Seven Hot Persuasion Tactics that Really Work
By Kevin Hogan, Author of Covert Hypnosis: An Operator's Manual

You asked for a few quick tips and tactics that you can take and put into action today. Here they are:

Tactic 1: Loss of Ownership Tactic

“Dr. Hogan, I understand you make X dollars.”
Now, which approach is going to work better?

  • "I would like to show you how to make 25% more next year."

  • "I’m worried about your income dropping 25%...."

If you said ‘B’ you were right. We are much more afraid of losing what we already possess than getting anything of similar value.


Tactic 2: Disconfirmation Doesn’t Cut It Tactic

  • Once people have a belief they filter out ALL other information.

  • They do NOT look for information to disconfirm their beliefs.

No matter how wrong someone is about something…no matter how obviously they are shown to be incorrect, they will continue to look for information to support their original belief. Therefore don’t try and point out what won’t fit through their filter.
So what DO you do? Instead, let them experience alternatives so they can disconfirm their own beliefs.

Tactic 3: The Mistake of Asking The Wrong Question

People don’t know why they buy…

…so don’t ask…
  • Covertly deal with the unconscious while you persuade the conscious mind.

Unless you have a well planned strategy, don’t ask why they buy. The simply don’t know.

Tactic 4: Note Taking Tactic

  • To get people to stick to their decisions, get them to write it down.

  • Works far better than asking for people’s decision and having them stick with it.

Getting people to write anything down creates involvement. If they were even to write down the possibility of doing business with you contrasted with not, they STILL have written down the possibility of doing business with you! THAT increases sales.


Tactic 5: People Can’t See the Future So Get Them to Commit to It, Not Pay For It.

  • They can see the car.

  • They can see food.

  • They can see today….

  • So you often must covertly move the commitment into the future to hear “yes” today.

The future is impossible to imagine for most people. Therefore get them to set the date WAAAYYY out there. But get the agreement today. Payment can happen later. Get the agreement now for the later date project. People don’t care if they agree, they are only uncomfortable with the money.


Tactic 6: Law of Inconsistency

  • After making perceived progress in some way, a person becomes more likely to do contrary behaviors.

The person who just lost 10 pounds is quite likely to celebrate with a milk shake (or something similar).
The person who makes a donation is likely to splurge on themselves.

The person opening their Retirement Account is more likely to buy the New Car.

Tactic 7: The Single Differentiation Tactic!

  • Focus a great deal of attention on one benefit.

    (Increases word of mouth…easier to spread fast!)

Makes it easy to differentiate you from the competition.


Now that you have a knowledge base down including the hidden biases experienced with human beings; and you've gotten a feel for the powerful tactics of covert persuasion, it's time to move on to some strategies. That will be coming up next time...

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