How to Coach Yourself and Others How to Influence, Persuade and Motivate | Page 331

required to persuade a mind. One way to keep the mind harnessed is to
give your audience enough time to process what you are telling them. You
can tell by the look in their eyes if you have lost them. I'm sure you have
taken seminars or college classes where you have been completely lost.
When the professor asks questions, you don't raise your hand because you
have no idea what is going on. Give your listeners enough time to absorb
what you're saying, but obviously not so long that they become totally
bored and detached.
Some more ideas on ways to help people choose to pay attention:
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Use questions
Present new and innovative ideas
Use quotes
Make startling statements
Provide relevant examples
Change mediums
Speak in the first person
Make them feel important
Give them shortcuts or tips
Keep your body moving
Avoid excessive detail
Make sure your transitions flow

You can see that these techniques are used to grab back the attention of
your listeners when their minds have started wandering. Employed
properly they will bring your audience's attention back to you.
Thousands of sales are lost each day simply because the salesperson talks
too much. Salespeople tend to oversell by making a laundry list of reasons
why people should buy their product. This is not what people want to
hear. As a result, they will always find one reason or another not to buy.
The more benefits you list, the greater the chances that your prospect will
find a reason not to buy. Overselling will also kill the emotions of the
prospect.
Movement is another common technique for grabbing attention. It causes
us to be alert. Stores utilizing movement-oriented end-caps (displays at
the end of the aisle) always have more shoppers around than those using
end-caps without movement. This strategy can be used to your advantage
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