Staying Alert

How do you stay alert and prevent manipulators from attacking you? Levine describes in his book, The Power of Persuasion: How We're Bought and Sold his experience working as a car salesmen, and gives the following statement made by one of his old fellow colleagues, "All you need to know in this business is this: All customers are liars. And all salesmen are crooks".

Levine mentions that not all salesmen are out to con you. He says that we need to 'find a balance between openness and skepticism, to approach the world as a critical thinker but without always assuming the worst'.

There are 2 levels of awareness developed by mindfulness practitioners:

1. Practice attending directly to the details at hand
2. Learning to decide what information more warrants mindfulness

Ellen Langer quotes: 'The most important function task for any CEO, and for the rest of us is choosing what to be mindful about,' and that 'Rather than spending all day inspecting every expense account or widget in the factory, the mindfully mindful executive chooses where to pay attention'.

Levine tells us that we must 1) recognize which types of exploitation are most dangerous, and 2) to distinguish between persuasion and exploitation.

Levine also mentions that all persuasions are manipulative, but we must identify which is to exploit and which is to educate. Therefore, we must have in mind which persuasive message to resist, which to ignore, and which to accept.


Be aware of your situation

Train yourself to monitor how situations effect you. Keep track of how you react in different situations through out the day. By doing this you will discover at which places and times you are most vulnerable and is susceptible to impulse purchasing. You should be careful of situations that have you react, as Levine says, automatically and mindlessly; and especially in those situations which the 'intensity of your reaction exceeds the seeming importance of the situation'.


Ethical and Unethical Persuasion

The next time you are faced with an advertisement, or a friend trying to convince you of something, take note whether their agenda is to ethically persuade you or not. One way to identify this is whether they are trying to ask you to buy something, or perform an unethical, immoral, or even illegal act. Those that do not have a deceptive agenda will be trying to persuade you for your own best interest. They do not gain anything from you in any manner. And you after having logically analyzed the situation, are well aware of what you are getting yourself into, know what is expected of you; and what you are committed to do.

As Bronson Alcott describes a 'true teacher', or someone that has your best interest at heart, 'defends his pupils against his own personal influence'.

I would like to end this chapter by quoting directly from The Power of Persuasion: How We're Bought and Sold, 'The fact is that persuasion and psychology are essential human activities. They define our social being, never more so that today'. 'It's up to each of us to use the psychology wisely and ethically, to see that it illuminates rather than electrocutes'.

Beware of those who tell you what you need

In today's intense competitiveness, companies are no longer just making products and services to satisfy your needs. It has come to the point that most companies are telling you what you need, and are developing products to cater to that need that they have created for you.

It has now as Robert Levine puts it, 'the salesperson's task to convince you that you need his or her product'.

As salesman B. Earl Puckett explains, "It is our job to make women unhappy with what they have".

So be warned. Levine quoted in The Power of Persuasion: How We're Bought and Sold, 'be careful when the same people who want to fill your expectations are also in the business creating them'. And that, 'Perception is more important than reality'.

Michael Schudson says to watch out for people who says, "Buy me and you will overcome the anxieties I have just reminded you of".

Protect yourself against the power of persuasion

How to we defend against persuasion tactics? Firstly we must identify and understand what type of persuasion strategies these people are using; and we must also not deny the fact that we are vulnerable to influences. I know, it is easier said than done... true. Let's go through some ways to build up our defenses against attacks by deceitful manipulators.

Dr Levine has identified some specific techniques on how to combat manipulation:

Stinging; as in the kind of feeling you would get after being stunk by a bee. Yes - pain, but not physical pain. Levine describes this technique as 'rubbing it in their faces' after they have been exploited by manipulation. Those manipulated are, in Levine's words, 'forced to acknowledge their own personal susceptibility'. Tests have shown that after being told they were duped, subjects became more aware, and are able to recognize manipulativeness in the experimental advertisements shown to them.

