Hi,

The other day I was in what could have easily been a fatal accident.
Fortunately, I walked away. 

According to an off duty Sheriff who witnessed the event, a drunk driver
traveling at between 80 and 100 miles an hour slammed into the rear end of a car
that was a couple of cars behind me. In an effort to get away, the drunk driver
veered back into the line of traffic and crashed into me. He bounced off the
back end of my rental car and slid up the entire right side of my car. Three
cars were totaled and a fourth was damaged. 

When the accident happened, my first thoughts were about my family. It's amazing
how much can go through your mind when you are in such a situation.  

My next thoughts were about you. I wondered if I had died in the accident if I
had given enough information so that those that don't have my courses could
still use what I teach to better their lives. 

When I got back to the hotel that night, I thought long and hard about my life,
my work and how I could help make sure you are able to benefit. 

So this is my gift to you. 

For some of you, this will be a review - for others it will be the first time
you have heard this strategy. If you have my courses and are an "old pro", this
will give you a good review and some new ideas.  

Over the next several weeks, I'll be sending you a series of emails that contain
the transcript of a teleconference I held on using Criteria - which I call the
Values System ©. Use it and watch your sal'es soar and money pour in.
-------------------------------------------------- 

The Values System© Part I

(Note: As you read, you'll occasionally come accross a series of dashes like
this: -----------. This means that what was said was garbled and could not be
made out. You'll easily understand the flow of the conversations though.) 

J: Good day ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the Criteria Elicitation One
Conference Call. I am pleased to introduce your host, Kenrick Cleveland. Please
go ahead.  

KC: Good afternoon.  

I hope you're ready to climb into the most power persuasion technology yet
created. Before we get started, it's my pleasure to have on the call today
senior members of the MBRT and the NAFI. And I hope you folks enjoy learning
these techniques as much as I enjoy teaching them. A bit of history to get us
started today. In the mid 70s, the therapeutic world stumbled across the phrase
"What's important about as a means of gathering information for conflict or
trauma resolution." I took this question and applied it to the business world as
a means of eliciting criteria in 1977. The question "What's important about" was
a roaring success in every instance.  

I began teaching this technology in 79 in seminars and to thousands of different
businesses all across the world. In the late 80s, Jay Abraham, the world's
highest paid most well known marketing consultant in the world asked me to be a
lead teacher at the now renowned protégé training seminar. These
were week long $20,000 a head events and I had the good fortune to train over
1,000 business owners in the values model or criteria elicitation through these
programs. In the mid 90s, one of my students popularized a part of this
technology in the financial adviser world and has written a couple of books that
explore the values model. Today, I'm going to show you exactly how to use this
model to its most effective end.  

Let's jump right into the definition 
of criteria. And the definition is that
which needs to be accomplished or met in order for someone to take action and do
what you want. If I take action, I mean decide buy, agree, etc. Most
importantly, criteria will enable you to stop using features and benefits. If
you currently are using features and benefits, I pray that you stop after this
call. Instead, you'll use their criteria and attach it to you and attach it to
your product, your service, your company. You can attach it to everything. And
in so doing, you'll enormously enhance rapport and you'll persuade them very
quickly to do what you want them to do.  

When you elicit someone's criteria, you'll hear them often start with the small
things and move to the larger more important things. This is exactly what the
strategy is designed to do for them. Wherever they start, is fine.  

Here's how to elicit criteria. You ask "What's important to you about blank."  

Now listen to me real close. Move in a little closer, pay close attention. I'm
gonna tell you something that will change your life in your sales right this
minute. You fill in the blank with what you want to persuade them about or what
you want to persuade them to do. This is critical. I'll explain why to you in
just a little bit.  

You then ask what's important about...and here you say the answer they just gave
you.  

Okay, and thirdly, you do the same thing one more time. But the last time you
can say "So what will that ultimately do for you?" And you are of course going
to name the previous answer.  

So each time you're going to get an answer and use the answer in your next
question. That's the real key. Think of the answers you get when you do this
hierarchy.  

