A Potent Tool to Get People to Do or Say What You Want
Issue #2140
- WEALTHY: A good idea for a would-be investor… or a waste of money? (Michael Masterson)
- HEALTHY: Can this herb help you live longer? (Dr. Ray Sahelian)
- WISE: Ludwig Wittgenstein on persuasion
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- A powerful persuasion technique you can master in minutes (Larry Fredericks)
- 4 guarantees that will convince your customers to buy (Katie Yeakle)
- It’s Fun to Know… about fishy beauty treatments
- Add "oligopoly" to your vocabulary
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Dear Michael Masterson: "Would it be worthwhile to take a real estate course?"
ETR reader Jeff Soufal wrote me recently with a question you may be considering.
Jeff has decided that he wants to become a real estate investor in order to meet his income goals. "I have been reading Early to Rise long enough to know that you offer a number of very attractive home-study programs in real estate investing (e.g., Justin Ford’s Main Street Millionaire program,") writes Jeff. "But I have a concern that gives me pause."
It turns out that Jeff has no experience with real estate (he hasn’t purchased even one property), and, in fact, knows very little about the industry. What he really wants to know is whether it would be worthwhile to take an adult-education course in real estate before buying a home-study program about real estate investing. "I’m considering, for example, the course one would take to prepare for the real estate salesperson’s licensing exam. Is this a good idea?" Jeff asks. "Or would it really be just a waste of time and money?"
Here’s my advice…
Dear Jeff,
It’s a bit of a crapshoot.
Adult-education courses are as good as the teacher. Some are taught by amateurs and academics. Some are taught by experienced entrepreneurs. Even a good course will merely teach you about the mechanics of real estate investing, not the business skills you need to be a successful investor and/or developer.
Real estate licensing courses have a similar problem. They teach you how to follow the law as a broker or sales agent, period. They don’t teach you the investing and/or business side of things.
Most real estate agents aren’t expert investors; they’re salespeople. (It’s the same with stockbrokers. Most aren’t qualified analysts or money managers; they’re salespeople too.)
Getting a real estate license can be useful in your new career as a real estate investor. You can get direct access to the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) and not have to depend on other brokers. You can also save on buyers’ commissions when buying listed properties (since you’ll be your own buying agent) and on sellers’ commissions when selling your properties through the MLS (since you’ll be your own listing agent). And if you eventually open your own brokerage, you can use it as an additional way to get leads for motivated sellers.
Having said all that, I would recommend that you take Justin Ford’s Main Street Millionaire real estate investment program right away, because it is specifically designed to get you into the real estate business as fast as possible. Some very good deals will be popping up all around during the next six months to a year. You want to be positioned to take advantage of them.
Putting off taking Justin’s program is like putting off Harvard Law School because you want to take some night classes in law first. It’s probably not a good idea.
- Michael Masterson
[Ed. Note: This fall, Michael Masterson and a group of the world's leading Internet marketing experts will be revealing proven techniques for shooting your online sales through the roof, creating over a dozen sources of new revenue, and tripling or even quadrupling your profits within the next 9 to 12 months. Sign up now for ETR's fast-approaching 2007 Info-Marketing Bootcamp - Making a Fast Fortune on the "Other Side" of the Internet.]
Have a question for Michael? Write to him at AskMichael@ETRfeedback.com.]
Reader Feedback: "Your book Automatic Wealth for Grads changed my life."
"I owe you a huge thank you, Michael. I spent seven years in college, finally graduating in June. I got your book Automatic Wealth for Grads,] and it changed my life. I read it seven times, back to back, and have recommended it to countless friends.
"I just got my first out-of-college job, which came from utilizing your research and job vigilance techniques. My first job is paying 50K starting, and I’m heading into the world without any consumer debt or student loans. (Worked two jobs to pay for college.) The position comes with amazing benefits, and the growth potential is vast. I’ve already created a budget, segmenting 15 percent of my income for asset-building investments.
