Persuasion Artist

Why Learn Persuasion?

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In a harsh tone of disapproval my Mother asked me the other day “Why do you feel like you need to learn hypnosis?” 

If you have stumbled across this blog you may be wondering how persuasion and covert hypnosis skills would benefit you. 

When my mom asked me why I need to learn hypnosis, I simply told her that I do not need hypnosis any more than a painter needs to paint.  A painter paints because he loves to express art.  A persuasion artist persuades to express art also.

A painter paints on paper and canvas.  A persuasion artist persuades on their own minds and the minds of others.

It reminds me of a quote by the famous English Sculptor:

“Art is the means by which we communicate what it feels like to be alive…” -Antony Gormley

That’s the short answer I gave my mom.  The long answer I am going to share with you.

Money, sex, success

More money, more sex, more success and prestige are among the benefits you hear the persuasion gurus telling you can be achieved once you learn these persuasion skills. Underneath all those obvious benefits of learning to persuade lie the reasons as to why I am so passionate about persuasion:

1.  Self Discovery

    Image Credit: Self Discovery

In order to persuade others you need to first persuade yourself.  As a result of learning how other people “tick” I naturally learn how I tick.  This has opened me up to insights and awareness that allow me to really get to know and love myself even more. 

To know your strengths, your weaknesses, and you highest values allows you to feel your true power.

Read more about this inner game of persuasion in my post The 7 Inner Laws of Persuasion

2.  Zen and the Art of Persuasion 

  Image Credit: Kung Fu

Another reason why I love persuasion is the Zen aspect to it.  There is an unexplainable rush that artists get when they are fully absorbed in their work. I believe that something magical happens when persuasion artists get absorbed like this in their expression of their hypnotic abilities. 

This is the place the Zen masters call No Mind. No mind is the level of mastery in kung fu where you are no longer trying to do kung fu; you are only being kung fu.

This being kung fu happens in a way that, as you perform- you are so present in the moment, that suddenly you aren’t thinking about what to do next, you just feel the natural impulse to move when appropriate, where you can’t even tell if you are shaping the performance or the performance is shaping you. 

As hypnotists we know this is a type of trance is the rush that allows up to be masterfully persuasive.

3.   The High of Deep Human Connection

    Image Credit: Drunk, Tokyo

As an aspect of knowing how other’s minds work, you understand other’s better which causes you to connect and bond with people on a deep deep level.  Not only that, but as a persuasion artist you understand how people understand things. 

This means you can communicate a message that is received more clearly and in a way that really resonates with that person to the point where they feel really good about what you are saying.  And hey, you gotta think that’s cool!

4.  Making Others Feel Good 

When I first started learning persuasion and covert hypnosis I was scared.  I was scared that I sounded funny or worse that people would catch me and think I was trying to manipulate them.

When I eventually started applying persuasion I realized I wasn’t really manipulating people at all; I was making people feel amazing.

With covert hypnosis you can use your state, your words, and your intention to make people feel really good.  With me in my example, as I started using hypnotic language patterns in my everyday speech, controlling my tonality and tempo, and using questions that elicit powerful good feeling states in others, I noticed that people began to appreciate me more.

The lesson I learned was that persuasion is not some sneaky manipulative thing you are doing like stealing someone’s wallet, in fact it’s just the opposite.  When used in the “win-win” context persuasion has the ability to make people feel more alive, and that really is a gift.

Something I always say is that hypnosis is not just about putting people into trance.  Hypnosis is also very much about waking people up from the trance they are already in but don’t realize. 

Hypnosis harnesses a power that I love, a power to free myself and others from limitations, limiting beliefs, and mental blocks that people use to keep themselves from having, being, and doing whatever they want.

5.  Persuasion Is LIFE

    Image Credit:  do androids dream of tokyo

Persuasion is a skill you will always need, and quite possibly the most valuable and important skill you could develop. 

• Maybe you want to learn “sneaky, banned, black-op, forbidden, covert hypnosis” persuasion techniques or maybe you just want to learn to influence and communicate a bit more smoothly and naturally.

• Maybe you want to double your closing ratio, or maybe you just want to increase your closing abilities.

• Maybe you’d be happy with one date a month, or maybe you want to be a seduction artist, bedding multiple women every other night.

• Maybe you just want to learn one persuasion strategy that you found (like rapport) or maybe you are a die hard persuasion artist like me who wants to learn every trick in the book.

• Maybe you think that some parts of covert hypnosis are unethical or maybe you might be a guy who will use any tactic no matter the consequence with no moral compass.

• Maybe you are like my family and think persuasion is the Devil’s playground. or maybe you are like me and just wish it were the Devil’s playground >:->

No matter how you approach persuasion, you and I can both agree that persuasion is relevant. 

Persuasion is the center our economy. Without attracting business and closing sales money doesn’t change hands and stimulate the economy. 

