Episodes

Emotional States: Understanding Feelings and Moods Charismatic people know there is a fine line between logic and emotion. To influence someone you have to have both. Emotion will override logic every time. I am going to assume here (I know I shouldn’t do that) you have the ability to form a logical argument. Emotion is the missing piece for most people that want to become more charismatic. Very few really know how emotional states, feelings, subconscious triggers and moods affect other people a...

That first thirty seconds with your audience are critical. How do you start? Great persuaders craft and design their message. There is no room to wing it. Your opening is where your audience formulates and settles into their impressions of you. Think of your opening or introduction as comprising no more than 10 percent of your full presentation. Budgeting your speech in this manner forces you to organize your time so that you know exactly what you’re going to say and how you’re going to say it. ...

Structuring Persuasive Presentations Why should we be concerned with the structure of a persuasive presentation? Top predictor of professional success is how much you enjoy and how good you are at public speaking. Studies also show the ability to give presentations was ranked as the most critical skill needed to move up in today’s business environment. Before we jump into the meat of this topic, remember as you prepare your persuasive message that you want to focus on one defined issue. You are...

Paul Smith (Author) - Lead with a story and Sell with a story Storytelling has come of age in the business world. Today, many of the most successful companies use storytelling as a leadership tool. At Nike, all senior executives are...

Six stats on the importance of trust in influencer marketing “Only 22% of brands are trusted.” () That’s a frightening metric for any marketer. Without establishing trust between your brand and your audience, it’s nearly...

Proxemics: The Science of Space The anthropologist Edward T. Hall created the science of proxemics, which studies how people use, react to, configure, and occupy the space around them. We all want our own space, and we feel uncomfortable when people violate our personal territory. While it may sound overly obvious, research shows that many persuaders get too familiar, too fast. Disrespect for your audience’s personal space—especially when you are first meeting them—will definitely not build rapp...

The Law of Obligation and Marketing We often see this method at work when companies give out complimentary calendars, business pens, T-shirts, or mugs. This specialty advertising is an $18.5 billion dollar industry. It not only creates obligation, but keeps your name in front of your future customer. The studies show that 52% of people given a promotional product said they were more likely to do business with the person that gave them the item. The same principle applies when you go to the groc...

How You Can Tell If You’re Really Connecting I’ve talked about common rapport-building obstacles and how you can know for sure that you’re not connecting. But how do you know that you are connecting, especially when your audience is not going to tell you? One of the most obvious signs of a good connection is that the initial defensiveness and skepticism begin to dissipate. The mood relaxes and your audience begins to relax. They begin to voluntarily offer personal thoughts and feelings without y...

Energy of Influence Another way to enhance your ability to motivate yourself and others is to make sure all things are balanced in your life. Great persuaders lead a balanced life and keep everything in perspective. I call this delicate balance “life alignment.” Make sure there is balance in every aspect of your life. Imbalance can undermine motivation and cause inaction and unhappiness. Many times, we quit early because of imbalance, even when we don’t realize an imbalance exists. It may be on...

The Law of Obligation, also known as pre-giving or reciprocity, states that when others do something for us, we feel a strong need, or urge, to return the favor. Returning the favor rids us of the obligation created by the first good deed. The adage "one good turn deserves another" is a part of social conditioning in every culture. And, even beyond that, the maxim serves as an ethical code that does not necessarily need to be taught, but nevertheless is understood. For example, when someone smil...

Smells: The Aroma of Persuasion We all know what the smell of movie popcorn does to us. Smell is directly linked to our emotions. Our sense of smell is so powerful that it can quickly trigger associations with memories and emotions. Our olfactory system is a primitive sense that is wired directly to the center of our brain. By four to six weeks, infants can tell the difference between their own mother's scent and that of a stranger. Almost everyone has experienced situations in which a smell evo...

Summary: Talking Too Much Being an extrovert, having the gift of gab, or being able to make small talk with anyone you meet can definitely be used to your advantage, but watch yourself. How can you persuade if you are always talking? It will be very annoying to your audience if they sense that you like hearing yourself talk more than listening to their concerns. Remember, it's about them, not you. Great persuaders listen more than they talk. In fact, great persuaders use their listening and qu...

Today I interviewed Dr. Stephanie Burroughs. She is the author of Dating Your Business Prospect. She looks at networking in a whole new light. She calls it 360 networking. She explains how to use social media and expanding you social media with face to face and belly to belly networking. She will answer the following questions on the Maximize Your Influence Podcast How to you prepare for this encounter with an important prospect? How do you approach them without looking like a fool? What does...