Now when I ask these questions, I think of them like this. I write the first one
lowest on the page. I write the second answer above it and the third one above
that. Here's why...I know in my mind the last answer controls all that comes
before it. The last answer controls all that comes before and is the most
important one. So I write their last answer so it ends up being highest on the
page because that helps me to remember it's the highest and most important one
that they've just told me. Okay, before I demonstrate this... actually, let me
demonstrate now. Jamie cue people up for....so I can interact with them
personally. 

J: At this time, if you would like to interact, please press one on your touch
tone phone. An operator will take your name. 

KC: Let me talk about softening questions because this is another very big key
to how criteria is done. With softening questions, you learn to add words around
their criteria to soften what you're gonna do. So it doesn't seem like you're
beating them up....going from question to question.  

Okay, here are three softening phrases I like. I'm wondering whether, I ask
myself if, I'm curious as to. You'll hear me use this over and over again along
with ahumm, humm, wonderful, excellent, yeah, I feel the same way, yes that's
exactly right isn't it, sure I agree with you. These are very important to put
around criteria as we go. Alright Jamie.  

J: I do have Ray here for you. Please go ahead. 

KC: Okay, hi. 

 R: This is Ray. 

KC: Hi Ray, how are you? 

 R: I'm doing fine. Thank you. 

KC: Thank you for interacting with me. Tell me something....M------, why did you
choose to get on this call today? 

 R: Because I believe in making a difference and finding a new way of getting
through to the hearts of the people. 

KC: Wonderful. That's fantastic. Tell me if you would...what's important to you
about making a difference? About getting through to their heart and really
making a difference? 

 R: Thinking to understand what's important to them.  

KC: Thinking to understand...that's fantastic....that's so important and I think
as salespeople, if we do more of that, we're going to find people that are most
willing to have us be the solution to their problem. So I think that's great.
Let me ask...ultimately, what will that do for you? 

 R: It will help me to help our clients make well-informed decisions.  

KC: Yes, excellent...perfect. So let me invite you that as you listen to the
call and you begin to understand how this can really get into the hearts and
minds of your clients and begin to open them up so they understand exactly why
you're the solution that they need. As you begin to hear how this will work for
you, pay close attention to the way you're going to be using it in your day to
day sales, okay? Now, as you hear me talk, tell me what you're experiencing? 

 R: Okay.... 

KC: No, actually tell me what you're experiencing? 

 R: What am I experiencing? 

KC: Yes. 

 R: Okay, you're trying to get to know what is important to me. 

KC: Yeah. 

 R: And how you are thinking to understand me. 

KC: Absolutely. 

 R: That's what I'm experiencing.  

KC: And how do you feel as I do that? Does it feel good? 

 R: It makes me feel more comfortable. 

KC: Yeah, that's exactly right. So it didn't cause you any concern or worry when
I turned right back around and began to use that to suggest that you follow
these materials and use them in your day to day life did it? 

 R: No. 

KC: Notice however if I had not have used criteria and I would have said, "You
know what Ray, thanks for being on the call today and this stuff you should use
every day in your day to day life. You should put it to work in your sales so
that you make more money." That wouldn't have been quite as well received would
it? 

 R: If it's more like showing versus telling. 

KC: That's a great analogy. I like that too. Okay, thank you very much for
helping me with the interaction here. Let me do one more. Jamie, do we have
anyone else cued up? 

J: We do, Carl please go ahead. 

KC: Who is this? 

C: This is Carl. 

KC: Hi, Carl, how are you? 

C: I'm doing fine, thanks. 

KC: Great, so Carl why did you choose to be on the call here? 

C: Well I thought I could really need more help in figuring out what moves
people to buy or -----------. 

KC: Yes, absolutely, well I think you've come to the right place. What's
important about getting some help to move people to take action like this? 

C: Well I think a lot of times in my sales processes that they've taken way too
long for people to decide and I've noticed I've been generally ineffective.
-------------sales calls run way too long. So I'd like to become more efficient.  

KC: Sure, absolutely and that makes a lot of sense. If it takes too much time,
it's hard to be profitable in ---------. 

C: Right, exactly. 

KC: Let me ask....ultimately, what's important to you and how will you be
benefited by shortening up this process so they don't take too long? 

C: Well I think it will be a lot more productive...be able to help more people
and make more money. 

