Once the call to action has taken place, your audience needs to remember, retain, and respond to your message. They have to keep doing what you want them to do. Have your points been memorable, easy to understand, and simple to follow? Remember, your message will boil down not to what you say and do, but to what the other person remembers. The following critical items must be included in your persuasive presentation.

A. Repetition

The use of repetition is very effective. We have heard that repetition is the mother of all learning; it is also the mother of effective persuasion. Repetition creates familiarity toward your ideas, and that leads to a positive association. When something gets repeated, it gets stuck in your memory. It improves your comprehension. You need to repeat your message several times so your audience understands precisely what you are talking about and comprehends exactly what you want them to do. You can repeat the message several times without saying the same thing over and over again.

My motto is: When you repeat, repackage how you say it. Each time you express your point, use new evidence and new words, so you don’t sound like a broken record. When you use repetition too much, it might result in diminishing returns. You know how you feel about someone telling you a joke or a story you’ve already heard or about that commercial you’ve seen one too many times. If you’ve heard it a million times before, you tune out and quit listening. Keep your repetitions about each point to approximately three references, and definitely no more than five.

B. Theme

We see general themes in commercials and advertisements. A theme is easily remembered and easily retained. Attorney Gerry Spence uses themes during his court cases. For example, when a small ice cream manufacturer sued McDonald’s for breach of oral contract, Spence centered his whole argument and position around the theme, “Let’s put honor back into the handshake.” The jury was won over and Spence’s client was awarded $52 million. In another case, Spence’s client was suing an insurance company for quadriplegic fraud. This time, Spence’s theme was: “Human need versus corporate greed.” The insurance company ended up having to shell out $33.5 million plus the interest on $10 million.

Having a theme will give your presentation flow, order, and presence in the minds of your audience members. Themes provide an easy way for people to remember the heart of your message. If you have strong and well-organized themes, you can be sure your audience will understand and remember your message more clearly and more strongly.

C. Brevity and Simplicity

Keep your message short and simple. Boring an audience to tears has never yet worked as an effective persuasive technique. If the message is short and simple, it will most likely be clearer and therefore easier to remember. Consider the profundity of Abraham Lincoln’s historical Gettysburg Address. The whole speech, from start to finish, was only 269 words. He presented it in less than three minutes.

D. Primacy and Recency Effects

Timing is everything. The Primacy and Recency Effects refer to timing your message so it will have its greatest impact. The “Primacy Effect” refers to the impact of points made at the beginning of a presentation, and the “Recency Effect” refers to the impact of information presented at the end of a presentation. . These effects can be powerful presentation tools since it is typically the very first and very last parts of your presentation that bear the strongest weight in your audience’s overall impression. These impressions will linger longer than anything else about the presentation. Your first and final words determine how you will be remembered and thought of long after your speech has ended. Be sure you carefully craft your opening and closing statements, placing your strongest points at those times.

E. Offer Choices

There is a strange psychological phenomenon in regards to drawing conclusions. If someone tells us exactly what to do, our tendency is to reject that dictated choice when we feel it is our only option. The solution is to offer your prospects a few options so that they can make the choice for themselves. People feel the need to have freedom and make their own choices. If forced to choose something against their will, they experience psychological resistance and feel a need to restore their freedom.

We all need options. Recently, I saw a young moose get surrounded by people who wanted a picture of it. Feeling trapped, this moose charged at the people in an attempt to escape. This type of scenario can also present itself in your persuasive efforts. If you don’t offer options to your audience, they could attempt to charge and escape.

The strategy is that you have control over your prospects’ options. As a Master Persuader, you only give them options that will satisfy your situation. We have all done this with children: Do you want to finish your dinner or go to bed early? In sales, they call this strategy the alternative close. For example, have you heard the line, “Do you want regular or deluxe?” Or what about, “Do you want it in blue or green?” or “Do you want to meet Monday afternoon or Tuesday evening?” The person has options, but both options meet the persuader’s goals.

Even if it is just something simple, people need to have options. I heard a story of one lady who desperately needed to take her medication or she would die. Her doctor, nurse, son, and husband all tried to get her to take her medication but to no avail. The doctor insisted she take her medication first thing when she arose in the morning, but she just wouldn’t do it. Distraught, the family took her to a new doctor. This doctor immediately saw the situation and talked to the patient. He explained the benefits of taking the drugs and how it could help her. Then, he gave her an option. He said, “You need to take this once a day. Would you like to take it with your breakfast or your dinner?” The patient smiled and said she would like to take it with her dinner. After she made that decision, she no longer gave people a hard time about taking her medication. The key is that both options the doctor gave her were fixed to achieve the same goal.

