Hypnotic Persuasion or Just Good Salesmanship?

The marketing, advertising, and sales industry uses a secret weapon that is used almost in complete stealth in consumer markets. It has for years been one of the most effective tools on consumer buying decisions, more so than almost any other single element in the marketing, advertising, and sales industry. It called ‘hypnotic language patterns.’ It’s among the most powerful of persuasion techniques in advertising and direct sales; and, it is used everyday by some of the most successful people in advertising, business, industry, and politics.

Hypnotic language patterns are persuasion techniques and extremely controversial. The most adverse opposition against the use of hypnotic language patterns is that they are specifically designed and developed to bypass conscious resistance of those they are used on. This is because the unconscious mind is ultimately what makes decisions for people, not their conscious mind. The conscious mind has the ability to reason, intellectualize, and calculate, but it is directed by the undercurrents of the deeper you – your sub-consciousness. In an ideal situation by the user, these types of persuasion techniques go completely unnoticed by the individual or individuals they are used on.

One of the best and most common examples that we have all experienced is that of sticking our head into a shop determined not to buy anything and yet we did. You know what I ‘m talking about. When we walked into the shop we were greeted by a sales clerk (who no doubt worked on commission), to whom we quickly said, ‘I am not buying anything today. I’m JUST looking.”  We all have. Admit it. Yet, by the time we walked out the front door of that shop that we had just stopped in to ‘look around,” we have a bag full of stuff that we purchased. How did that happen?

In simple terms, your unconscious mind was in play. The sales clerk had used hypnotic language patterns to win you over to their way of thinking. Ultimately, what they did was to communicate to your subconscious where your ‘buyer resistance’ is most deeply rooted, and the result was that you came over to their side at a subconscious level. Their persuasion for you to buy was easy having broken down the ‘buyer resistance mechanism’ in your subconscious mind.

The use of ‘hypnotic language patterns’ is not necessarily ‘hypnotic trance’ under normal circumstances. It is rather the science of linguistics and one’s ability to command the written and spoken language arts combined with specific aspects of the way you say it, when you say it, how you say it, and your ability to evoke thought processes with your words that overcome defense mechanisms or negative thinking. Can this ability be construed as manipulative? Yes. Is it a common practice in both main stream media marketing and online marketing? Yes. Have you ever had it used on you? Yes, that is, if you have every purchased something that you had not intended on purchasing where an experienced or professional sales associate has been active in the process.

Ever hear the term, “they got inside my head?” In a sense, this is what happens when the unconscious mind is affected by the use of this technique. Your outward defenses – those found on the surface of your reasoning and intellect are bypassed, and sort of ambushed. On the surface it may even appear that you are trying to get someone to buy what you’re selling, or that you are just trying to get your point across in an effort to win a debate or prevail in a discussion, but when you use this sort of technique, it is almost always effective, if not immediately, eventually. So how DID that shop clerk get you to buy that $200 dress when you told her right up front when you walked into that store that you were only their to look?” Well, I can’t answer that for you, but I can provide you some basic ways that this is done.

Here are some ways conversational hypnotists utilize suggestive thinking to redirect subconscious thought processes. One thing you will notice is that all of these processes appeal to and focus on affecting your senses (taste, touch, sound, smell, and sight), base desires, and various emotions or emotional triggers:

• Getting a prospect to imagine how good they would feel after receiving the benefits of your product or how other people would view them in a positive way for using it.
• Have an individual who is obese see themselves thin, healthy, athletic, and what it would feel like to know others are looking at them with admiration or desire.
• Helping your sales team to envision the reward they will get when they implement the new processes you are asking them to and how it will make them feel.
• Taking someone that is closed minded or argumentative and getting them to experience the feeling associated with the benefits of thinking more agreeably with you.
• Getting the boys on the little league baseball team that you coach to imagine the feeling and the happiness of waking up the morning after they win the State Championship in order to elevate their enthusiasm about an up and coming game that is important for them to win.
• Have an online prospect for your network marketing company imagine the feeling of being successful in following your recruitment and training program, and earning $20,000 per month, and how it would change their life.

 The imagination is a powerful part of our brain, and with the proper training, you can learn to use words to evoke someone’s imagination to see what is not yet manifested in their lives in order to motivate them to pursue the steps that will allow it to take place. In a sense, this sort of technique is nothing more than elevating one’s faith and inspiring their hope based on whatever their core needs or desires are.

When you can inspire people and increase their hope for something that will be beneficial to them, you build their faith, and ultimately allow them to enter into a greater sense of security in what you desire for them to do. You in essence cause their imagination to come alive, and see their potential future in the most ideal of circumstances. You elevate their faith – faith being, “the conviction of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not yet seen.”

The same is true in marketing and sales. You must structure your questions to engage a person’s imagination at a subconscious level. You might structure a question like this: “What would it be like for you and your family if you [then fill in the thing you want them to do that you feel would best benefit them as a result?] An example might be, “What would it be like for you and your family if you could apply yourself over the next six months in this business and begin to generate an additional $10,000 a month in residual income as a result of your efforts?”

A warning to those of you who are reading this who are seeking out selfish gain from others: People are not stupid. If you misuse techniques that undermine an individual’s free will, it will come back to haunt you. There are many unethical practices used in marketing that are manipulative and feed off of a buyer’s ignorance where the power of subliminal persuasion can be used successfully almost one hundred percent of the time. I do not endorse such practices in any form, and I encourage those I coach in personal life and social development skills not to employ such practices. Only you can decide for yourself if how you use hypnotic language patterns is ethical. If you have even the slightest thought or hesitancy in using them where you feel that it could ever be considered a diabolical form of manipulation by the individual you used them on, I do not suggest that you use them under any circumstances.

On a positive note, there is an ancient Scripture – the words of King Solomon – that says, “Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.” I know from personal experience that when you speak life, hope, and blessings over others, two things most often happen. You make a positive impact on the life of the individual that you speak those things to; and, they are typically more likely to be easier to communicate with and will be more able to relate to you in a more personal way. If you want to have a positive impact on people, speak these kinds of words. Almost in all instances, regardless of your differences, they will come around to your way of thinking if you are willing to simply have a positive impact in their life on a personal level.