KC: I tell you what...I'd like to focus on making more money. Let me just
suggest that as you listen to what we go through today, I want you to begin to
zero in on a couple things....------------sales presentation....when they take
too long, they end up doing what? They cost time, energy, emotionally they cost
you as well don't they? Because you're really investing yourself in this person
trying to hope they will see you as the answer and ultimately if they don't, it
seems to have really cost doesn't it?  

C: It's really annoying. 

KC: Absolutely. Well, I'll tell you....as you listen in and you begin imagine
how you'll apply this, pay close attention to how this will shorten the process
so it doesn't take too long and it will help you be a lot more productive and
making an awful lot of money simply by using this one strategy can help you do
just that. In fact as I do this with you right now, are you beginning to
experience a feeling of like..wow this is pretty good? 

C: Yeah, I think so. 

KC: Tell me what you do feel? 

C: I actually found more rapport or interest when you were talking with the
first caller. I think for myself maybe I was just too focused or nervous about
my own answers. It makes a lot of sense. 

KC: And that's my point. As you focus in on this....as you pay attention even to
your particular answers in just a few moments, you'll start to discover that you
naturally feel really good about this line of questioning. And sometimes it does
create a little bit of nervousness because I'm really zeroing in on you. And
when you experience this in your clients, you can understand that it's not then
any kind of resistance to what you're doing necessarily, but it's zeroing in on
them. And sometimes it does make people just a little bit nervous but that's
where the comforting and the ahumm, wow I sure do agree with you, yes that makes
all kind of sense. Those kinds of answers work really, really well. 

C: I feel better. Thank you. 

KC: Good. Alright thanks for helping me out here.  

Okay, let me continue with the softening portion of this...so to review, we
first start off by saying what's important about blank. And I gave you a big key
to this just a moment ago. I told you to listen close because you are going to
fill in the blank with something important. But you'll notice that I'm doing it
even slightly different from that and I'm gonna explain it to you here in just a
minute.  

What I want you to pay close attention to is how I'm using softening and
softening is I want to encourage them...here let me put it to you this way, how
many have you have heard of the "psychologists nod". Okay, you say something to
the psychologist...you've seen this in movies and on t.v. and the guy bobs his
head up and down...he just keeps bobbing...doesn't say a word...just keeps
nodding and kind of looking expectedly at you. When they do that, you notice
that the person that they're doing it to can't help themselves but they have to
keep talking so they start blurting out more and more and more. Well, in a
sense, when I do this softening strategy, I'm doing the same thing. I'm really
making them feel good about their answers. I'm making them comfortable. In other
words, it's not a right or wrong...anything they tell me is right. Everything
they tell me is right and I want to really encourage that. I want to really
reward them for answering me at all and that's why I'm telling you to do the
softening kinds of things.  

You can say, "That's a great answer and I'm curious to ask what's important
about that?" So you see how I get that little phrase in? I'm curious, I'm
wondering or even just guess what's so important and give them feedback about
why it's so important, okay? Any phrase that suggests agreement. It's supportive
of what they're saying...shows that you are extremely sincere as well and that
works really well.  

Now, here's a general rule for you...the more times you ask the criteria
question, the more you'll need to do the softening. So even just saying for
example, "Sure, that makes sense or humm or absolutely, I agree." All of those
work really well around the question.  

Okay, here's something that I would like to give you that will kind of widen
your perspective...open your eyes a little bit about what this really can do.
You can find out the criteria for just about anything.  

So here's some examples.  

What's important about protecting your family? Did you hear that that's a
different question than what's important to you about money? Or what's important
to you about success? Or what's important to you about your business? Each of
these will elicit criteria for a different direction...a different outcome - it
will give you different information that will help you achieve a different
outcome. 

 What's important to you about improving your financial situation? That's a
pretty good one. What's important to you about the financial advisor you'll soon
find yourself working with? Star that, underline that, highlight that, remember
that.  

And what's important to you about life? See this value strategy is incredibly
powerful. Here for example, when you ask someone what's important about life,
you're going to get their highest value and to whom might this be effective?
Well, let me suggest...if persuasion skills are really beneficial in a sales
environment, just think how great they would be in an interpersonal environment.
So if you have a significant other...a husband or a wife...my goodness if you
found out...because maybe you don't know...if you found out what their highest
values are in life and then you work diligently not to solve them but you work
diligently to fulfill those values for them. So perhaps they weren't someone who
communicates very well. Perhaps they weren't someone who pays attention to them
in a particular way. Who knows all the things they might want.  