If you absolutely have to limit your audience’s choice to one thing, you must explain to them why there are limitations on their options. If the audience understands why a limit has been put on their freedom, they are more likely to accept it without feeling undermined.

On the flip side, try not to give your prospects more than two or three choices. If you give too many alternatives, your audience will be less likely to choose any of them. Structured choices give the audience the impression of control. As a result, they increase cooperation and commitment.

Offering choices is also called “binds.” Each option offered gives the persuader what he wants without making him appear as if he is restricting freedoms. When you use the word “or,” the very opposite is implied, so try to structure your choices with the word “or.” For example, “Would you like to make an appointment now, or should we meet next week? I know today you will become involved in our product or make the decision to take it home with you.”

Make sure your speech is articulate and intelligent, but be careful not to use esoteric language. Use simple terms and jargon that are familiar to your audience. Complexity will not impress them; rather it will muddle your message. Make your points simple, clear, and direct. Avoid facts, figures, examples, questions, or anything else that–if used ineffectively–might complicate your message.

Conversely, if you are trying to dissuade, use all the complexity you want. If a person feels confused, perplexed, bewildered, etc., well, as they say, a confused mind says, “No!”

Conclusion

Persuasion is the missing puzzle piece that will crack the code to dramatically increase your income, improve your relationships, and help you get what you want, when you want, and win friends for life.Ask yourself how much money and income you have lost because of your inability to persuade and influence.Think about it.Sure you’ve seen some success, but think of the times you couldn’t get it done.Has there ever been a time when you did not get your point across?Were you unable to convince someone to do something?Have you reached your full potential?Are you able to motivate yourself and others to achieve more and accomplish their goals?What about your relationships?Imagine being able to overcome objections before they happen, know what your prospect is thinking and feeling, feel more confident in your ability to persuade.Professional success, personal happiness, leadership potential, and income depend on the ability to persuade, influence, and motivate others.

Kurt Mortensen’s trademark is Magnetic Persuasion; rather than convincing others, he teaches that you should attract them, just like a magnet attracts metal filings. He teaches that sales have changed and the consumer has become exponentially more skeptical and cynical within the last five years. Most persuaders are using only 2 or 3 persuasion techniques when there are actually 120 available!

If you are ready to claim your success and learn what only the ultra-prosperous know, begin today by learning Magnetic Persuasion.

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As in every business endeavor, some companies without adequate planning, solid foundation and logistics, open shop as network marketing companies, but go under sooner than later causing losses to members instead of the promised gain.

Most other companies (unethical pyramid schemes not backed by useful products) deliberately offer opportunities which are by all means unprofitable to members. Every one unsuccessful network marketer, therefore, creates as many other disgruntled individuals as he or she had introduced into the business.

However, do not let other people’s failures deter you from succeeding. No matter the misgivings associated with Network marketing, evidence abound that this system of “direct sales” business of consumers dealing directly with producers is continuously being adopted by many companies around the world. Very many people are also turning their lives around reaping great rewards doing the same thing most other individuals readily scuff at as too hard and unprofitable.

The reason for failure is just the opposite of the reason for success. You must avoid going into any business without adequate planning, knowledge of the particular business as your foundation, and then WORK, work the knowledge you must have acquired of your chosen program, for these are the three basic necessities that make success in any endeavor.

TO BE ABLE TO IDENTIFY A VIABLE COMPANY IS GOOD PLANNING

A viable company should be product backed.
The company has a physical headquarter-address.
The company’s compensation plan is reasonable and paid as and when due.
There is a track record of company and member’s success.
The company has been around for more than five years.
The company is continuously spreading to other countries.
Membership is international.
The company keeps to its promises to members, e.g. special awards etc.

You see, an adage here says: “It is not wise to give a bad coin to a friend, relative or neighbor, because it dents relationships”. Be sure that any company you chose to join its network marketing business is a successful one. Since network marketing is about introductions, let it not be your lot to introduce anyone to failure. So unless you are absolutely sure of the company you have signed up with, work for your close associate to see your success and voluntarily join you. Images of disrepute hardly goe away, you know.

So you are not satisfied with your ability to settle your bills, your freedom scope, and you are surely in need of a better income stream, but you have heard about numerous failed network marketing schemes or have tried some schemes yourself that did you no good, so you condemn all as worthless? Well, let me tell you here and now that counterfeit is the opposite of the real thing, so find it, find the real thing, it is available.

