Advanced Persuasion Techniques for Top Producers, Part 1

Selling involves influencing and motivating prospects and clients to implement the things you want them to do. Two advanced persuasion techniques you can use are mental pivots and mental removers. This month, we’ll explore mental pivots.

Mental pivots work by connecting an agreed-upon statement with the persuasive direction you want the client to take. These are phrases and techniques top producers use to persuade their clients to execute their advice. An example of a mental pivot is to first make an undeniable statement and then pivot it to what you are trying to convince the client to do.

For example, you might say something like: “ObamaCare will incorporate 30 million people and raise taxes 3.9 percent.” In this statement, “and” is a mental pivot that connects the undeniable truth with the statement directing mentally where you want the client to go.

Another example is, “Most seniors retire with only $29,000 and could have dramatically increased their retirement income had they purchased an annuity protecting their investments from risk.” Pivots connect an accepted statement and redirect to a concept you want the client to accept.

My list of mental pivot connectors includes:

• WEAK­—and, or, but

• MODERATE—as, while, during, since

• STRONG—make, cause, force, require

Trigger words can create predictable responses from people, too. In fact, the word “because” is a good example of a trigger word. For example, say a student attempts to cut in line to make photocopies. She can say, “I need to make some copies because I’m in a rush.”