As you write them down and begin to do it and do those things for them, my
goodness how much better might your relationship get with your children, with
your family, with your husband, with your wife? And I want to suggest that if
you do this strategy with them, that you also do yours in return. So not only do
theirs...in other words, not only ask their criteria, but give them yours and
that way you're still on a equal playing field with them. You don't have
information you can use to maneuver them as an example that they don't have
about you.  

Okay, what's important about a relationship? Let's say you wanted to start a
relationship with somebody? Wow, what a great question to ask. You'll find out
what's important to them about a relationship and you'll figure out how you can
use that to your advantage.  

For your kids perhaps, what's important to you about being liked? Or what's
important to you about good grades?  

For realtors, what's important to you about getting your home sold now? By the
way, suppose as a realtor, you ask someone, "What's important about listing your
home?" That would get you different information than what's important about
getting your home sold fast? Now, basically if you don't have it listed yet and
I want you to pay attention to this strategy, if they haven't listed it yet, you
might first start out with what's important about getting your home listed? And
then once that takes place, maybe then you want to ask what's important about
getting your home sold quickly? Or maybe you lead to that after you've asked
that first question.  

Notice how different this is. "What's important to you about getting your home
sold for as much money as possible?" That will again get you different criteria.
"What's important to you about where you work or about your job or your career?"
What's important to you about solving this problem so if someone comes to you
with a problem and you ask, "What's important about getting it solved?" For all
the advisors on the call, what a great question to ask. Someone says, "Hey, I've
got this problem. I'm losing money hand over fist" and you say, "What's
important about getting this problem solved?" Wow, that is powerful. I'll tell
you why...in a minute, I'll tell you why it's so powerful.  

So you can use criteria in every area of your life and highly recommend that you
do it. Because you will find that your life, your results, your happiness, all
skyrocket as a result of using the material.  

Let me point out a major key of using this strategy. You direct someone's
internal emotional state by what you have listed their criteria about. Let me
again say that so it really makes sense. You direct someone's internal emotional
state by what you elicit their criteria about. Notice what I did in my examples
earlier. I asked about this call and what am I doing? I'm directing their
internal state to what? I'm directing it to how they're going to use this
information. Does that make sense? It's critically important that you understand
that what we're really doing is bringing out the emotions in the person.  

Let me give you a couple of examples to make my point. Do we still have people
cued up Jamie?  

J: Yes. 

KC: It's really important to think this through and understand it. The
innapropriate use of the question "What's important about?" will get you people
running down rabbit holes every which way because you don't really understand
how to direct them and guide them.  

If you understand that the goal is to control their emotional state and to get
that state in exactly the right place to attach your product and your service
to, then you're on the right track.  

Understand that when a person says to you something negative...for example,
"What's important about increasing your financial security?" And they say, "I've
been losing money hand over fist. My God, I've got to stop the bleeding...it's
awful." You might ask yourself, "Well my goodness, is that a bad thing to do?"
No, go with it. You're gonna learn how as we continue on with this series. You
need to know when to back the ambulance up to the door. You need to know when to
tell people the positive ways of looking at it. But I'll tell you what, it's
perfect because you say, "You know what, I can only imagine that must be painful
for you to be experiencing all of this loss." And I want you to know, as you
experience what it is you've been going through, and you dream or think about
what it is that we can do for you, I'll bet you you're already beginning to feel
a sense of relief. For all of you on the call right now that move away from,
meaning that you respond well to getting away from problems, you're jumping up
and down on the end of this phone going, "Oh my God that's what I want to be
able to do. I want to be able to do that. I love that." For those of you that
move towards a solution and don't want to hear about problems, you're thinking,
"Oh my God how manipulative can this guy get?" Understand that I would go the
direction that needs to be gone with with each person that we're talking with.
And so will you. That's just a little bit more advanced...but we'll get you
there as we continue.  -------------------------------------------------- 

Ok - we'll break here this week. Next week, we'll continue on with an example
that will show you clearly how you can direct and control someone's internal
emotional state and get them to see you as the only answer, the only solution to
what they need. 