Seduction is one of the oldest forms of persuasion because people were having sex before there was money.  Without seduction, the human race goes extinct. 

You persuade people to come to your business, you persuade people to like you, to buy from you, to date and to marry you.  You use persuasion in skills in more ways than you realize all through out the day- every day.

Persuasion has to happen, and it will happen whether you have a basic, boring, dated, Win Friends and Influence People understanding of persuasion or you have a proven system that changes people’s minds and gets you predictable results.  I choose the latter of the two.

Bottom line, persuasion is life. Persuasion is what drives us; persuasion is what gets people to act and action is what moves the world.

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Allen’s Covert Metaphor Blog is Overtly Good

There 70 million blogs on the net, that make up what we call the blogosphere. There are technology blogs, entertainment blogs, blogs about how to feed your dog, even blogs about how to be better in bed. You can find a blog to day pretty much about anything.

At the time of this writing, this blog is new to the blogosphere. Naturally as a new blogger of persuasion, I have been searching the net for other bloggers who write about persuasion and covert hypnosis like I do.

However there are very few blogs on persuasion and covert hypnosis on the net. And from the very few that I have found, unfortunately, well… to say they are pretty bad would be an understatement.

Most of them are covert with adsense ads and have less than moving content. You can tell these people know very little about persuasion.

However, I did find one that stood out to me. Allen over at covert metaphor has been blogging about “Covert Hypnosis, Self-Hypnosis, Language Patterns, Body Language, NLP, Persuasion, Seduction, Parallel Realities, Memetics, Nested Loops, Embedded Commands, Metaphors, Anchors, Submodalities, Blurring Realities, Sleight of Mouth, and more…”

He has been blogging about six months and from the little I have read so far on his blog, I can tell you he is definitely a resource to check out if you want to learn more about persuasion. His blog covers a variety of methods for covert hypnosis. And unlike many bloggers I have come across that seem like they just paraphrased the wikipedia page on hypnosis and nlp, Allen comes across like he has a passion for the subject.

I just finished reading an article on his blog called Using Myth and Metaphor it is simple, short, sweet, and a great intro to the method of using stories in persuasion.

Right on Allen, Keep up the good work!

I finally found a persuasion blog I can recommend!

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The 7 Inner Laws of Persuasion

“There is always an inner game being played in your mind no matter what outer game you are playing. How aware you are of this game can make the difference between success and failure in the outer game.” -Tim Galway “The Inner Game of Tennis”

Persuasion is not just about saying some clever language patterns. Persuasion always begins inside you. This is what I call the inner game of persuasion. I believe that the extent to which we manage our internal processes is the extent to how we successfully persuade others.

I will even go so far to make the bold statement that every technique and tip you learned on persuasion would be worthless if you don’t know the rules of inner game.

Here are 7 tips, I call “The 7 inner Laws of Persuasion” they will help you master your inner game:

1. The Law of Energy: This law states that for every internal movement, there’s an external or physical response, subtle or otherwise that results from it. If you’re feeling nervous around the person you are persuading, then you will be projecting that insecure energy with every word you say.

Just the same if you are experiencing a positive state like warmth, trust, and connection you will be projecting that state. A big part of persuasion is controlling the emotions of others, in order to do that you need to control your own emotional state first.

2. The Law of Intent: Oprah said “Intention Rules the earth” Before and during persuasion situations it is important to state your intention. Stating your intent sends a clear message to your unconscious mind that communicates the outcome you want. If the message is clear enough your unconscious mind will help you get it and persuasion will flow naturally, and smoothly and effortlessly. Intention channels your will to a specific desired outcome. Kenrick Cleveland just wrote an excellent post about intention at his persuasion blog called “Hard work is not the answer: Intention is”

3. The Law Of Calibration: This is the ability to sense where the person you are persuading is at emotionally. If you want to move them in a direction emotionally, you first have to know where they are at. This is the essence of all the rapport strategies, going where someone is at and then leading them to where you ant them to go.

4. The Law of Detachment: If someone asked me what my greatest skill is as a salesman I would say without hesitation my flexibility. I see all different types of people will all different types of needs, from all different personality types. I know that there is not one silver bullet approach that works to persuade every person. I think this is what Bruce Lee mean when he said be “like water”…

“Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless - like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” – Bruce Lee

After I received my hypnotist training, I quickly realized that the best hypnotists were not the ones who had the best technique per se, but the real skill of hypnotizing others is to be able to handle a variety of different responses from different people.

5. The Law of Least Effort: A kung fu master once said: “Learn kung fu, master kung fu, but never do kung Fu.” I know it sounds like one of those crazy mind bending Zen paradoxes, but to me it sounds like the master is saying learn everything you can, master all the techniques, such that you are not trying to use the methods it just become a part of you that you effortlessly and naturally use.

