group. It is especially true when they
are uncertain of the right course of
action to follow.

Show that people are already embracing your offer,
therefore there is no risk to join the bandwagon.
Examples:
• Show testimonials and reviews received.
• Assert the high demand: “best-selling item”;
“most popular show”; “long queue outside the
venue”; “already 1 million download!”

The Techniques
Play with their ego

Caress their self-esteem and you will
arouse their emotions.

Vanity of vanities; all is vanity. (Ecclesiastes1:2)

Examples:
• Compliment them on their look, achievements,
skills, etc.
• Inspire them with a vision that appeals to their
values, ideals or aspiration: “You have a future in this
company. Listen…”
• Give them the role of expert by praising their
expertise: “Don, you are an expert and know when
something is good. Judge by yourself this…”
• Challenge them: “Don’t tell me you can’t do this,
even Bob can!”

The Techniques
The foot in the door
People tend to agree to a large
request if they have already agreed
to a smaller one.

Examples:
• Lure by appealing to greed (give free samples,
hold a context with free giveaways, etc.), then trap
them. When they are testing your samples, or are
waiting for the results of the context, do something
to retain their attention. Use the momentum to do
your sales pitch.
• Ask them to help you do the shopping list. Then,
invite them to come with you. Back home, you
could even get some help cooking.

The Techniques
Ownership effect
People get emotionally attached
to things they have, and give them
more value than they may actually
be worth.

To give up what we already possess is painful. Hence,
always try to put your product in the person’s hands.
Examples:
• “Try for free”.
• “Buy now, pay later”.
• “free shipping both ways”.
• “full refund or exchange if you’re not satisfied”.
• “free 30 day trial”.

The Techniques
Influence online, persuade offline
An image is worth a thousand
words, and a touch is priceless
any day.

Face to-face communication has a greater positive
effect on your relationships than interacting on
the phone or online only. Therefore, go offline as
much as you can. Meet people and do physical
activities together to build emotional bonds.

Logo Wikileak www.grapho-persuasion.com
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license.

The Techniques
Go viral
Nonconformity both appeals and
repulses, but it gets people talking.

Examples:
• A way to start a conversation, or capture attention,
is to talk about, or do something, that involves one
or all of the buzz buttons:
1. The Taboo. 2. The Unusual. 3. The Outrageous.
4. The Hilarious. 5. The Remarkable. 6. The Secret.
• To increase open rate of emails and blog articles,
use in the subject line:
a. Lists: “7 Step Guide to Lose Weight”.
b. ‘How to’ approach: “How to Win Friends and
Influence People”.
c. Controversial/Negative slant: “How to Lose
Friends and Alienate People”.
d. What everyone is talking about: “Facebook for
Dummies”.
e. Sex connotation: “Why Social Media is a One-Night
Stand”.

The Techniques
Reframe
Shape how something is seen and
understood by presenting it from a
different angle.

Examples:
• Spin doctors don’t say “global warming” but
“climate change”, it sounds less negative.
• Advertising: “Avis is only No. 2 in rent-a-cars.
So why go with us? We try harder.”
• Beef packaging: the label shows “80% lean”, not
“20% fat.”
• Problem definition: When a Toyota manager
asked employees to brainstorm “ways to increase
their productivity”, no one made a suggestion.
When he rephrased his request as “ways to make
their jobs easier”, he received more suggestions
than he could handle.

The Techniques
Anchor by playing the Instant Replay
“How did you decide to ...?”
By making people remember
a past decision they made, you
arouse their emotions as they will
‘rosy retrospect’ the event.

Example:
• Ask the prospect how he or she decided to buy a
product similar to yours. As the person replays the
experience in his or her head, the memory of it
creates good feelings because the item was certainly
purchased when that person was in a good mood.
Whilst the person is talking, ask for the criteria
that led to the decision, and rank them by order
of importance. Now, when you sell your product,
focus on the benefits that are close to the important
criteria. Since the prospect is now emotionally
aroused by the good feelings, he or she is more
receptive to your pitch.

The Techniques
Refuting like orators
1. Challenge analysis and definitions - Opponent:
• didn’t interpret the problem correctly • is misleading because
of vagueness in definitions • didn’t cover all the areas • is
using different criteria for analysis • overlooked great dangers
contained in his or her proposal.
2. Deny the evidences - Opponent:
• has not made a study • has not been trained in research • is
prejudiced • is exaggerating • is inconsistent • statistical unit
has not been defined • statistical units are not comparable.
3. Minimise:
• opponent used worst, atypical, extreme examples rather than
average ones • “so what” tactic – evil exists, but quantitatively the
harm or damage is not so great.
4. Demonstrate the opposite:
• other studies produced different results.
5. Explore fallacies in reasoning:
• fallacies in analogy, inductive, and/or deductive reasoning.
6. Expose special types of fallacies:
• argue in circle, using unproved propositions one against
another • reframe by assuming a more general truth than the
point at issue • appeal to prejudice • use opponent’s evidence
to support your case • actions lead to two results, both bad •
appeal to the ignorance of the opponent • show that the whole
argument, or the evidence, is absurd • discard several options by
proving their disadvantages in order to accept the last one.

The Techniques
Making a hypnotic speech

Use ‘you’ instead of ‘I’
as much as possible.

The technique used for centuries by politicians,
religious and military leaders, remains effective:
Stage 1 - Get their attention: start your presentation
by presenting positive facts that everyone agrees
with.
Stage 2 - Create unease: confuse your audience by
inserting negative facts that no one can refute. It
creates discomfort.
Stage 3 – Offer solutions: Give indirect suggestions
that make the audience hesitate between different
options. Then, offer your solutions – backed by
statistics – to fix the negative facts.
Stage 4 - Ask for the sale: conclude with a direct
request.

The Techniques
Time Constraints
Who sets the agenda, controls
what is said and not said.
Few people read an agenda before going to a
meeting. Fewer read the minutes. Almost no one
challenges what was said and agreed.
• Out-of-committee: Management by committee is
rare. A Chair will avoid debates that may not end in
his or her favour. Hence, always try to persuade the
Chair in advance.
• Deadline: Fill the agenda with routine, spend
time on trivial matters. Keep the important one
as the last item on the agenda. Then, use the time
deadline to silence opponents, and force acceptance
of your point.
• Neutralise - break the rules: At the risk to upset
the Chair, neutralise the agenda, and those who
intimidate or dominate. At the start of the meeting,
distribute on a single sheet of paper your views,
presented in few bullet points. Now on top of
other documents, your points will be read by all,
including those who have not had time to read the
working papers of the meeting.

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