The Power of Focus in Persuasion

Here's an understatement for you: we live in a world of distractions. In every facet of life we are bombarded. As I sit here typing, for example, I'm getting 'new e-mail' alerts, my assistant is instant messaging me, my kids and dog want to play, I'm thirsty, the phone is ringing. . . you get the point. Just writing one paragraph can be exhausting when there are so many things dividing ones attention.

There's an old saying that goes, 'If you chase two rabbits, both will escape.' As we become increasingly fragmented and scatter our energy, we are not giving adequate attention to the important task at hand.

Alexander Graham Bell once said, 'Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus.'

When we are with a client or prospect, there are so many things that could be floating around our conscious minds. Our internal voices may be worrying us about our breath or if we have something stuck. We could be worried about something external, like, what's the mechanic going to tell us about our car or maybe it's tax time and we're thinking about the chunk that the IRS wants from us. Some issues are bigger than others, obviously, but both large and small, they vie for attention all the same. And what should we be concentrating on when we're with a prospect? We should be focusing on the prospect and determining their criteria and core values.

Think of focus like a flashlight. If we aim our flashlights at a wall out in front of us, we might think we're seeing quite a bit. However, if there is something on a shelf that you really want to see, if you have a flashlight like mine, you have the ability to make the beam wider or narrower. When it gets narrower, it penetrates further. And when it's wider, it shows me more space, but less distance. Focusing laser-like on one aspect, we can see more clearly what we want to see. For persuasion purposes, what we want to know is what our clients want.

I imagine that my prospect is a white board which I have wiped clean. Additionally, I am a white board which has been wiped clean. We are now open to them writing themselves onto that board and becoming a part of it. If we can focus on identity as persuaders, this would be a key area for which we can develop parts, a key area that we can frame and reframe. It's a very powerful area.

One of our main objectives in persuasion is to learn to shine that light in various ways to best understand and provide what it is that our clients and prospects want. Next time you're interacting and find yourself drifting into your own head, take a deep breath and really focus that beam on them shutting out all other distractions.

About the Author

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.

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