Category: Social Influence

David Ogilvy, the legendary ad man, wrote:
Write the way you talk. Naturally.
This comes from a famed internal memo sent to his employees.

I love the idea and think it’s wonderful advice. However, before you hit the publish button, skim through your words and perform a quick review. Don’t use Ogilvy’s advice as an excuse for lazy writing.

The words you just vomited onto the page are there for a purpose. If you want to write to inspire, persuade, or simply get your point across clearly, I recommend you make a few edits.

When you first start learning magic you feel like you’re tricking everyone. And you are tricking everyone. But there’s something in your gut that nags at you when your friends ask, “How did you do that?” You want to tell him. You don’t like deceiving people, especially your friends.

The nagging feeling is what stops most people from becoming a powerful persuader. The art of influence requires a bit of sleight-of-hand. You’re not lying (I hope). However, when you learn the techniques of influence, it can feel like trickery.

What started out as an simple eBook on dealing with sales resistance turned into a 77 page Workbook with dozens of exercises and examples to help you blast through the three types of psychological resistance torturing your customer’s mind.

If you persuade the masses or individuals, one of the most important people that made what we do possible was Edward Bernays. He wrote one of my favorite books, “Propaganda.” Edward was the nephew of Sigmund Freud and was the first to bring many of the psychological theories he came up with for marketing and […]

Persuasion is a beautiful art. It's one of those things that not everyone can do well. And, those that do it well often do it by accident. It's an elegant dance that can be learned when you break the individual pieces down and analyze them.

When you think of persuasion, influencing or selling, you probably think of the manipulative used car sales type. We've all seen the stereotypical slick salesperson obviously out to part you from as much of your money as possible without considering your desires or providing real value. That's not what I like or encourage.