How to Coach Yourself and Others Influencing, Inter Personal and Leadership Skills | Page 34

14. Change their life.
Most people are unhappy with their lives…or at least a some aspect of it. Many of them
want change. But they don’t know how to change, or if they do, they are too afraid or
lazy to do so.
How can what you are offering change your target’s life for the better? Your offer must
do more than change lives though, it has to change lives with the least amount of effort.
What many people are looking for is the Magic Pill. Something where they wake up and
their lives are magically different.
• As you know, your dog’s life affects your whole family. You, your spouse, especially
your kids are affected by the health of your beloved dog.
Your offer can probably change your readers’ lives for the better someway, somehow.
How?
15. Overcome Inertia.
The first rule here is to simplify the steps they need to take. Don’t go into too much
detail as to what they have to do. Narrow their choices or options down. It’s been proven
that people won’t take action if they have too many choices available to them.
It also helps to show them the consequences of not acting now (See Technique 5 “Show
Them the Consequences”).
Top persuaders often create urgency by telling their readers how scarce their offer has
become. You can use a time deadline, a limited quantity, a limited supply of a
freebie/bonus/premium, or a soon-to-arrive price increase to get your readers off their
butts.
Some examples:
• Get a 25% discount of Special-J Dog Food before November 10th.
• Receive a bottle of Special-J Puppy Shampoo with every case of Special-J Dog Food.
But please hurry, we only have 53 bottles left.
Ask, “How can I increase the urgency of my offer?” “How can I add a deadline?”
16. Add Presuppositions.
These are compelling ways to put thoughts into people’s heads without even verbalizing
the thought. Here’s a quick way to incorporate presuppositions into your writing: Use
questions. This requires a little more thought than Technique 6 (“Ask Questions”)
presented above. Just think of what you want your readers to believe about your offer or
product. Then put it into a question form.
Some examples:
• Do you know of any other dog food that makes your dog healthier than Special-J Dog
Food? (NOTE: Whether they answer yes or no, by answering the question they imply
that Special-J Dog Food will make their dog healthy.)
• How are you going to handle your dog’s newfound vitality and playfulness?
When writing, ask yourself how you are going to imply your claims.