The Lesser of Two Evils
Issue #2529
- WEALTHY: Two brokers to add to your portfolio (Rick Pendergraft)
- EALTHY: A truly healthy sweetener (Kelley Herring) )
- WISE: George Eliot on the strongest principle of growth
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- Helping your customer make the right choice (Paul Lawrence)
- 3 letters to speed up e-mailing (Suzanne Richardson)
- It’s Good to Know… about genealogical research
- Add “apotheosize” to your vocabulary
== Advertisement ==
What George Bush Was Told Behind Closed Doors…Could Make You Very Rich
Special Report: Make Enormous Gains Before Wall Street Wakes Up to the “Oil Hoax”
Inside, you’ll learn which energy sector is poised to grow 17 times over, and how you can play the fastest growing energy source in the world for huge profits!
So forget the panic about high energy prices…get the full, inside story on the “Oil Hoax” right now – and profit from the world’s most unique energy investment opportunities.
Get your copy of this exclusive report here.
Who Benefits From the Increased Volatility?
Over the last six months or so, trading volume has been much higher than historical averages. Investors are uneasy, and they are moving their money around – in and out of sectors and/or changing asset allocations.
There is one group of companies that benefits from this.
Yesterday, I was speaking with a friend of mine who works within the financial industry, on the advertising side of the business. And something Tom said hit home with me: With companies cutting back on advertising, parts of his business are down – but online brokers are going strong.
Online brokers get commissions whether investors are buying or selling – and given the volatility in the market, we know there is a lot of buying and selling going on.
The two online brokers that jump out at me are TD Ameritrade (AMTD) and Charles Schwab (SCHW). Their stocks have dropped with all the other brokerage firms, but it is a case of guilt by association. These two companies don’t have exposure to the mortgage market and they aren’t involved in proprietary trading, so they aren’t looking at the losses the big full-service brokers are being hit with.
AMTD and SCHW should do well when the market settles down and starts heading higher. In the interim, they are still getting those commissions as investors move in and out of the market. Adding either of these two companies to your long-term portfolio should pay off.
[Ed. Note: The market may be volatile, but it still offers plenty of ways to profit. You just need to be ready to tackle opportunities as soon as they present themselves. Market analyst Rick Pendergraft has put together an educational program that lays out the simple steps you need to take advantage of these chances to prosper. Not only do you get three months of Rick's best recommendations, you also learn how to make good investment choices yourself. Get the details here.]
“The strongest principle of growth lies in human choice.”
George Eliot
The Lesser of Two Evils
It’s Saturday morning, and the biggest party of the year is going down… starting tonight and lasting through Sunday. Somehow, you’ve wangled a spot on the VIP list. It’s in Atlantic City, and your good buddy has arranged a limo – absolutely free to you – that’s leaving in 20 minutes. Trouble is, you have to give a big presentation first thing Monday morning. And you’ll need a good three or four hours to whip it into shape.
Not going to the party is NOT an option. So you’ve got two choices.
Choice #1: You can leave for AC right now and have the time of your life. But pay for it – big time – on Monday. Your presentation won’t be as good as it should be. If you botch it completely, you could lose your company’s biggest client. And that might mean you’ll be out of a job.
Choice #2: You can stick around for the rest of the day and fine-tune the presentation to perfection. That way, you’ll be so well prepared that even if you’re a little tired on Monday, it will go off without a hitch. You’ll protect your job. Heck, you may even win yourself a promotion. But that means you’ll have to shell out about 500 bucks for a last-minute plane ticket to Atlantic City tonight.
If you care about your career, Choice #2 is the obvious way to go. You’re going to have to spend $500, but it’s a way to have your cake and eat it too.
Setting up a situation like this – where there are two choices, but one is clearly the “smart” one – is the basis of the persuasion technique I want to tell you about today. I call it the “Lesser of Two Evils” strategy.
I’m sure you’ve been in a position – both in your personal and your business life – where you’ve had to persuade someone to make a decision that they were not really eager to make.
Let’s say you want to convince a potential client to sign up for your consulting services.
If you simply present him with one option – maybe an expensive contract that will cost $10,000 a year – he may decide to hold off on doing anything. After all, though his business has stopped growing and he thinks you can probably help him, there’s no perceived emergency. If he doesn’t sign with you right now, he has no reason to believe he will suffer any negative consequences.