"I’ve begun my investment career, examining conservative indexes, real estate, and launching my online business next year. First thing I did when I got the job is drive to my financial planner. We maxed out my yearly Roth IRA contribution and talked about my portfolio. I’ve taken everything you’ve written to heart, and it’s working.
"Thank you for your fatherly, straight, and honest insights. You’re a life coach who has gotten me to look beyond and get past uncountable usual pitfalls. I wish I could shake your hand."
CP
Santa Maria, CA
"At the end of reasons comes persuasion."
Ludwig Wittgenstein
A Potent Tool to Get People to Do or Say What You Want
Imagine that you’re on a lifeboat – and it’s clear that someone has to jump out of the boat or it will sink and everyone will die. Would you volunteer to do it? It’s not hard to imagine that you would.
The reason it’s so easy is because you aren’t actually in that situation, so you don’t perceive any real risk. I’m not saying you wouldn’t volunteer to jump out of the boat to save the lives of the rest of the passengers – but you must admit that it’s much easier to make this kind of commitment when you don’t really have to face the consequences.
Understanding this can be a very powerful tool when you want to persuade someone to take a certain action.
Let’s say you have the opportunity to buy a million-dollar piece of property at 70 percent of its appraised value… if you can plunk down $700,000 within 24 hours. There’s only one problem: You can come up with only half the amount in such a short time. So you need to get someone to go in on the deal with you.
You make a list of everyone you know who might have that kind of money. Question is: How do you convince one of them to invest with you?
If you come right out and ask if they will invest $350,000 in a real estate deal that needs to close in 24 hours, you’ll probably encounter a great deal of resistance. Instead, start by asking your potential investor how she’d handle a hypothetical situation. Something like this: "As an experienced investor, if you came across a piece of real estate that was being offered at 30 percent below market value, would you think it’d be a good idea to snap it up if you could?"
The chances are extremely high that the investor will tell you she most definitely would. And the primary reason she would do so is because it really would be a good business deal. Of course, the reason she was so quick to say yes is because the question was hypothetical. But it allowed her to answer based purely on the business logic.
Once you’ve gotten the investor to agree that she would snap up such a property, tell her that the reason you asked is because you know of one, but you don’t have enough available cash to buy it before someone else does.
Obviously, there’d be a lot more to this story before a check actually changed hands and a deal was made. But this investor would almost certainly proceed with the deal.
It may seem a little sneaky to use a hypothetical question to gain a commitment from someone. But remember that you’re only asking them to agree to something that makes sense to them, something they would want to commit to even if it had nothing to do with helping you out. That is, in fact, why this persuasion technique is so effective.
This method of persuasion is equally useful in the workplace.
Let’s say you want to convince a colleague to stay late to work on an important presentation that will be given to a client tomorrow. If you just ask him, "Hey, can you stay after work for a few hours to work on a project with me?" The answer might very well be no.
Instead, pose this hypothetical question: "If you had a chance to retain an important client for the company, but it would require working late, would you stay a few hours to help get the job done?" In this case, he’s likely going to say that he’d stay. Having him commit to the hypothetical situation moves you a lot closer to getting the answer you need.
In order to use the hypothetical situation technique to persuade someone to do what you want them to do, take the following steps:
- Describe a situation that is essentially similar to the one that really exists.
- Ask the person what he would do in that situation.
- Once you’ve gotten the answer you want, reveal that the reason you asked is because the situation actually exists. Then describe the specifics.
Of course, just because someone agrees to act a certain way in a hypothetical situation doesn’t mean they’ll make the same commitment to the real one. Nevertheless, this technique gives you a strong foothold toward getting that commitment, and can be one of the most powerful strategies you can use to persuade someone to see or do things your way.
