You wanna know a master technique used by politicians to crush it during debates?
The good part is it’s totally non-verbal, and will slip right under their radar. The won’t even know what’s going on. They’ll just “feel good” when you want them to, and “feel bad” when you want them to.
How would you use this?
Connect a good feeling to an action you’d like them to take, like buying a product or giving you their phone number or giving you a raise.
Connect a bad feeling to something you don’t want them to do, like drink too much, or give you that extra workload, or “shop around.”
The technique is called “spatial anchoring.”
Anchoring is when you set up an external stimulus to create an internal, physiological response. Discovered by that Russian guy, Pavlov.
Spatial anchoring just means you make a motion with your hands, and connect them with a person’s feelings.
First you “set” them, then you can later use them.
To set them, get the person talking about a good feeling. Get them talking about a recent experience, like watching a good movie, or finding money on the ground, or having sex. While they are talking, simply repeat some key phrases back to them, to show your listening. While you do so, make a certain gesture with your right hand.
Then, do the same with the bad feelings. Talk about something that makes them feel bad, like the economy, or something that causes them stress, or whatever. Repeat back their words, and use your left hand to gesture as you do so.
Do this with three different “good feelings,” and three different “bad feelings” spaced randomly throughout a conversation.
Then when it’s time to persuade or dissuade, you’ve got your anchors set. Simply gesture when your right hand when talking about what you want them to do, and gesture with your left hand when you talk about something you don’t want them to do.
Very powerful, very easy, and very sneaky.
Try it out, and have fun!