You don’t want to try to back him into a corner by warning him that if he doesn’t accept your expensive proposal he will not only fail to get his company back on track but may start to face big losses. If you do that, there is an excellent chance he will become even more resistant. (People tend to resist ideas that aren’t their own. It’s human nature.)
Instead, you should offer the prospect an alternative – an additional option that seems reasonable on the surface but is, in some important way, less attractive than the one you want him to choose. And you present that option first.
So, in our example, you start by telling the prospect that you can provide consulting services for only $1,000 a year. You explain that, for $1,000, you can do a lot for him. And you supply him with facts and figures to make this claim credible. Then you point out that you also provide unlimited, full-service consulting for $10,000 a year. You list everything you will do for him if he chooses the full-service option over the less-expensive, limited option. And, again, you supply him with facts and figures to back up your claims.
If you do it right, the prospect will come to the conclusion – on his own – that though the full-service option costs more upfront, it will solve his problem permanently… while the economical option will be nothing more than a band-aid.
Though he may not be thrilled about making the larger expenditure, it will seem like the better choice – the Lesser of Two Evils – because he will perceive that the cheaper alternative has the potential for negative consequences.
The Lesser of Two Evils is sometimes confused with another persuasion technique
called “Contrasting.” But, from a psychological point of view, they are actually quite different. With Contrasting, you first have the other person imagine a scenario that sounds really terrible. Then you tell him the good news.
Let’s say you’re a salesman for a roofing company. You get a call from a prospect who tells you his roof is leaking, and you drive over to give him a quote.
You can see that all he really needs is a repair… but you begin by noting that a whole new roof will cost $15,000. As the prospect shudders, figuring he’s going to have to dip into his pension fund to pay for it, you announce: “But you’re in luck. You don’t need a whole new roof. We can repair your leak for only $2,000.
Had you quoted him $2,000 for the repair upfront, it would have seemed like a lot of money. But now, in contrast to the cost of a whole new roof, it seems like a good deal.
The Lesser of Two Evils approach works better than Contrasting when your prospect isn’t likely to buy into a highly objectionable scenario – either because it’s not believable or because he can’t see how it applies to him.
Take our example of a consultant selling his services. If you start by telling your prospect that businesses in his situation usually require a $300,000 consulting job… and then tell him you can get it done for only $10,000… well, he’ll probably just shrug his shoulders. But if you give him a couple of reasonable options and provide him with enough information to support the decision you want him to make, there’s a good chance he’ll do it.
To successfully execute the Lesser of Two Evils technique, here are the basic steps:
1. Come up with two options for your prospect. Make sure there are logical arguments for both alternatives – but also make that sure the one you prefer is the “Lesser of Two Evils.”
2. When you present the options to your prospect, start with the “greater” evil. That way, when you present the option you want him to choose, he will perceive it to be the one he wants.
3. If you’ve done a good job of making your case, the prospect will make the decision you want him to make almost immediately. If he doesn’t jump on it right away, don’t try to pressure him. Just sit back and be patient. Remember, the effectiveness of this technique is based on the fact that, psychologically, people like to feel that they are in control of their own decisions. If you push them, it’s likely to backfire.
Persuading people to make the choices you want them to make isn’t easy. However, if done right, the Lesser of Two Evils approach almost always works. The icing on the cake is that the people you use it with will be happy with the decisions they made “on their own.”
[Ed. Note: Here's a no-brainer for you. You can keep doing what you're doing, watching your savings dwindle and your chances of retirement drift away... or you can grab the bull by the horns and take charge of your financial future. We'll give you step-by-step support and some of our best advice along the way in our 2008 ETR Information Marketing Bootcamp DVD Library. Learn the details here.
Paul Lawrence is the publisher of the "Master of Persuasion" program, which details dozens of powerful persuasion secrets. For more information, click here.]
== Highly Recommended ==
Cash from the Ash
Is it possible to make YOUR fortune from the recession with virtually no cash, no risk AND ethically?
Well, if you call the $3.2 MILLION I made by helping others in distress, then I guess the answer is a resounding ‘YES’!
A ‘robot’ can help make this sort of wealth a reality for you NOW. The worse the economy gets, the more money you make.