[Ed. Note: Larry Fredericks is an entrepreneur with a history of successful business dealings in retail, direct mail, the Internet, and real estate. He is also the creator of the Master of Persuasion program, which will help give you the power to obtain everything you ever wanted in life.]<
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The Guarantee: Making Your Offer Even More Risk-Free
By Katie Yeakle
Using a guarantee in your sales copy is one of the most powerful ways to reassure your prospective customer that he or she is making a good choice by buying your product.
In ETR #2130, expert copywriter Michael Samonek showed you how to turn 10 ordinary guarantees into blockbusters. You may have noticed that all of those guarantees fall into several categories. Actually, there are four categories – each one eliminating one more level of risk for the customer.
1. The Basic Guarantee.
You simply offer the prospect his money back if he returns the product within a certain time period.
2. The "Pay-Only-If-It-Works" Guarantee.
Now it starts to get interesting. This type of guarantee tells the prospect that he can try the product first – and then pay for it. Joe Karbo (its originator) made millions with this one.
3. The "Keep-All-the-Bonuses-Free" Guarantee.
You let the prospect keep his free bonuses – even if he returns the product for a full refund. This technique works like a charm to increase response rates.
4. The "Better-Than-Money-Back" Guarantee.
Not only do you guarantee satisfaction, you take it three steps further… until the customer can actually profit from returning the product: (a) The dissatisfied customer gets a 100 percent refund plus shipping costs, (b) the customer keeps the unsatisfactory merchandise (the only "but" being that they must give it to someone who can use it.), (c) the customer gets $10!
"This last guarantee is great for high-ticket items," Michael told me. "Use it, or a variation of it, with discretion."
[Ed. Note: Katie Yeakle is Executive Director of American Writers & Artists Inc. (AWAI). How to use guarantees to reassure potential customers is one of more than five dozen sales secrets in AWAI's Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting. To find out how you can start using these winning techniques today to boost sales at your business - or to become a successful copywriter yourself - click here.]
The Effect of Ginkgo Biloba on Longevity
If you or a loved one are 65 or older, you might be interested in hearing about a French study which revealed that older people who take ginkgo biloba may live longer.
Dr. Jean-Francois Dartigues at the University of Bordeaux followed a group of 3,534 men and women 65 and older for a period of 13 years. At the start of the study, which was published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, six percent of the participants were taking a ginkgo biloba extract supplement. And those who took the supplement were 24 percent less likely to die during the 13-year period than those who did not take it.
While taking ginkgo isn’t certain to help you live longer, there are other reasons to give it a try. For instance, gingko acts as a blood thinner, which helps improve circulation. It also has many beneficial flavonoids – a group of immune-boosting antioxidants. And it has been shown to help improve brain function.
Taking 20 mg or 60 mg of gingko biloba extract with breakfast a few times a week could make your mind and body healthier.
[Ed. Note: Ray Sahelian, M.D., the author of Mind Boosters, is internationally recognized as a moderate voice in the evaluation of natural supplements. Visit Dr. Sahelian's website at www.RaySahelian.com, and read more of his articles about the supplements you should and shouldn't be taking at ETR's new natural health e-letter.]
It’s Fun to Know: Fishy Beauty Treatments
Hot spring resorts in southern China and Japan are offering a new treatment involving a species of tropical fish that feeds on dead skin cells. Spa goers immerse themselves in pools filled with the fish, which do not go after healthy skin, and the nibbling begins. Reportedly, the process is pain free. Bathers feel only a slight tingling sensation.
(Source: crienglish.com)
Your Computer Sucks
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- Patrick Coffey
Word to the Wise: Oligopoly
An "oligopoly" (ol-ih-GOP-uh-lee) is a market structure in which a few large suppliers dominate the market, controlling a high percentage of total sales.
Example (from Seth Godin’s blog in an entry about the Netflix business model): "The [DVD] sellers are an oligopoly and willing to dramatically discount wholesale pricing in exchange for volume."
[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker ... build your self-confidence and intellect ... increase your attractiveness to others ... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's new Words to the Wise CD Library.]
Michael Masterson
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2007
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