The Stinging technique has 2 advantages:

1. It motivates us to take preventive measures after being forced to see our illusion of vulnerability
2. Stinging creates an inoculation effect in us

The Inoculation Method. The Inoculation technique states that if we expose people to weak versions of a persuasive message, they will be less vulnerable, and more resistant to stronger persuasive messages later.

Levine mentioned that people from the West, like the United States, and Europe are less susceptible to persuasive messages because of their innate tendency and ability to be critical to persuasion techniques. A reason for this is in the West, people are more individualistic than their Eastern counterparts.

Whereas in the East like those from Japan and China, people tend to scrutinize less and are more open to collaboration, even if they are confronted by an opposing sales message. Because of this characteristics, those from the East are more likely to be influenced by persuasive messages. Levine mentioned, for this reason they (those from the East) 'have little opportunity to build up their antibodies for persuasive messages'. Levine further quoted, 'without a history of inoculation, they're susceptible to even small doses'.


Scripts. Scripts, as it's name implies, is the usage of rehearse scripts to avoid falling into the persuasion trap. This technique is simple to adopt if you train your subconscious to respond a certain way. For example, the practice of saying 'No' whenever you are approached by a salesman to buy something. Or giving an excuse to leave in the middle of a sales pitch. It can be done using third party as well, such as 'my wife will not approve', or 'my wife will beat the s*#t out of me if she finds out' in order to break out of the influencing process and escape with all your money in your pockets intact.


Practice Critical Thinking. Basically, think with your head and not with your heart or emotions. Too get out of that sales message trance you just have to think logically. Just like a physicist who collects data, processes them and creates a hypothesis. Here's an easy way remember how to perform this technique. Known as the PROACT method, created by J. Hammond, R. Keeney, and H. Raiffa. PROACT is the acronym for: Problem, Objectives, Alternatives, Consequences, and Trade-offs.

Basically what you need to do is:

• Define the exact problem
• Think through where you are going with this decision
• Think of alternate course of actions you can take, and also whether you would have made the decision you made without having choices
• Evaluate the consequences of the decision who'd make
• What are the trade-offs of your actions?

2 additional steps is to:

• Ask, how will your decision effect you in the future, and
• to think of future consequences after you've made the decision

Take yourself out of the context - Reframe your problems

Look at the situation in a third party perspective. Look at yourself. Levine mentions that those who are vulnerable to manipulations are those in unfamiliar situations, and/or have no clear measure of value.

As humans we tend to justify uncertainty. When we are uncertain, we are more vulnerable and prone to manipulative suggestions. Levine further advices in his book, The Power of Persuasion: How We're Bought and Sold, 'learn to recognize when people try to trap you with faulty comparisons'.

How do you do this?

Anwswer: look at the situation in different perspective, and see how different perspective effects your decision


Ask yourself discomforting questions

Do not easily react to answer a question quickly, take the time to be a contrarian or a skeptic to analyze the flip side.

Levine tells us to postpone the situation when making important decisions, and

• Search for conflicting information. Be open minded and tackle the situation in all directions
• Find a person to play devil's advocate. Ask someone to tell you why you shouldn't make that decision
• When seeking advice from others, be careful not to lead them on. Seek advice from honest and neutral opinionated people. Not from those who will agree to everything you say

Problems with following the majority

A common notion is to agree with the majority's decision. Too often we fall prey to this type of peer pressure, or conformity pressures described as 'Groupthink' by psychologist, Irving Janis.
Janis, mentions that we go through a state of self-censorship where we are hesitant to challenge the majority because of the fear of being ridicule or to waste the group's time.

Groupthink often leads people to follow the decisions of the group leader, and if the leader's opinions are deceitful, or deceptive, those in the group are likely to fall prey to such manipulations because of their heighten illusion of vulnerability.

