The Power of Persuasive Questions

Thursday, July 1st, 2021 : Read 1,148 Times : 349 words (Aprox 2 min read)

As a frequent trainer of influence in the field of NLP, I'm often asked how to get people to listen.

Most people today report that they feel like people just don't listen. We live in a world that is cynical, jaded and disconnected. People are more inundated with information, opportunities, and marketing than ever before. I recently heard a researcher who said that we are now exposed to over 30,000 marketing messages per day.

So, people are (justifiably) more guarded than ever.

This can lead to a bit of depression for small-business owners who often feel inextricably interconnected with their product or service. People are not rejecting the thing. They are rejecting "me."

So we have to learn how to breakthrough the noise. How? Turn statements into questions.

A statement can easily be rejected by the conscious mind, but a question must be contemplated by the subconscious mind to even be understood.

So, how do we do this? It's easy...

Instead of making a statement, form a question about the quality or result of that statement. For example, instead of saying, "Sign up now," you could form the question, "How good will it feel to sign up now and see the great results you're looking for?" Notice that the embedded command, "sign up now," is still in the sentence, but now it's easier to contemplate.

Instead of saying, "you can find the money if you try," say, "what if you could find the money? Where would it have come from?"

Instead of, "say yes," you could say, "how can I help you say yes?"

Instead of saying, "it's guaranteed," say, "do you feel more comfortable knowing that it's guaranteed?"

As you can see, in each of these conversions, the question is more powerful and more persuasive. "So... how many ways do you know you'll use this in your business and in your life?"

 

Posted by Michael Stevenson in Inflluence, Linguistics, NLP, Psychology on The Power of Persuasive Questions