At my hypnotist training Marc Cunningham told me, “Master Hypnotists don’t have off switches”. When you have mastered persuasion in a way that it’s a part of who you are rather than something you turn on and off you will naturally find yourself doing the right things, and saying the right words. You will be a persuasion machine.

6. The Law of Balance: According to Taoist philosophy people have both feminine and masculine energies or what they call “yin and yang” In the persuasion arena, whether it’s sales, negotiation, or seduction the more balanced you are in your masculine and feminine energy the more persuasive you will be.

Keep in mind these energies are philosophical constructs, which are useful for understanding this metaphor but are not identical with gender.

Masculine energy or yang is a direct, focused, logical, and action oriented energy. Persuaders that are expressing too much masculine energy are usually the pushy used car salesman type that wears you down with high pressure. Naturally this works to some extent, but it also turns a lot of people off. Most consumers can smell this type of salesman a mile away.

Feminine energy or yin is described as vague, intuitive, and receptive. Persuaders who are very “yin” are too nice. They are great at getting rapport, but this rapport is quickly turned against them as it is seen as weakness. If you are too nice, closing feels awkward and the customer usually ends up persuading you to give them a lower price, throw in free stuff, or that they still need to shop more.

You can obviously see that both of these methods work some of the time, and you see salespeople like this all the time. But to be a persuasion artist means mastery of your self and your persuasion skills. When you are balanced inside you get rapport, but you are the one in charge.

Ross Jeffries teaches of an effective meditation called “energized breathing” that I have found to be EXTREAMLY helpful in balancing my emotions in persuasion settings.

7. The Law of Self Knowledge. “Temet Nosce” it’s Latin for “Know thyself” This is one of the most simple and important laws of persuasion you should know. As a persuader, you should be able to know and recognize your limits. Know your strengths and know your weaknesses. Once you are familiar with your limitations, you can work on changing or improving them.  In other words, once you are able to persuade yourself you naturally will be able to persuade others.

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First Post: Persuasion vs. manipulation?

About a year ago I told my mom I wanted to be a hypnotist

“Hypnosis?! So you are learning to manipulating people!?” She said.

This is the response you get from a lot of people when you use the term hypnosis or especially covert hypnosis.

I blame Hollywood for the broad misconception of hypnosis, as well as old cheesy hypnosis ads from the early 1900s. Because of this most people think of covert hypnosis as mind control, making people do things against their will, manipulation, and brain washing.

So what’s the difference between manipulation and covert hypnosis or persuasion then?

Manipulation is when you are using tactics that are can be destructive and or “feel bad” to the person you are trying to influence. You see examples of this every day.

You see manipulation it in relationships all the time, you see it in businesses like network marketing companies, cults, churches, and the Military, even in social circles with little children on the play ground

Manipulation usually sounds something like this:

• If you leave the group you won’t have our love anymore, or Gods.

• Our select group is right and everyone else is wrong and stupid, so if you leave us you are wrong and stupid too.

• If you play with that kid you can’t be a part of our special club.

• If you break up with me no one will love you ever again.

• If you go learn from that teacher I won’t be your teacher anymore.

Those are all simple examples of manipulation.

The major difference between manipulation and persuasion is that manipulation could never possibly have the other person’s interests at heart. Yes of course someone could use covert hypnosis unethically, but covert hypnosis or strategic persuasion can be used for the other persons benefit when used ethically. Manipulation can never used to benefit anyone but the manipulator.

What is covert hypnosis or conversational hypnosis?

Hypnosis is direct communication with the subconscious mind. The persuader knows that this is the part of the mind that makes most of the decisions anyway. Most of what people do is an automatic response rather than a logical rational; there are a lot of studies to prove this.

Even the most basic sales training will teach that people buy for emotional reason and back up their decision with logic.

I won’t get into any specific strategies- but I will say that covert hypnosis is strategically using language, vocal tonality, and non-verbal communication to elicit a state from someone, and connect that state with a specific person, place, thing, or idea.

• I could use covert hypnosis to influence my little brother to get better grades.
• I can help my friends overcome fears.
• And of course I can use it to get people to buy things from me.

Persuasion in essence is capturing and leading a person’s imagination.

If I am providing someone with something that they want is it really that manipulative?

Of course not.

And it wont feel like the person is being deceived or I am forcing my will on them like a high pressure salesman but a person who opens them up to even more new possibilities and options. That’s what all conversational hypnosis is about, giving people more options than they are giving themselves.

If you can make people feel really good with just your words and you look out for others interests you aren’t a manipulator-you have a gift. If you can make a customer who is not having fun shift their mood such that they want and are excited about your offer AND you can deliver it who is doing who the favor?

It’s not important that you think about this in a way that you automatically fall into agreement with my views on persuasion, only do it as naturally and easily as it makes sense to you. Because the more it makes sense to you the more you find reasons of your own to learn more about this fascinating information. Reasons that will really benefit you and allow you to feel really good.

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