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Hypnotic Language and The Persuasion Process

Written by: Mandy Bass

Article Overview: Mastering the art of influence involves simply guiding other people’s attention, and the most powerful tool – which you already own! — is your use of language. Your language is like a spotlight that directs WHAT others notice and – more importantly — HOW they notice.

Hypnotic Language and The Persuasion Process

Compare these two experiences, and see the difference…

One:
You are at a seminar in a hotel conference room. The speaker in the front of the room projects a picture on the wall, and wants you to notice something. He takes out a laser pointer and aims it at what he wants you to see. He doesn’t dim the lights or pull the window curtains — he simply aims a little hand-held laser pointer at the picture and starts talking. It takes you a moment to see the shimmering red dot…

Two:
You are at Radio City Music Hall, the largest indoor theater in the world. The place is magnificent, and you are watching a must-see musical. The hall is famously styled in deco fashion. The stage is magnificent. The costumes of every performer sparkle. The music is flawless. Suddenly one performer comes forward to do a solo number. The room darkens while ALL the spotlights of the entire auditorium aim at the lone performer. In fact, the spotlights shine so brightly on the ONE person that everything else in the room literally fades from view. Your attention is riveted…

Think about your sales presentation, and then ask yourself…

Would you rather point out your message with a twitchy little red laser-dot — that people have to squint to notice, or would you rather shine an 800-watt spotlight?

YOUR sales presentations, marketing letters – or ANY occasion in which you are influencing – should rivet other people’s attention to your message.
And the fastest way to create this experience is to master your use of language.

Not to bend other people to your will, or manipulate other people cruelly, but to gently use language in a way that FEELS natural and comfortable to the person you are speaking to.

Hypnotic Language

In just the past 30 years the effect of language on the human mind has been studied carefully, thanks to the pioneering work of a psychiatrist named Milton Erickson.

Dr. Erickson was a hypnotherapist who found — in 40 years of practice
– that using presuppositions in language could make for more rapid changes in his clients. Often he could create profound transformation in just one session!

He was constantly using presuppositions – things presumed to be true – to guide his clients to assume helpful things. In fact, his carefulness with language began even before his clients walked in the door. Sometimes he would literally write 20 pages of hypnotic suggestion, and then tighten all those pages of suggestion into THREE pages packed richly with subtle meaning and layers of presupposition.

He became so renowned that toward the end of his life he had visitors from around the world; Psychiatrists, therapists and linguists traveled from around the world to see — up close — how this eccentric wheelchair-bound Dr. Erickson made such dramatic changes in people using only brief conversation.

“Do you want to go into a light trance or a deep trance?” (Presupposing that they will go into a trance.)

“I wonder how surprised and delighted you will be when you find this problem has completely vanished.” (Presupposing that this problem will completely vanish.)

“Don’t open your eyes until your unconscious mind has integrated these changes at the deepest possible levels.” (Presupposing that the client’s unconscious mind will make these changes happen deeply before they open their eyes.)

Not surprisingly, some business-minded researchers analyzed Dr. Erickson’s words carefully, and found that his unique conversational style would make for a powerful enhancement to the art of selling.

Of course, the use of presuppositions by sales professionals was already well known by the 1970’s. Many sales experts wrote guidebook after guidebook on the art of assumptive selling, a don’t-take-no attitude that begins by presupposing that the client will buy. (Sometimes called the “assumptive close,” the “either/or” close or the “illusion of choice” close.) See if these sound familiar…
# “Do you want this in red or in white?”
# “Will you want the 10-year extended warranty on this, or just the standard 3-year warranty?”
# “Do you want the basic or the deluxe model?”

The above presuppositions are useful, certainly effective, but their ongoing use has contributed to the myth of the pushy salesperson, the kind who railroads people into a sale, whether they like it or not.

By unpacking some of the language patterns of Dr. Erickson (and others, beyond the scope of this brief report), there are other MORE artful ways of using presupposition in language, and THAT is what you will learn in the next article called
20 Magic Words that Sell

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