SUCCESS

Success is like thunder; it requires a lightening which requires a stormy condition to strike. So first you need a goal, a desire to be whatever you want to be, then secondly you need a vehicle for reaching your goal, a solid well oiled vehicle, thirdly, you must learn to drive that vehicle to your goal, to your success.

HOW TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN NETWORK MARKETING

If you join a network marketing company you do so because you want to increase or supplement or engineer a huge conduit pipe of income stream. So the best way to go about recruiting down lines to help you achieve your goal is to go for those who have the same mindsite as you do. People who are motivated like you, people who are on the lookout for business ventures, people who are prepared to understand what it is all about. People who are hungry for success. PEOPLE WHO ARE READY TO CAUSE THE ACTION THAT MUST IMPACT ON THEIR LIVES AND CREATE THE REQUIRED CHANGE FROM SUBSISTENCE TO AFFLUENCE. People who are of this mindset might not be available in your neighborhood, and even if you find a few of them in your locality, remember that you need to build a huge network, so you require quite a good number of such people if you must succeed.

So what must you do?

You must reach out just like a successful network marketing company, spreading your tentacle around the world - thanks goodness - the internet is now here.

HOW TO RECRUIT HUNGRY PROSPECTS

You need a website for your business. This is where people get a first hand information on your business. Your site must speak straight to your prospective visitors about the business. It must be easy to understand what you are putting across, and offer the opportunity of signing up or ordering your products online.

So how do you get those who are hungry for success to visit your site and get to know about your offer?

You may buy a list of people who want to start a new business online and phone them to sound them out on their intentions and see if they fit your scheme. However, beear in mind that not all of them will be interested in your offer. Some will show interest without commitment, so be sure to spend your time only with the overtly interested, they are the ones who will do it like you, the ones who will make your strong legs in the network.
Have your website linked to related sites and write articles about your business and submit to article directories regularly. Signup with entrepreneurial emailing programs. Only entrepreneurs signup in these kinds of programs so that anyone who joins your network from there is very likely to come with the advantage of a practicing network marketer.

If you need to increase your earnings, then to achieve your goal, you must remember to: plan, study and work your knowledge of a viable company, introduce leaders into your network and watch the floodgate of exponential income open for you in your network marketing business.

Neshah is a seasoned network marketer. Read more articles at http://tianshi.wealthyhealthyways.com

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If you’ve been in the web hosting business for any length of time, you will already realize that keeping your servers humming along smoothly is only half of the equation. The other half is customer service. No matter how well your technology works, there will always be customer support issues. How you handle them is crucial to your success.

In this article, I will offer 5 essentials for success. These are not all that is involved, but id you master these five fundamentals, you’ll be well on your way to success.

1. Like Your Customers and Help Them To Like You

Before anything else, you really have to like people. If you are strictly a tech head, and hate dealing with people, you have a real problem on your hands. You may assume that you can fake it, but your dislike for people will eventually show through. If you don’t like people, consider hiring someone who does.

One of the secrets of business is that people don’t usually do business with the best person for the job - people do business with people they like.

With that in mind, remember to be a likeable person as well. Be polite, be upbeat, be positive. Take an interest in your customers. Ask how their day is going.

2. Listen

Always take a little time to listen to what your customer is telling you. Let them finish speaking before you jump in with a solution. If they need to vent their frustration, lend a willing ear. Ask a probing question or two.

If your customer is telling you how to improve your business, take it to heart. Big companies pay a lot of money for market research. A disgruntled customer on the other end of the phone will provide that for free.

Under the pressure of trying to solve everyone’s problems, it’s tempting to rush through a support call. Resist this at all costs. Your customer will realize that you are giving them the short shrift and fell less than valued. Remember - if you don’t value your customer, someone else will readily do so. You have over ten thousand competitors out there.

3. Empathize

Please note that I didn’t say sympathize. Sympathy is to feel pity for someone else. Empathy is to identify with someone, placing yourself in their shoes.

Ask yourself - If I were in the customer’s place, what would I want my web host to do for me?

This is nothing short of the Golden Rule. Give your customer the same quality and depth of support that you would expect.

4. Respect Your Customer

By respect, I’m not simply referring to the way in which you speak. Politeness is crucial, but it’s even more essential to show respect by your actions.

If your client leaves a message for you, call them back promptly. If they send you an email, answer it quickly. Take the time to learn your customer’s needs, and address them.

One important point about this - respect each client whether they are a $5 client or a $5000 client.

I have a webhosting customer who is difficult to work with. He doesn’t understand much about computers, and he doesn’t speak very good English. It’s been a real struggle to give him good customer service. Sometimes, I’ve asked whether or not it was worth the ten dollars a month I make from him.

