The Art of Persuasion
We all have had that experience, buying things even when we know it is not really needed. While I won't go into the details of shopping instinct, shopaholics,et al, One thing which we have encountered in this experience(shopping without meaning to) is the sales patter coming from the person behind the counter.
We generally will dismiss his/her talk as 'salesmanship' but do you agree that he has the power of persuasion? He cajoles, argues, and finally persuades you to shell your precious dough.
So what is it that he has that makes you so malleable in his hands?
Obviously he is empathetic and establishes the connect with you quite effortlessly
He enters your world- how? by listening to you carefully
He understands your body language and he patterns his body language to it
He has the gift of the gab- all good businessmen,entrepreneurs, politicians, in fact all successful people have this gift
He understands human emotions; the foibles and frailties, all of it
You may think how all these is possible when we are spending such a short time with him?
Malcolm Gladwell in his book "Blink" gives a very good and logical explanation to this phenomena. In fact he asserts that all of us use this technique called- Thin Slicing. It is the perception our mind has when we first meet a person or situation and surprisingly, it is 9 out of 10 times absolutely correct!
The art of persuasion depend on thin slicing technique to a large extent and then it is followed by all the effort one puts into it. The quicker and better the bond we establish with the 'customer' the higher and better is the sale quantum.
So next time you buy something needlessly know that you been 'Persuaded'
We all have had that experience, buying things even when we know it is not really needed. While I won't go into the details of shopping instinct, shopaholics,et al, One thing which we have encountered in this experience(shopping without meaning to) is the sales patter coming from the person behind the counter.
We generally will dismiss his/her talk as 'salesmanship' but do you agree that he has the power of persuasion? He cajoles, argues, and finally persuades you to shell your precious dough.
So what is it that he has that makes you so malleable in his hands?
Obviously he is empathetic and establishes the connect with you quite effortlessly
He enters your world- how? by listening to you carefully
He understands your body language and he patterns his body language to it
He has the gift of the gab- all good businessmen,entrepreneurs, politicians, in fact all successful people have this gift
He understands human emotions; the foibles and frailties, all of it
You may think how all these is possible when we are spending such a short time with him?
Malcolm Gladwell in his book "Blink" gives a very good and logical explanation to this phenomena. In fact he asserts that all of us use this technique called- Thin Slicing. It is the perception our mind has when we first meet a person or situation and surprisingly, it is 9 out of 10 times absolutely correct!
The art of persuasion depend on thin slicing technique to a large extent and then it is followed by all the effort one puts into it. The quicker and better the bond we establish with the 'customer' the higher and better is the sale quantum.
So next time you buy something needlessly know that you been 'Persuaded'
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