Therefore, Levine advices to:

1. Speak your mind in such situations
2. Choose a leader who accepts different opinions and is open to criticism
3. Appoint someone as the role of devil's advocate
4. Have a cooling off period after a decision has been reached and discuss the decision made at another time
   

From Overt Compliance to Private Acceptance

How do you persuade someone permanently? To do so requires you to slowly inject the person with persuasive tactics, on a long and incremental basis. Dr Levine pointed out 8 general principles people have used in order to permanently 'brainwashed' their subjects:

• Firstly is the strategy of orchestrating and influencing by being in the background, or being invisible. Levine describes this in his book The Power of Persuasion: How We're Bought and Sold on how an umpire in a baseball game is able to control the game without even being noticed. This is because the fans are so focused on the players themselves, and the performance of the players that no one takes notice that it is actually the umpire who really determines to an extent the outcome of the game.

• The second point to note is that to be able to permanently influence someone, less force is better than more force. In others words, 'don't give someone more food than they can chew'. To influence you must have the slow and steady approach of feeding your subjects small bits of information at a time.

• The third strategy is giving your subjects the 'Illusion of Choice'. After exercising the first two techniques you must offer your subject the freedom to choose. If all the 3 techniques are synchronized correctly, your subject may decide on his or her freewill to stay with you. In The Power of Persuasion: How We're Bought and Sold, Levine describes how the cult Moonies are able to get people to stay as members, by offering pre-converts $1000 to leave if they wanted too, or stay with the Moonie community as faithful, abiding members.

• The fourth rule is to reward less. This point shows that too much of anything is not good for you. As humans, after we have achieved something we tend to crawl back to our usual ways because of the fact that we have conquered or accomplished whatever the challenge was. The motivation to strive and work hard is no longer there. Say for example, you worked hard because you were promised a promotion. What happens after you've been given the promotion? You may continue to work hard for the next couple of months (rule of reciprocity), then will eventually slow down to your usual working pace, until you are informed of your next target to meet, and the reward(s) accompanied with achieving the new target.

• The Fifth strategy is the use guilt and shame, or our conscience as persuasion tools. As emotional beings we are greatly affected by the feeling of shame and humiliation. Modern society are so self conscious, and worry about how others see them that they often must go for psychological assistance, which may last for several years. And this sense of self awareness starts when we start school all the way to our working lives as adults. In school, children are called names such as 'fatso' that may stay with them for a very long time. What about a husband who accidentally kills his wife in the midst of a violent argument? He will regret his actions till the day his dies, and may even commit suicide if the feeling of guilt is strong enough. Not only that, he may be subjected to hostility by family members and friends.

• Sixth strategy is self-justification brought up by the feeling of cognitive dissonance. We all are guilty of always trying to justify our actions. For example, you are overweight and the doctor says you need to exercise, because you are susceptible to diabetes and heart disease. You being the typical couch potato after work and during the weekends will probably tell yourself that you are too busy too exercise, or will exercise once a major project is completed. You will most probably blame it on your job because the job stress makes you eat more. How effective the self-justification will be depends on how much the person believes it to be true.

• The seventh strategy is about beliefs, and how your beliefs control your actions and behavior. We all have experienced this when we buy a particular brand over another because we believe in its' quality over the latter. You have also seen people with extraordinary mind powers bending hard objects, or the abilities to withstand pain, like magicians David Blaine and Chris Angel. All these comes from the inner belief. The same goes for those who think positively who are rewarded through law of attraction.

• Finally, the eighth strategy is that failure may propel you to more success. This strategy can be used on our human egos. No one like to lose in anything competitive. And because of the feeling of disappointment, and the uneasiness we will try harder to show that we are better. People often go all out just to prove that they are right. Look at the past explorers, even political figures. Or soldiers of war who will fight for their countries no matter what, even if they know (or justified to themselves) that what they are fighting for may not be right. Levine has pointed out many examples of many cult members who became more dedicated to their cult's mission even in the midst of uncertainties in their cults ritual or practices. These members will convince each other and justify the outcome; just like the members of Jonestown (People's Temple), who was carefully manipulated to enthusiastically take their own lives by drinking poison. The suicide was described by cult leader Jim Jones as 'a revolutionary act'.
  