Recently, I learned that this gentleman is the spiritual leader of a moderate sized sect in India. Even more surprising, I learned that several of my more important clients signed up with us because of his recommendation.

Showing a little respect to a ten dollar client has made me several thousand dollars this year.

5. Thank Your Customer

Everyone wants to be appreciated and valued. Who could possibly be more worthy of your gratitude than the people who place food upon your table and shoes on your childrens feet?

Look for every opportunity to thank your customer or to show your appreciation. If they know you value them, they’ll naturally value you.

Copyright 2005 John Pierce

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Why should we be concerned with the structure of an argument? Well, persuasive messages have several pieces that must be included. Just as Plato stated that every message should have a structure like an animal (head, body, and feet), so must our arguments follow an understandable pattern.

There are two basic elements to any persuasive message. These are the substance (arguments, facts, and content) and the form (pattern of arrangement). If you make up the form and pattern of your presentation as it comes into your head, it will be a detriment to long-term persuasion. A confused mind says “no.” If the audience can’t follow your facts or the substance of your message, their brains will not accept your message–there is no clear message to accept.

At one time or another, you have probably been in a classroom where the teacher has completely lost you. You had no idea where the topic was going or where it had been. When this happens, your mind stalls and the learning process stops. Confusion is a state of mind that creates tension. We hate to be confused. When we create this mental confusion as persuaders, we are shooting ourselves in the foot. Most uneducated “one-note persuaders” follow Harry Truman’s advice: “If you can’t convince ‘em, confuse ‘em.”

Before we jump into the meat of this topic, remember as you prepare your persuasive message that you want to focus on one defined issue. You are not there to persuade on ten different points. Stay focused and steer clear of sensitive issues that aren’t on your original agenda. In other words, don’t inadvertently offend your audience on one issue when your focus in on another. The structure of your persuasive message should follow the pattern discussed below.

A. Create Interest

You have to generate an interest about your chosen topic. Your audience needs a reason to listen: Why should they care? What’s in it for them? How can you help them? A message that starts with a really good reason to listen will grab the attention of the audience, enabling you to continue with the message. Without this attention, there is no hope of getting your message across.

B. State the Problem

You must clearly define the problem you are trying to solve. The best pattern for a persuasive speech is to find a problem and relate how it affects the audience. In this way, you show them a problem they have and why it is of concern to them. Why is this a problem to your audience? How does this problem affect them?

C. Offer Evidence

This is the support you give to your argument. Evidence validates your claims and offers proof that your argument is right. It allows your audience to rely on other sources besides you. Evidence can include examples, statistics, stories, testimonies, analogies, and any other supporting material used to enhance the integrity and congruency of your message.

D. Present a Solution

You have gained your audience’s interest and provided evidence in support of your message, now you must solve their problem. You present the argument you want them to believe and satisfy the need you have identified or created. You have created dissonance and now you are providing the solution. How can your product meet their needs and wants and help them achieve their goals?

E. Call to Action

A persuasive message is not true persuasion if your audience does not know exactly what they need to do. Be specific and precise. In order to complete the solution to their problem, they must take action. This is the climax, the peak of your logic and emotion. The prescribed actions must be feasible. Make your call to action as easy as possible.

Using this type of structure facilitates people’s acceptance of your message and clarifies what you want them to do. We all have a logical side to our mind, which results in our need for order and arrangement. If we don’t sense some sort of structure, we tend to become confused and create our own organizational flow–thus creating our own solution. If you can’t be clear, concise, and orderly, your prospect will find someone else who is.

In order to create a good structure for your argument and to reach your audience, it may be helpful to consider the following set of questions. Ask yourself these questions in regards to yourself and your message:

• What do I want to accomplish?
• What will make my message clear to my audience?
• What will increase my credibility and trust?
• What Laws of Persuasion am I going to use?
• What do I want my prospects to do?

Ask yourself these questions in regards to your audience:

• Who is listening to my message? (Audience demographics)
• What is their initial mindset? (What are they thinking and feeling now?)
• When will the call to action work? (What do you want them to do and when do you want them to do it?)
Hot Tip! Rather than marketing to everyone, we gain permission to concentrate our marketing on the people who are most likely to buy – those who need our product. It is more effective to break the sales process down into two distinct steps, lead generation and lead conversion.
• Why should they care? (What is in it for them?)
• In what areas of their lives does this affect them? (Health, money, relationships, etc.)
• How will they benefit? (What will they gain?)
• These questions should help you create effective arguments in each of the key areas: interest, problem, evidence, solution, and action.