Please, I’m not here to tell you the same ol’ same ol’ “buy things cheap in recession”! Sure, that works IF you have the cash. My method involves NO buying at all…
In a few minutes, you’ll understand.
Please read the report below without delay- you deserve to at least be informed about this amazing, low-risk cash-on-demand system VERY few people know about:
Get the Cash-On-Demand System Report
Quick Tip: A 3-Letter Timesaver
Had Charlie gone batty? Was his keyboard shorting out?
He’d just sent me a curious e-mail. It was entirely blank. But the subject line said: “Sales copy good to go. <EOM>”
“Huh?” I thought.
Trusty Google had the answer.
Turns out that “EOM” is an acronym for “end of message.” It’s often used in e-mails, when the entire content of the e-mail is contained in the subject line. That way, the recipient doesn’t have to open the e-mail at all.
A tiny, three-letter timesaver. See if it can speed up your e-mail communications today.
Go Green for Health
When it comes to packet sweeteners, you typically find pink, blue, yellow, and white. And if you’re health conscious, none of them fill the bill.
That is, until now.
Meet Truvia – the sweetener in a green and white packet that lives up to its healthy claims with a clean, sweet taste.
Made of a combination of erythritol and an isolated fraction of stevia (called rebiana), this all-natural, calorie-free sweetener provides approximately twice the sweetening power of sugar, with none of the nasty side effects.
Sprinkle Truvia into your coffee, whirl into a smoothie, or sweeten up your favorite organic berries with this guilt-free product.
[Ed. Note: Eating healthy doesn't mean depriving your sweet tooth. Simply make smart choices when it comes to what you eat, and you can live a healthier, fuller life. For tasty, good-for-you recipes - plus the latest health breakthroughs and easy-to-follow fitness techniques - sign up for ETR's natural health newsletter.
Survive the holidays with Kelley's brand-new recipe e-books, Guilt-Free Desserts and Healthy Holiday Hors d'Oeuvres. You'll find 60+ healthy recipes you can easily make at home.] )
It’s Good to Know: Genealogical Research
Serious genealogical research once meant hours spent combing dusty archives in libraries and government offices, travel to distant records collections, checking multiple sources, and other time- and money-eating activities.
But a new free online service now makes it easier to find your ancestors’ death, birth, marriage, census, and other records… across the United States and overseas.
Offered by the Mormon Church, Family Search (search.labs.familysearch.org/recordsearch/) is continuing to add records to make its database even more comprehensive.
== Highly Recommended ==
Do You Need to Start Out Small ?
If you don’t have an Internet business yet, or if your company is smaller than $1 million, then you need something different… something that lets you start off small.
One man I know turned $10 into over $500,000. How’s that for starting small!
Let me show you how you could get a similar Internet income stream running for almost nothing.
- Charlie Byrne
ETR Associate Publisher
Word to the Wise: Apotheosize
To “apotheosize” (uh-POTH-ee-uh-size) – from the Latin – is to deify or glorify.
Example (as used by Charles Isherwood in a New York Times review of Ziegfeld: The Man Who Invented Show Business by Ethan Mordden): “[Ziegfeld] apotheosized the showgirl and changed the entertainment rulebook by making the revue an ethnic stew.”
[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.]
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2008
About Kelly Herring’s article on Truvia aka rebiana which is really rebaudioside.
Rebaudiosides are found in the stevia leaf. Rebaudiosides are one of the components of stevioside.
If you have a high quality pure stevioside like the brand I use JAJA Stevioside by Emperor’s Herbologist http://emperorsherbologist.com
there is no need to mix it with a natural sugar alcohol ((2R,3S)-butane-1,2,3,4-tetraol) commonly called erythritol. That is **unless** the company doing so wants to make a huge profit by selling fillers.
A serving size of pure stevioside is about the size of a sesame seed. So it is a bit hard to measure at first. And if you get a low quality stevioside it has a nasty taste. Fillers such as FOS, Maltodextrin, Erythritol, have been used by companies seeking to hide a poor tasteing stevioside.
But if it did come down to artificial sweeteners such as asparatame, sunette, and the others or Truvia (if pure JAJA Stevioside was not available) I would go with Truvia.
For the record. I like Kelly’s articles!