Have you ever heard stories about cults and mind control and found yourself asking, “How on earth can anyone be so stupid to fall for that?”
The truth is anyone, including you, can fall for it. It is not a question of one’s intelligence but instead it is a weak spot for any human being.
It is a fact that the techniques that famous cult leaders, like David Koresh, Jim Jones or the Om Shirikio cult, used are techniques that we can actually use in our own lives to be more successful in negotiating, persuading and selling. Of course in the case of some of these known cults, the use of these techniques were not for the good of most of its followers, but one can still learn from these methods and put it to more practical use.
The following are several methods that mind control cults have used and how you can turn them to your advantage:
Method #1: Profound Rapport
Building a relationship, an understanding, a deep bond, affinity and empathy for people will always give you success. Rapport is vital in persuasion. It’s as simple as that.
Method #2: Transference and Counter-Transference
The process by which a person is seen to have powers or superior traits is called Transference. For example, when a person goes to his shrink, transference causes the client to see his therapist as a person who can provide for his emotional needs, especially when therapies require the client to revisit his past. This also causes the client to be more emotionally attached to the shrink who can help him surface problems and more importantly, solve it. On the other hand, Counter-Transference is the process by which the shrink views the client as someone who requires his assistance because of a weakness the client has.
This method is very effective if used as a tool to show your target market that you hold the answers to their problems. The secret is to focus on the crisis of your client and the solution to that crisis instead of just bombarding them with a product you want to sell. This will create the transference.
Method #3: Cognitive Dissonance
Before you try this method, you must be sure that you have already established a deep rapport with your prospect because you will be talking more about your prospect’s problems and pains. They must be comfortable talking about it.
Cognitive Dissonance basically is when confusion or disagreement arises from having beliefs that are newly acquired that do not correspond to beliefs that were acquired earlier. In psychology, it produces an urge to distance oneself from the confusion and go to assurance and ease. In cults, the formation of adversaries in the minds of their followers is how this is used.
In developing your persuasive ability, you can draw out more pain from the problems of your prospects to empower your solution to it.
Method #4: Chronological Leading
If you go back to the events that happened in the cults of Jim Jones or David Koresh, for example, it can be really shocking. But these events did not just happen overnight, it took time and a step-by-step process that cults normally call “indoctrinated learning”, which means one can only advance to the next level if one has completed the last one, just like being initiated into a brotherhood. This is a vital part in the field of social influence. In short, start from the smaller deals until they are sold one by one to your prospects, until you can escalate your persuasion into the big deal or sale that you are really targeting to make.
Method #5: Reward and Punishment System
As it is with children, the reward and punishment system is also very powerful for adults. In cults, they shower a person with love as a reward and they reject a person as a punishment. But it can be very subtle too. One can be given exclusive attention, or even simple gestures such as a gentle touch or a smile as a reward. And so, taking no notice of a person, ignoring what he or she has to say is also a form of punishment.
In your process of persuasion, if you can show the divide of rewards and punishments, or advantages and disadvantages clearly to your prospect, you will be a few more steps closer to your goal.
Method #6: Seclusion
Seclusion is to keep a person far from anybody or anything that is familiar or can elicit familiarity. In reality, most of the biggest sales happen far from home and you can always use a secluded place that is relaxing and comfortable, but is far from the familiar world of your prospect. This keeps any dissonance at bay and gives your persuasion an easier footing.
With this final touch, and all the other methods above, you can find that you can have a very powerful way of persuading people to follow you in whatever road or sale that you wish to take them.
You can increase your powers of persuasion by learning more of these cult persuasion techniques.
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