The New Year is here and your influence skills are more critical than ever. You have heard enough about goals – so let’s focus on those persuasion tools. Does your eye contact help you influence or does it trigger deception cues? Are you reading your prospect’s eyes to adjust your presentation? Let’s find out the power of your eyes. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "The eyes of men converse as much as their tongues." The more common phrase we hear is "the eyes are the windows to the soul." Through our...

Anger is a secondary emotion. A prospect's anger is usually an indicator that something else is askew and that he needs or wants attention. When we are angry – we want attention or action now. You can assist in diminishing his anger by determining the key issue he is upset about. It is also often effective to ask for his help, opinions, or advice. This will usually diffuse his anger or even change his attitude and demeanor completely. In some circumstances, you may want to use anger to make a ce...

Willingness to confront your fears is critical to mental programming. Great persuaders have mastered their fears. You will be tempted to leave your fears buried, but they will invariably come back to haunt you. It is much better to deal with fears directly, especially considering that whatever we fear most is never as bad as we think. Human infants are born with only two fears: fear of falling and fear of loud noises. A newborn baby fears nothing else. All other fears are learned. The good news ...

On Episode 167 of Maximize Your Influence, Kurt and Steve interview Matt Powell. Matt asks an important question other personal growth planning books never ask: what if you are choosing the wrong goals? Having taught thousands of students and selling thousands of books on learning methods, Matt brings his systematic approach to achieving goals and changing your future. The best planning process in the world won't help you if you are choosing the wrong goals. After cutting through the reality of ...

If you've been in sales or business for long, you know that a "referred" lead is 10 times better than most cold calls. On this episode, Kurt and Steve interview Donald Kelly, the Sales Evangelist about how you can double your referrals! Just like most of you, Donald Kelly is a real life B2B sales professional hustling in the world of software sales. If you're like him, you had no clue how to really sell when you started in sales. Over the years, Donald has received training/coaching from some of...

Well, it's finally over. The 2016 presidential election is in the books. Wow. Just wow! Kurt and Steve discuss the election and some of the tactics used by both sides that ultimately led to the victory by Donald Trump. If you’ve ever conducted research on relieving stress, you’ve undoubtedly come across advice stating that a key factor for reducing your level of stress is to try to live more in the present moment. Most of the feelings that cause us stress, like anger and worry, are born from rel...

Kurt and Steve start this episode by discussing how we can achieve effective presence as a persuader. Kurt also laments the end of boating season. They then continue their discussion about dealing with difficult people...specifically delving into low self esteem. One easy way to boost someone’s esteem is to offer sincere, genuine thanks. Show a little gratitude for what they have done or even will do. Never assume that they know how much you care or appreciate them. Many leaders feel that the pa...

On this episode, Kurt and Steve interview Jonah Berger. Jonah is a Marketing Professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a world-renowned expert on word of mouth, social influence, consumer behavior, and how products, ideas, and behaviors catch on. He has published dozens of articles in top‐tier academic journals, and popular accounts of his work often appear in places like The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Harvard Business Review. Berger is the bestselling a...

We all have them in our lives: difficult people. Admit it...when you heard "difficult people" you automatically thought of a couple by name, didn't you! So what is a difficult person? This person is difficult by nature and/or disagrees with you and may even actively work against you. For a difficult person, use these techniques: Find a common belief and establish a common ground. Use appropriate humor to break the ice. Don't start the presentation with an attack on their position. You are only t...

On this episode, Kurt and Steve read some listener mail from an business owner who finds himself dealing with a lot of calls from prospects just wanting quotes. They discuss how the power of "no" can draw prospects into a conversation where actual value can be established. This then unfolds to a discussion about the power of questions. Of all the tools in your persuasion toolbox, questioning is probably the one most often used by Power Persuaders. Questions are used in the persuasion process to ...

On this episode, Kurt and Steve interview Rob Kendall, of www.conversationexpert.com. Rob has devoted his life to understanding how humans converse with one another and what makes them go wrong...and right. Rob its the author of BlameStorming and WorkStorming. If you know that you need to have a challenging conversation, it’s worth preparing thoroughly for it. The preparation time may be disproportionate to the length of the conversation itself, but if the conversation’s important enough, your p...