I hope you have enjoyed the first section of this series.  

Please feel free to forward this to anyone you think might appreciate having it.
And invite them to subscribe at our site so they can get get each issue as it
comes out. They can subscribe at http://www.maxpersuasion.com.  

Now, go out and enjoy using this skill.  

Warmly, 

Kenrick E. Cleveland 



The Values System© - Part 2 

(Note: This begins where the previous lesson left off.) 

Jamie, I’m ready. Have you got someone?  

J: Okay, our first volunteer is, Cliff. Please go ahead. 

C: How you doing Kenrick? 

KC: Good, how are you? I recognize that last name. 

C: Thank you, thank you. I’m doing wonderful.  

KC: I’m glad you made it through here. 

C: Me too. 

KC: So, let’s do a couple things Cliff. Tell me what you do? 

C: I help people eliminate their mortgages. 

KC: Help people eliminate their mortgages? All right then, well that’s a
wonderful thing to be able to do. So let’s let me help you eliminate yours.
Let’s say you’ve got a mortgage and I’m gonna help you eliminateit all right?
What product are you using to do this with? 

C: eliminatemortgages.com.  

KC: A little free promotion here. No, I’m asking what financial products? What
are you selling them to help them with this? 

C: A procedure that takes them through it and we provide the procedure. 

KC: Okay, wonderful. And your best client…the client that you’re looking for is
a guy that has a mortgage currently and you found them how?  

C: Generally, person to person…a friend, an acquaintance of a friend, whatever. 

KC: Let me do this…Cliff so…our mutual acquaintance, Joe, introduced us and he
said that you have a mortgage? Is that correct?  

C: Yes, that’s right. 

KC: And let me ask you a question, how do you like paying the bank this huge
interest rate that you’re paying? 

C: I don’t.  

KC: It’s not fun is it? 

C: No. 

KC: Well, when we got together to talk today, you had some idea of what might be
able to be done…let me ask you…why did you choose to talk to me today? 

C: Excuse me, you’re breaking up. I didn’t hear you. 

KC: When we got together today to talk, you had some idea of what to expect?
Tell me why did you choose to talk with me today?  

C: Because I’d like to find out if it’s true that I can get rid of my mortgage. 

KC: And let me ask what’s important about eliminating your mortgage? 

C: It would be a lot of financial relief.  

KC: I’ll say…and so let me ask this…I mean that makes a lot of sense and I
understand the need for financial relief. To make sure we’re on the same page,
what’s important to you about financial relief right now?
 
 C: Well, it would just give me more money to set aside for retirement and to do
college funds for my grandchildren. 

KC: Sure, that’s a wonderful goal. And ultimately, Cliff, what will having the
ability to set money aside for your retirement and have college funds for your
grandchildren, what will that do for your personally? 

C: Makes me happy thinking about that. 

KC: It sure does. I can only tell you I’m thrilled you’re here because it makes
me happy to do that kind of thing for people that I care about and we’ve just
helped so many people to eliminate their mortgage. If you hear what I’m gonna
tell you, let me just suggest that you stop and you think about your mortgage
and you think about how much more you could do for your retirement. How much
more you could increase your quality of life? And how much you could do for your
kids and your grandkids and their college fund when we make this happen for you.
That’s got to be pretty exciting, isn’t it? 

C: Yep, it sure is. It really is. 

KC: How do you feel right now Cliff? 

C: I’m ready to do it. Where do I sign? 

KC: Now, a lot of people, Cliff, will ask me, “Well how do you make the
transition from getting the criteria to using it in your sales presentation?” I
just did. I simply asked you to imagine, as we accomplish these things for you,
and named those criteria again, that you’ll have what it is that you want. Isn’t
that cool? 

C: Yes, it is. That really is cool. I like that. 

KC: Now, all the way through my presentation, every time I say something…so tell
me a feature of your product? 

C: Tell me a feature of my product…we are able to get people out of a fraud
that’s being done to them. 

