The power of the negative pt2

Something else kind of interesting about the subconscious mind is, if you describe something as being not like another thing the other person's mind will associate them as being alike.The reason for this is because when you describe to another person what something is not, first they have to imagine that it is that way or they have no frame of reference for what it is that you are saying. And then once they have the image in their mind of it being that way, it is often too late to change the first impression that they have.You can logically say that you understand the difference  between a thing and not that thing but in reality, your subconscious mind never really understands or parses the word not.

If I start a business presentation with you where I compare my company with a similar company and I tell you all the ways in which our companies are not the same, the surface of your mind will hear and understand me, but the subconscious part that drives your motivation and decision making process will decide that they are the same despite my words.

I describe the ills of company A by saying that the products are shoddy the service is poor and the prices are too high. Then I describe company B(my company) by saying our products are not shoddy the service is not poor and the prices are not too high. Believe it or not, to your subconscious mind I have just stated that both companies are the same.

On the contrary, If I tell you that our products are superior, the customer service is fantastic and our prices are the best in the industry, then I have told you that my company is way better than company A. Here, I focus on what our company is instead of what it is not and it works to make a clear distinction between the two in a way that the other method could just never accomplish.

Now having said all this, I did learn one rather sneaky way to use this information, while listening to a mentor speak today. It relies very heavily on this idea of your subconscious ignoring the word not. It is true that most people hate being sold to. As a result of this, when they think that you are attempting to enroll them in your sales pitch they will naturally resist things that you tell them to do.

IF I say to you to imagine having the freedom to spend more time with your family and to imagine you are finally financially secure and imagine you are able to go on vacation whenever you want, if you think it is part of a sales pitch you will naturally resist my request. BUT if I instead say, aren't you sick and tired of not having enough time to spend with your family? Aren't you sick and tired of not being financially secure? Aren't you sick and tired of not being able to go on vacation whenever you want? It forces people to imagine those very things in order to be able to have a frame of reference to be able to answer the questions.

By using this tool you can get them to the right frame of mind to show them how your product or service can make those things possible for them, how what you have to offer fulfills a need that they have making the eventual sale a win-win for everybody involved.