Maximize Your Influence

After discussing Kurt's upcoming visit to the Middle East, Kurt and Steve launch right into this week's article.  According to a recent article from Science Daily, toddlers who exhibit low empathy are in for a tough life.  The study says that there will be long term problems with aggression.  The good news is, it's not too late to fix it. 

After the article, Kurt and Steve get into the Third R of Resistance, which is "resources."  We're all taught in sales that we need to qualify our prospect.  Mostly this centers around money, but there are other resources that need to be in place such as time, support, staff, etc.  We know that most of the time when prospects tell us they don't have the resources, it's not true.  They've just learned over the years that lying about resources is a quick way to make you (the evil salesperson) go away.  When it comes right down to it, most of the things that we buy are not based on price.  Value is the key, and value is a perception.

What are your prospects comparing your product or service to?  This allows you to benchmark value.  You get to decide what they compare it to!  Be careful to choose what other products and services your compare and contrast your product with.  Do it right, and people will pay a lot more.  Do it wrong, and they won't pay you anything!

Direct download: Podcast_64.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:49pm CDT

Do you enjoy the Maximize Your Influence Podcast?  Learn more at www.universityofpersuasion.com.  You'll have access to all of our top persuasion and influence training!  You'll get our 52 week persuasion mastery course, our persuasion university library, persuasion software (solves objections for you), and much much more!  

On this episode of Maximize Your Influence, Kurt and Steve discuss the second R of resources.  One of the main reasons we encounter resistance from prospects, employees, family, etc is due to perceived risk.  Whether it's time, money, respect, or some other resource, your prospect is not sure if what they are giving up to do business with you is truly worth it.  There's too much risk.  Sometimes they state this out loud...other time sthey feel it subconsciously.  Either way, your goal as a persuader is to get your prospect to feel like they have absolutely nothing to lose by doing business with you. 

Part of this is through creating involvement (see our earler podcasts on the law of involvement).  When your prospect feels like they are participating in the product or service they begin to feel that it WILL be worth it.  Get them started down the right road and they will typically want to finish.  This is typically done through some kind of free trial of your product or service.  Sure, when you offer a free trial people will periodcially take advantage of you.  However, implementing a free trial usually increases sales so much that any "free loaders" are totally worth it.

Another way is to establish a bold guarantee.  If you don't feel like you CAN guarantee your product or service, it's time to re-think things. What can you promise that will make prospects feel like they have a way "out" if the product doesn't work for them?  Remember, guarnatees are like free trials.  Most typically won't turn around and ask for their money back once they've purchased the product.  Guarantees more than pay for themselves! 

Direct download: Podcast_63.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:59am CDT

On this episode, Kurt and Steve interview the CEO of Entrepreneur on Fire, John Lee Dumas.  John is one of the most successful "virtual" entrepreneurs out there.  His podcast is by far one of the most popular business downloads on the internet.  He is known for producing massive amounts of valuable content and giving it away for FREE.  His audience is large and he has a very high level of trust with them. This allows him to sell hundreds of thousands of dollars of his products every month.  And even better...he documents it all!  His model of complete transparency allows him to cut right to the pain of what his prospects want and need.  He then provides it and makes huge profits in the process.  If you're an entrepreneur his show is a must!   Learn more by visiting www.entrepreneuronfire.com. 

Direct download: Podcast_62.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:02pm CDT

Direct download: Podcast_61.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:17pm CDT

Did you know that money can buy happiness?  A recent study published in "Psychology Today" shows just that.  Kurt and Steve discuss the ins and outs of this study and how money certainly can buy happiness...up to a point. 

Continuing off of recent episodes, Kurt and Steve cover how we can overcome objections before they ever occur in the first place.  This concept is called "inoculation."  The term comes from the medical field, where patients are given a weak form of a virus so that their body can develop an immunity to it.  This same concept happens on the pscyhological level.  If we can introduce a weak form of the objection to our prospects, they will be better prepared for when the real one comes along at a later date.

For example, do most of your prospects end up looking for more bids from competitors?  Or do they end up getting serious resistance from friends and family?  Letting them know very subtly that this will happen beforehand helps them avoid the shock and disappointment that will later surface.  They'll think "hey, you know what?  He told me that the competitors would say this, or that my family would think that." 

This even applies when raising children.  Unfortunatley we know that at some point kids will be exposed to and given the opportunity to take drugs.  Pretending this won't happen just increases the chances that they will be influenced by a drug dealer and not by you as a parent.  Letting them know in advance "hey Jr, at some point somebody is going to offer you drugs.  If you say know they'll call you chiocken, they'll make fun of you, etc.  But just say no no matter what and come talk to me about it.  It's okay."

You can't, nor should you, inoculate against everything.  Just pick the two or three most common objections your prospects have and presolve them with stories, examples, statistics, and testimonials!

Direct download: Podcast_60.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:37pm CDT

1