KC: Get people out of a fraud that’s being done to them? So if I wanted to say
that now, notice that I’m not going to name it as a feature and a benefit like
most salespeople do. I’ll say, you know something, Cliff, when a person has a
goal of saving for their retirement and of helping their grandkids to have a
college education, it really feels awful to think that people out there who we
trust are perpetrating a fraud against us in the form of our mortgage payment.
And that might sound like a harsh statement. But if your kid doesn’t get the
money…your grandkids don’t have the funds to go to college and you woke up one
day and realized what’s been happening, I think it would make you pretty darn
upset. Let me show you what this fraud is and how eliminating it will directly
put money in your pocket, it will help your retirement to be brighter and more
glorious retirement where you have the funds to do more of what you want. Sound
good? 

C: Sounds great. I’ve got somebody to use this on tonight. 

KC: Well wonderful..let me know how it goes, okay? Thanks for your help.  

Let’s move on.  

Again, I want to state…you direct someone’s internal emotional state by what you
elicit their criteria about. What was your criteria about? Well first of all, it
was about eliminating a mortgage…that’s where we started, okay? Who started it?
Me or him? Good question…keep that in mind please. He did and I’ll explain to
you why in a second. What did I want to do? I wanted to elicit his criteria so
that I could then attach it to my product…my service.  

His criteria is about making sure his retirement is happy and successful. His
criteria is about wanting to make sure his grandkids have a college
education…have money set aside for that. Notice that when he told me about it,
he got excited. I’ll bet you if we could see his face, he was beaming as he 
 envisioned being able to do this more effectively. Is that the kind of
emotional states we can leverage in a sales situation? Oh my goodness, yes! To
start the process, did I ask him what’s important about saving money (or any
other pre-determined question)? Is it necessarily the best question to ask?
Unless you’re either giving away money or selling money, I believe you'll
benefit far more by doing it as you are learning here. Why? Good question. It’s
because that’s an arbitrary (pre-determined) question. And it’s not just that
question that I would advise your caution on. It’s any question that you come
with as a way to do this arbitrarily, meaning let’s say that I know that I
sell…I’m a realtor and I say to myself well step one is I got to get this house
listed. So I’m gonna ask every single person I come up to, “What’s important
about listing your house?” Well, I don’t want to come up with an arbitrary,
pre-determined question. I want them to. I want them to tell me. And
  I’m gonna show you how I do it in just a second.  

You’ve heard me do it over and over now. The fact is any arbitrary question…any
arbitrary question is one that I would be careful of and the reason that I would
be careful of it is because that question…whatever it might be…it makes no
difference…whatever it is….will send people off on a wild goose chase. It will
make them come up with arbitrary answers that may or may not be important to
them. And remember, the bottom line with this questioning…the bottom line that
I’ve worked for so many years to develop this to where you can use it with this
much power…is because this questioning strategy will give you exactly what you
need in order to make the sale. So, questions asking, what’s important about,
are brilliant if I do say so myself. Just don't make the mistake of putting
words in your clients mouth, or asking arbitrary, pre-determined questions. The
secret in what I teach is to get them to tell you, and to start with that.  

Using this questioning strategy in the late 70s, I set world records in the
health spa industry. You’d never know today by looking at me. But I’ll tell you
what, it was phenomenal…it was a secret weapon. The vice president of the
company of that I worked with came to me and said, “I don’t understand
something. I’ve come into your clubs, I’ve talked to your people. They won’t
ever say a bad thing about you. Why is this? What have you done to them? Why
won’t they say anything other than praise you up one side and down the other?”
Well now you know what I did…I know their criteria…about success in their work…I
know their criteria about their life and I use that to my advantage and to
theirs. We’re also going to talk about integrity here in just a little bit so
you'll know how and how not to use these strategies.  

Okay, major point…even if you think that you understand what the person’s
criteria is, you cannot assume it. You cannot assume it. They must tell it to
you. If they don’t, guessing isn’t very compelling. If they do, it creates
magic.  

