The words that you use can conjure up images and emotional triggers in the brain of the person that you’re speaking to. This is important to remember when you’re considering how you can influence the actions of people.
For example, if you’re telling a story that involves somebody stepping in dog poop, you’ll usually find that people will react to that moment with disgust. Maybe they open their mouth and wrinkle their nose in an “ugh gross!” kind of expression.
This is a simple way of explaining how you can physically alter somebody’s actions (in this case, their expression) with just your words.
If you want to influence somebody into buying something that you believe is going to benefit them or have a positive effect on their lives, you can use words that will trigger certain motivational factors. This will help to overcome objections and encourage people to think more openly about what you’re offering to them.
Emotion Trumps Logic - The Motivation
Understanding what motivates people is key to being able to influence them. Contrary to what a lot of people believe, emotion trumps logic when it comes to the way we make decisions and why.
People make decisions using their heart more than their head.
There are three ways that you can motivate people with the language you use:
Make them run towards something
Make them run away from something
Make their heart sink
To learn how you can induce any three of these reactions in people, you first need to understand how decisions are made.
"Contrary to what a lot of people believe, emotion trumps logic when it comes to the way we make decisions and why. People make decisions using their heart more than their head."
Decisions Are Made Twice
We first make decisions in an alternate reality. We act it out in a safe way without real-life consequences before we decide if we want to take the risk ‘for real’.
So we make the decision hypothetically based on whether we can see ourselves carrying it out or not.
Have you ever said the phrase “I can’t see myself doing that”? If that’s how you felt about something then I’d bet that you didn’t end up doing it.
The way to overcome this objection before it’s cemented in somebody’s opinion is to invite them to see themselves doing something before you invite them to do it.
You do this by using memories.
Insta Memories
How do we picture ourselves doing something if we’ve never done it before? We use imagination.
Our imagination can only create images out of our own lived experiences, stories we’ve heard and images we’ve already seen. Memories.
Just like a giant Instagram account, our brain stores all of our experiences and even other people’s experiences for future reference.
You just pop in a ‘keyword’ and your brain is already scrolling through relevant experiences to retrieve and consider as evidence or explanation.
Like if you’ve never been skiing in the French Alps and a friend tells you about their holiday. Your mind’s eye will be showing you all of the images you’ve stored referencing the French Alps and any experiences or images you have of skiing and ski resorts. You don’t have to actually go there or experience it in real life to experience it in your mind.
Plant Images
To stop objections before they set in and to halt the opportunity for somebody to say “I can’t see myself doing that”, you need to plant images.
Present them with images of themself already doing the thing that you want them to. Allow them to see the positive outcomes for themselves.
These images of truth are created by the individual that we’re speaking to and you can make this happen by telling a story using the principles of motivation.
A story will always sell, whereas a fact will only tell.
Just Imagine…
Stories allow us to plant images in people’s minds. We all know that traditional stories begin with “Once upon a time…” but that’s not a line you can casually drop into adult conversation!
The ‘grown-up’ version of ‘once upon a time’ is: Just imagine.
When you use the words ‘just imagine’, you open up the memory bank. The brain’s Instagram goes “gimme pictures!”
That gives us the perfect opportunity to insert the images that we want, using our knowledge of motivation.
Remember, the three motivational factors that you can use to invoke a response are:
Something they want to run towards,
Something they want to run away from,
Something that makes their heart sink.
How Do You Paint The Right Picture?
You can use ‘just imagine…’ to inspire somebody to want to run towards something by creating an image of them doing something they want more of.
For example, “Just imagine yourself looking and feeling a million dollars when you turn up to your best friend’s wedding in that suit.”
To use ‘just imagine’ for a ‘run away from’ scenario, you would create the picture of something that the person wants less of.
For example, “Just imagine in 10 years time, you’re still doing the same job, living in the same house, and driving the same car…”
And finally, to create an image that makes their heart sink, use emotive situations.
For example, “Just imagine what happens when you start utilizing the skills that you’ve learned from this blog and you’re getting positive results in your business. The smiles on your family’s faces when they realize how satisfied you are in your professional life.”
Do It With Integrity
You can utilize these words in any way you like but please understand that “with great power comes great responsibility.”
Know that the difference between influence and manipulation is your integrity.
Use these skills to help the right people make the right decisions that deliver the right results and you’ll stop imagining your success and start living it.
