The Desert of Arizona
Hot (Again) 82 Degrees – 7:08 a.m.
The air conditioner compressor blew out yesterday. So I have to write this before it gets too hot in here and I head for higher ground…
Today’s topic is PERSUASION.
Persuasion is a sexy topic.
The idea of having the skills to “wave your hands” in front of someone to get them to do what you’d like is captivating to a lot of people.
On the interwebs, you can get help with this in a ton of places. Copywriting is one spot it shows up a lot.
When I was learning copywriting, I understood it to be salesmanship in print. Persuasion in print.
If only I could learn the art of persuasion and make people do what I want, everything would work out (for me)!
Eventually I realized this is a pretty shallow way to view things. It’s exciting to my “make it happen” ego, but shallow in terms of dealing with other humans.
In the world of the Incomparable Expert, persuasion exists at the level of the structure of your systems. It’s not what you SAY, it’s how you’ve engineered the choices available for the people you want to attract.
You have set out the right path, with the right understanding of your buyer, with the right steps along that path, to make the journey a pleasant and valuable one for THEM.
You haven’t set the path full of “persuasion” boobytraps that attempt to place your prospects under your salesmanship spell.
Eek.
So in this sense, persuasion is SLOW, and it is not coercive.
It’s basically persuasion without words. Except it’s not YOU doing the persuasion. It’s you providing the material required for your prospect to persuade themselves.
When you are aiming at expert status and you want to charge the premium fees that go with status like that, “persuasion” as you see it practiced today is something you want to touch with delicate gloves…or maybe not at all.
If I had to persuade you to be here, then chances are, you’re in the wrong spot. And those are not the people I’m going to work with.