All right, herein is my point again. I’ve had many calls from advisors, agents
and all kinds of people who say to me you know what I’ve done…I’ve been in this
business a long time…I’ve been in it 10 years and I’ve talked to many, many,
many people…what I’ve done is…I’ve listed all the reasons why they think that
they can be successful…that they need for example an advisor, an agent of some
sort. I’ve listed them. I’ve listed the most important 10…the 10 I get all the
time. And I’ve listed them. And I’ve asked them would you just take a look at
these and rank them for me from 1 to 10? Or even just tell me the most important
3? Where are you here? Now based on what you’re learning here, is that a good
idea? Absolutely not. Not in my opinion. And that’s what you’re here to learn
today is my opinion. No, absolutely it's not a good idea! Why…because you're
leading them and they are not coming up with it on their own. Worse, they may be
choosing one of your predetermined choices ca
 use that's what they think you want to hear. Even if they tell you one of the
top three things you had written down, it still won't be any where near as
powerful.  

Keep in mind this "Clevelandism" - Your client MUST tell you what they want in
order for you to have the leverage that makes this skill powerful. 

You know that most people when they meet with a salesperson…most people have a
picture in their mind about how this service can benefit them? Did you know
that? Here, let me prove it. Have you ever thought about buying a new car? And
you go to a new car dealership or used car one for that matter, and looking
around and you see a car that kind of strikes your fancy? What happens? You
imagine owning it. You imagine driving it. You may also imagine making the
payments. And that might make all the rest of the pictures go away. But you
imagine owning it. You imagine how fast it is. You imagine how safe it is. You
imagine how good of gas mileage it will get. You imagine how this will benefit
your life. You know what, the people you talk with are doing the same thing as
it relates to the product or service you are providing. They’re imagining how
your advice is going to change their financial life. They imagine how they can
have more money to do what it is that they want to do. Don’
 t make them chase their tails. Make them tell you the picture in their mind.
And from there…a list of the criteria. If you do, I promise you it creates magic
beyond anything you could ever possibly imagine.  

It does however require that you actually learn these skills and that you don’t
just come up with some arbitrary question that you’re going to ask every single
time you see anybody.You actually have to think. You actually have to align
yourself with the person…create some rapport and get them to tell you and from
there, away you go.  

Here’s a suggestion for you…this is something I’ve done and I’ve taught for
many, many years. In fact, I did a hiring profile for Color Systems Technologies
back in the early 90s and this was the company owned by Ted Turner at the time
and his people. I don’t think they’re still in business. But they converted
black and white films to color and they had a heck of a time finding colorists.
These are computer users that are graphic oriented. What they have to do is take
this black and white thickness and make it color. Well they found two major
groups. The first group were wonderful artists and did great at creating
precision in their work. They found another group of people that were really
great with the computer and they were really fast and they were task oriented
and they got this stuff done…banged it out like quick but it wasn’t very
accurate. Well the artists worked too slow. The people banging it out did it too
fast and it wasn’t accurate enough. So they had two psychol
 ogical organizations come in. . . they had two groups of Ph.Ds come in and try
to tell them how to hire people. Neither one of them worked. They spent months
and months and months and over $100,000 so they told me. So they brought me in
to do this. What do you think one of my biggest questions was? The "what's
important about _________" was certainly one of them. Not only was I able to
create this model and have it work successfully for them. But the COO of the
company paid me to use these questions on his top management because I was able
to show him when people were going to be stealing or lying or not doing as they
should or not working up to their potential etc…because I understood what
motivated them at a very deep level. And so will you now that you know how to
use this questioning process.  

I suggest you create 3x5 cards on every single one of the people that you do
this with, okay? Find out what their criteria is and list it on the card. For
example, with a spouse, what’s important to you about life or love or a
relationship or whatever and volunteer yours. Now this will create magic in your
life…it really will. And with a loved one, you can just ask a specific question,
like the above, because they already know your heart is in the right place.  

Once you get used to this, and I recommend that you do it on people that are
close to you because once you get used to doing this, you have really trained
yourself on how to do it in your professional life. So it will be second nature
for you to whip out your little 3x5 cards or your notepad or whatever. Then I
recommend that you keep this information…you put it in your file and every time
before you talk to another individual, every single time you take this card out
and you review it if you elicited it before. And as long as you’re talking about
the same context…meaning you’re advising them with their finances, you’re
talking to your husband or spouse about love or your relationship or marriage or
what have you, then you’ll have this information that will work for you for many
years into the future. If you happen to have employees…oh my goodness, that’s a
perfect place to use it and of course on every customer that you have.  

To be continued. . . --------------------------------------------------