A survivor of the cult run by Jim Jones, Deborah Layton describes how this type of pathological occurrence can happen in everyday relationship within a family:

'A women thinks a guy is good-looking, he's so nice, you go out on a few dates, he buys you a few presents. Then, one time, he hits you. But then he apologizes. You think, he's usually so good to me, and he bought me that present. Then maybe you have a child together. Then he hits you and the child. It's often so far down the road that you realize, "Oh my God. There's something definitely wrong here." But by that time you're in so many ways entrapped.'

California state senator, Jackie Specier made the following statement after observing the mass suicide in Jonestown: "No one should ever be so arrogant as to think it can't happen to them. We're all susceptible on one level or another."

The psychological manipulation techniques used by cult members are no different than the well-intended ones used by our friends, teachers and family members. Psychologist Margaret Singer quoted the following after decades of observations done on cult groups: "that cultic groups were not using mysterious, esoteric methods, but had simply refined the folk art of human manipulation and influence".

As a result we will always justify our commitments, and it becomes self-perpetuating. As quoted from Levine: 'If I did it, I must believe it. And if I believe it, I'm more likely to do it again, and more so.'

'It's really rather simple: move gradually, apply the least necessary force, remain invisible, and create the illusion of choice. The mind of the subject will take over from there. As the sign over the rostrum in Jonestown warned, "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it".'

When are we susceptible to persuasion tactics?

Be aware of the following situations, or you may just be unknowingly persuaded to open up your wallet.

1. The first situation is what we consider the consequence of our actions unimportant. An example explained by Levine, is when you are about to check out and the salesman asks you whether you wanted the 3 or 5 years warranty, 'forgetting' to mention that you had an option of not buying the extended warranty.

2. The second situation is when were are forced to act quickly, because the need for urgency reduces our ability to rationalize. For example, limited time offers, or limited quantity/edition items. Urgency invokes the rule of scarcity. And the more limited the supply, the more desperate we are to get our hands on it.

3. The third situation is when we are bombarded with too much information. When we are overloaded with information, we tend to find shortcuts to make our decisions. This is why most reading materials and articles are not fully read. People will usually read the headlines and sub headlines to determine the full story.

4. The fourth situation is when the sales person has the influential traits of honesty, integrity and likability. We tend to buy from someone whom we believe is honest.

5. The fifth situation is a very common occurrence of following the Joneses or, acting like lemmings. We need proof that whatever we intend to buy is accepted by the majority, or as having social proof.

6. The sixth situation is when we are in a state of confusion, and therefore tend to fall prey to sales predators. In this state we again try to find shortcuts to make our decisions, and/or check if others are making the same decisions that we're about to make.

Approaching Customers

How do you approach a customer? The biggest mistake is to ask, 'May I help you?' Because the customer will most often than not answer back, 'NO', or 'I am just looking'.

So a more effective way of approaching a customer is to say: "Hi, my name is John Doe, and you are?". This is to avoid having the customer answering 'no'. For example, instead of saying, 'are you looking for an iPod?', instead say: 'Would you like an iPod Nano, or iPod Shuffle?'. Remember to create the reciprocity obligation on the customer. Show that you are spending much valuable time with him or her. Explain to the customer the features and benefits (more of the benefits) patiently. The idea is to keep the customer with you as long as possible, the longer the customer is there listening to you the more likely is it for him or her to make a purchase. If the customer is willing to stay longer also shows that the customer has the potential to purchase.

Levine showed the steps taken by an auto dealer named Michael Gasio in order to make the sale.

Firstly get the customer into the door by different techniques such as the 'Throwing the Lowball' technique where you convince the customer to come down to see you because you offered a price lower than any competitor (a 'highball' technique is the opposite when you offer something with a higher value for an exchange of a lower value item, such as a trade-in deal).