The call to action is the most important part of your presentation. This is where your audience understands exactly what you want them to do. It’s where you define yourself as a persuader instead of a presenter. This conclusion should not come as a shock to your audience. During your presentation, you should have gently led them to the same conclusion that you are now giving them. You should have already prompted them to want to do what you are about to tell them to do.

Some people hate this part of persuasion because they are asking their prospects to do something. This should really be the best part–the action is the only reason you are giving the presentation in the first place; your audience is going to understand that. If you become tense and uneasy, so will your prospect. The whole presentation should be structured to make the call to action smooth and seamless. In fact, the prospect should not even see or feel your call to action coming.

You should prepare your audience for this conclusion before you even start on the rest of the presentation. Your entire presentation should be built around the call to action. I mean, write out the call to action word for word beforehand. From the outset of your message, you must be eager to get to this point. Be positive and enthusiastic. In your preparation, make sure your conclusion is explicit and that the audience is not left on their own to make sense of and understand your message. You need to tell them what to believe; you draw the conclusion for them. Make the call to action easy for them to follow and simple for them to do. There should be no doubt in your prospects’ minds -What to do.

There is a story of an old man who goes to a dentist because he has a tooth that is killing him. He has been putting it off for months and finally he has to get the tooth taken care of. Once there, the dentist agrees that the tooth needs to come out. The man asks the dentist how much it will cost. The dentist replies that it will be about $250. The old man yelps and yells, “$250 to pull out a tooth?!!” Then he asks how long the procedure will take. He is told it will take about five minutes. “$250 for five minutes of work? That is highway robbery!” the old man protests. The man then asks the dentist how he can live with himself charging people that kind of money. The dentist smiles and says, “If it’s the time you are worried about, I can take as long as you want.” When planning and preparing your call to action, remember that the process does not have to be long and painful. Be short, brief, and to the point.

Kurt Mortensen’s trademark is Magnetic Persuasion; rather than convincing others, he teaches that you should attract them, just like a magnet attracts metal filings. He teaches that sales have changed and the consumer has become exponentially more skeptical and cynical within the last five years. Most persuaders are using only 2 or 3 persuasion techniques when there are actually 120 available! His message and program has helped thousands and will help you achieve unprecedented success in both your business and personal life.

If you are ready to claim your success and learn what only the ultra-prosperous know, begin today by learning Magnetic Persuasion.

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As a customer service consultant I see things across many companies that most companies don’t see while working inside the company.

o Company Policy
One of the biggest problems is “company policy.” Many company policies are structured to protect the company from the customer instead of helping the customer get what he wants and has paid for. Your success will explode when your company, and your employees are structured with the customers’ wants and needs in mind.

As a customer how many times have you been talking with a sales person, or a customer service rep and hear “sorry we can’t do that, company policy.” A barrier was thrown up between what you think is only reasonable and the company. For me, I’m out of there.

Is the problem “company policy” or is it the employee? It can go either way. Often employees are trying hard to do the job the way they understand it, which can often be that they are there to protect the company from the customer trying to take advantage. That isn’t saying that employee is a “bad” employee. Only that he doesn’t understand what he should be doing. That’s where proper employee training comes in.

o Employee Responsibility
It is the job of the people in your company that are in direct contact with the customers
To discover and understand what the customer really wants, and
Deliver what the customer really wants

When your employee says “can’t…company policy” he has put a barrier up between the customer and you. The customer can no longer get what he wants, at least not from your company.

o Executive or Owner View
I know…I know…I’m hearing the roar from the executive peanut gallery…You’ve got to make a profit. Well, let me make something clear hear…you aren’t going to make a profit, or at least not as much profit if you aren’t satisfying the customer. So, what I’m saying is to teach your people how to listen to the customer. Change their perspective from “protecting the company from the stupid customer” to one of ALWAYS finding a way to help the customer get what he wants.

o Employee Listening to Customer…Communicating Needs to Company
Your employee should be the conduit through the maze of company policies. He knows what the customer needs, he knows what the company policies are, and his job is to take that customer through those company policies to get the customer where he wants to be. He isn’t a policeman stopping the customer at the gate. That hampers the customer. The first helps the customer.

o When Company Policy IS the Barrier
What happens if the company policy truly is a barrier? Then the employee should be the conduit to the company policy setters to help them understand how the company as a whole can better serve the customer by changing company policy.

I am in no way saying, “don’t make a profit.” But when company policy is set up to protect the company from the customer instead of helping the customer your profits will decline. A customer usually only wants what is reasonable.

The solution to company policy barrier: Make sure that your employees are empowered

o To solve the customer problem
o To communicate to the company how the company policy can improve the customer satisfaction instead of impede it.

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