Buyers are Liars
(Your Customer's Memory Means You
Have to Persuade Differently)
Kevin Hogan
Page 3
Avoid Gossip By a Mile
I advise people I work with in any capacity to never say
anything bad about the person they live with...to anyone. (In
fact this is a family rule as well.)
Why? The person you tell this information to has a very limited
landscape of your reality. Now you create it for them and the
relationship between you and the future gossiper will never be the
same. Rare events become a way of life. Occasional annoyances
become the norm of your life in the mind of the other person.
So what?
Each time they communicate with you, they then literally change
your memory about your life. Your history. Your relationships.
Your experience. Your experience is no longer what it was, but a
sum of the conversations you've had with others about your life.
That could be a good thing if you follow "the rule"...it could
be devastating if you break it.
So, the first thing you must realize is that your client
believes many things about themselves and other people which
simply aren't true... Again these could be constructive beliefs
or destructive beliefs.
The power of suggestion combined with tangential "evidence" is
enough to cause someone to believe something ridiculous or even
bizarre...something you wouldn't have thought possible.
The brain is completely malleable as far as memory is
concerned. I've written about this for a few years now. But
now...it is evident that it is even more changeable (and much
easier to instantly change) than I frankly, ever speculated.
The customer tells you anything. Any story. Realize that true
or false, they believe it and if it is FALSE, they typically
believe it with greater certainty than if it is real.
Realize that any "evidence" they show you to support their
story will make it much more vivid in their mind, even if the
picture/document has NOTHING to do with the memory.
You've had the experience many times where someone confirmed
something you said about something you "remembered" and you
said, "oh yes! I remember now....." and perhaps it did happen
and perhaps not. The external "cue" can make something seem to
be "true" but realize that person/photo/document means nothing.
Cue Their Memory
Therefore, you must cue a person's memory on your own. If you
are speaking with someone who is a new client, you must create
pictures of the past in a way that will not further solidify
false beliefs the client might have about you or your company.
Remember when you saw the Super Bowl a few years ago? There's
Justin Timberlake, Janet Jackson, (yes, wardrobe malfunction day)
Kid Rock, Snoop Dog all on stage, the camera comes in tight on
Janet and Justin and POOF there goes the "wardrobe malfunction."
Oh, sorry about that, I had to share with you a quick thought
experiment with you.
Snoop Dog wasn't at the Super Bowl, Kid Rock wasn't on stage
when the wardrobe malfunction happened and the camera didn't
zoom in, it actually panned. Amazing huh?
How should you prepare yourself? Continue and find out...