Another technique pointed out is the 'Bait and Switch' technique where you quote a low price for the same item as a competitor and when the customer comes to see you, he will realize that something important is missing from the item. This is when you find the customer an item with that feature and with that of course comes with a higher price tag. The 'Lowball' and 'Bait and Switch' technique as Gasio mentions is useful to have commitment from those customers who are supposedly 'just looking', or 'comparing prices'.

The first strategy is to get the customer to meet with you, even though you have over promised and can't deliver what you proposed. What most large sales dealership companies do is that when you asked the salesman who offered you that very attractive offer, the salesman will excuse himself and asked a colleague to handle you where the colleague will than inform you of the mistake the original salesman have made. The new sales person will than proceed with his sales pitch. If the sale is closed, the participating salesman will share the commission.

At the end of it all you must make sure that you are the one who is still in control if you are the sales person. Don't let the customer ask you for the cheapest price you can give, instead ask the customer how much he or she is willing to pay for the item after hearing all the features and benefits. Ask the customer to give an offer. Always ask, how can you get him to purchase the product today.

There are 2 methods that Levine mentioned called the 'A Door In The Face' and 'That's Not All' strategy to attract customers to commit.

To put it simply, 'A door in the face' technique is when when you shock the customers at the high price of the offer, then come in for the kill with your intended price.

In the 'That's not all' technique, instead of having the customer just reject your first item totally, you reduce the price of the same item or get addition bonus or gifts. This technique is widely used by many retail stores and companies selling timeshare. The 'that's not all' technique is also often seen on infomercials when they keep additional items to the package to make it so attractive that you can't resist not buying it.

Remember, we are all ingrained with the obedient trade. You can get anyone to buy from you if you make small, escalating advances one step at a time.

Taking it slowly

When trying to sell big ticket items, sell them slowly and incrementally from lower cost to higher cost. Build the momentum and fall your tree with one chop and the time.

In The Power of Persuasion: How We're Bought and Sold, Levine delivers an excellent scenario of the sales process by Peter Lowe International.

Briefly what happened is that after being entice to take action to buy a $255 seminar ticket at the limited of price of $49, of which Levine was later informed that the $49 ticket deal has expired, bought a $59 ticket and at the same time was persuaded to buy a useful Yearbook at half price; and eventually paid $84 for the ticket with fees and taxes included. This was only the first round of the sparring session with Peter Lowe International

During the seminar there was as usual a bunch of speakers attacking with every sales tactic to get participants to buy their products; using emotional tools such as an inspiring video to mentally psych up the audience.

One technique I believe is so affective is when the speaker tells the audience that they may leave the room if they are not interest, but invokes so much peer pressure that every participant stays in their sits. How this technique works is that you tell the participants that you will be promoting your product and informed that it is not a must to buy, but it is vital to have. Of course there will be certain people who will not be interested to hear a word more about the product would begin to leave the seminar room because the speaker has already mentioned that anyone not interest may leave. But this is what happens; the speaker will wait a few seconds for those who are not interest to leave their sits, or attempt to leave their sits. The silence not only put those uninterested participants in a spot because the whole room may be staring at them, but sometimes with the additional help of the speaker will portray the message that those who stood up to leave are not interested to, for example to be rich, to take charge of their lives, etc etc etc... you get what i mean. I have personally experienced such a subtle but forceful technique to get people to listen to your sales pitch from many top motivational speakers around the world.

Back to our Peter Lowe International seminar. A month later, Levine received a letter by PLI that says he is one of the few selected to attend a new personalized program. When Levine calls up to find out more, the sales consultant began to 'qualify' Levine with what is known as the 'four walls' cornering technique designed to ultimately make you say 'yes' and be obligated to attend the program. The sales consultant will make sure Levine is committed and believe that he is qualified for the program; and even asks to answers few questions then to call back later with the answers; telling Levine that based on the answers PLI will decide whether Levine has the right qualities, attitude, and aptitude to attend this exclusive program.

This is how professional sales people and marketing companies coerced you to buy their products and services.