Search:

To Be (sneaky) Or Not To Be (sneaky)

Recently a student of mine posted a comment about my use of the relationship between teacher and student in an example of presupposition. They suggested, with a wink and a smiley face, that maybe I was being a little sneaky in using the example in a persuasive way.

This has been a struggle for me. When people find out that I am an expert in persuasion, they think that I am using my skills on them and they become very guarded and defensive. People actually say, 'It's hard to trust that he's not trying to persuade me, because, after all, he's one of the top persuaders in the world.'

I used to get upset about this until finally I realized people are going to believe what they want to believe.

I am always genuinely myself. And I've done my best to stay un-jaded. My intention, at all time, is to operate with integrity and not to work with ulterior motives.

But what is an ulterior motive? An ulterior motive lies beyond what is evident, revealed, or avowed. That could be a negative thing, especially if the motive is being concealed intentionally so as to deceive. But there can be ulterior motives that aren't sneaky.

There are ulterior motives that can be supportive and helpful. In a sense, ulterior simply means 'behind the scenes'. When I use my persuasion skills to serve clients and help them to stay involved with my program, there is no lack of integrity whatsoever. I know that my program can and will help them.

To my student who is so suspicious, I say that I know the people I work with are gaining great insight and value whether I persuade them to work with me or not. I would suggest, you will find the same is true for you.

This is a humorous topic to me so I thought I'd show you a bit about the inside workings of my mind, in how I've dealt with some unique problems and how they affect me.

When I was younger, I'd often find myself asking the people I was studying under if they were using persuasion on me. I wanted to see how they made decisions.

This doesn't mean that I am attempting to persuade my students actively, though my intention, obviously, is to keep them in my program.

These are my intentions. And my intention is to help and help and help some more. As long as that is recognized then I feel really satisfied and I think this is something you might want to examine in your own life because it will be something that comes up from time to time and it's nice to have thought it through so that you know where you stand on it.

Article Source: http://www.dummiesguideto.com

Kenrick Cleveland teaches techniques to earn the business of affluent prospects using persuasion. He runs public and private seminars and offers home study courses and coaching programs in persuasion techniques.

Please Rate this Article

Not yet Rated