"Eliot Hoppe is one of the finest speakers I've seen.  He entertains, trains, teaches and connects with audiences leaving them with lots of "take-a-ways".  There are only a handful of really competent sales experts out there.  Hoppe is one of them.  He helps people bring out the best in themselves."
            Kevin Hogan – Author of "The Psychology of Persuasion" www.kevinhogan.com

"Eliot did a fantastic job of giving information that is immediately usable! He's very entertaining, and the information is very valuable!"
            Andrew Records, Seattle, WA

"Just wanted to take a moment to thank you again for your time yesterday.  I thought your session was invaluable.  As I had stated at the end of the session, I particularly enjoyed the piece on body language.  I was practicing it on my family last night and they were getting quite a kick out of it.  I've attended a lot of these types of sessions over the years and honestly usually have trouble staying awake.  I found yours to be entertaining and a good learning experience at the same time.  I look forward to the next time..."
            Sherry MacDonald – Sales Account Manager – Alberta, Canada

"What I found most intriguing about Eliot's presentation was the finer points of the message my handshake delivers. Also the skills to neutralize the other person's attempt to dominate with his handshake. His delivery and sense of humor made his presentation very enjoyable."
            Scott A. Bell, Jacksonville, FL

"Eliot, in 20 years of selling and having to attend several sales training programs, I must say that your communication mastery program was an absolute pleasure to sit through. Your segments on body language and the persuasion were of particular interest to me and I will be implementing my new found skills beginning tomorrow. I just subscribed to your ezine as well. Thanks for delivering such a great and fun program. I can't wait until the next one."
            Craig Ernst – Keller Williams Realty – New Orleans, LA

"...I thoroughly enjoyed and learned much from Eliot. His body language and handshake demonstrations were easy to understand and have made an impact on the way I use my hands."
            Dr. Jane Pelayo

"I would like to say thank you very much for the training I took on Wednesday December 19, 2007.  I have been in sales for over 25 years and have attended a lot of different sales seminars in my time and have never been so educated and impressed with the delivery of this material.  I want to thank you so much for your presentation.  I will be implementing all of the information into my sales calls and meetings. It was so awesome to walk away from this course with so much knowledge.
Thank you Eliot"
            Jill Chandler – Sales Account Manager – Red Deer, Alberta, Canada

"Learn from a master the art of non-verbal communications – an essential tool for anyone wanting more success in business and life."
            Gail Hurt, Career Management Professional, Austin, TX www.hiringauthentically.com

"Eliot Hoppe is a Pro! He's motivated, energized and his positive attitude is highly contagious.  Eliot utilizes his highly successful background in Sales at some of Canada's top companies, to engage and empower.  Results from Mr. Hoppe's recent visit to Dallas are already translating to our bottom line! He comes with a high personal recommendation."
            John McCoy – McCoy Media – Dallas, TX

"Eliot Hoppe helped us recruit and interview new reps for our three Alberta locations and identified opportunities for improvement in our sales process.  Through his training and coaching sessions, Eliot has provided the entire sales force with new tools which have helped improve success ratios considerably.  For any organization requiring a boost in sales, I highly recommend Eliot because of his obvious respect for the profession of sales, and his light-hearted, common sense delivery method."
            Mike Stewart  – General Manager – Alberta, Canada

"Hello Eliot, just wanted to give you a quick note to say I really enjoyed your training session on Wednesday.  I have been to a few large corporate training workshops and must say I found yours to be the most interesting and interactive.  Also I enjoyed the Body Language component...I think this gives any sales rep a large advantage in reading a potential client."
            Sean Kenny – Print Specialist – Calgary, Alberta

"As a senior sales executive, that has work in both fortune 500 companies, as well as start-ups, I have turned to Eliot Hoppe on numerous occasions to help increase sales output.  His programs have always been focused, informative and entertaining; they also deliver measurable results.  Having spent more than 20 years in the sales profession, I have personally benefited from sitting though Eliot's sessions and I would not hesitate to recommend him for any business-to-business sales force."
            John MacDonald – VP, Sales – Calgary, Alberta

Persuade Others by Simply Using Your Head!

Have you ever noticed that there are some things that we do when interacting with others that have a contagious effect on that person, often without uttering a single word?

I'm not referring to the transmission of a cold virus but rather the ability to connect with your customer's unconscious mind to obtain a desired reaction with the use of words.

We influence and persuade daily both in our personal and professional lives by transmitting signals, without the use of words, to gain compliance, change behavior and assist in creating a desired effect.

Take for instance, the ability to scratch your hand and have the other person begin scratching their hand too.  In sales, these techniques are used to check if you are in rapport with your customer by having them mirror your actions.  In this case, if your customer begins to scratch their hand too, you are in rapport.  This is a good thing.

Another infectious example is the yawn.  Some people begin to feel the desire to yawn from observing someone yawn.  To others, reading the word yawn or having it spelled out letter by letter creates a desire to Y-A-W-N.  In fact, you may be already feeling some preliminary symptoms of wanting to yawn while just reading this paragraph.

Can we use the power of the yawn to influence an outcome?  Of course yes!

Imagine, it's Sunday night and tomorrow is a school day for your young child.  You have enjoyed a wonderful day at the amusement park and with the long drive home; it's now 9:15 pm and way past their bed time.

The issue is that your child believes that she is not tired and therefore, does not want to go to bed.  You, as a parent, know that she must go to bed – there isn't any other choice.  Time is of the essence.  You need to get her to sleep as quickly as possible.

You finally dip into the persuasion treasure chest and pull out a solution to assist you in achieving your desired result.

After bantering back and forth, you initiate the persuasion process by offering to read a short story if she goes to bed, now.  She agrees.

You congratulate yourself on being an effective negotiator.

Next, you have to speed up the process.  After all, she is still hyper from the cotton candy, theme park excitement and needs to "settle down quickly".

Instinctively we employ influence techniques that begin to change the mood.  We soften our voice, speak in a quieter tone and slow down our speech to change the child's behavior.  Additionally, we also close the window coverings and dim the lights which changes the current state to the desired state, sleep time.   

Finally, as you are reading the story in your quiet voice, you begin to yawn strategically and frequently until she begins to yawn and settle in as well.  Next, you reinforce verbally how tired you are and shortly thereafter, she responds with "yeah, me too".   Before you know it, with a few simple techniques and adjustments, she is well on her way into a very deep sleep.  Mission accomplished.

Master persuaders are conscious of the power in ethically "leading" a desired effect using non verbal communication and body language in conjunction with spoken words.

When influencing and persuading others in a selling environment, a common technique which is very effective is the "New York Nod".

Simply put, when you are speaking to someone and are slowly nodding your head, the other person or group of persons will begin to nod their head too.

However, be very careful.  Don't misinterpret your customers head nod as being in agreement with you in a positive way, every time.

For instance, if your customer is struggling with your solution, product or service in the unconscious mind and they begin to nod in response to your head nodding, they could actually be reinforcing their negative belief as to why not to proceed further with you.

You must be very sure when applying this technique consciously.  Ensure that your customer has affirmed their thoughts positively leading up to your strategic nod and make sure that their body language and gestures are congruent with what they are saying.

As you apply the technique, observe that your customer is responding positively and that:

• They aren't touching their chin, nose or ears.
• The eye brows are not elevated upward on one side only.
• Their smile includes the eyes "smiling" as well
• The hands are in a relaxed position and no fist is evident
• The eyes did not look upwards

Master persuaders are not born.  They develop their skills.  They understand the value of interpreting non verbal and body language communication cues and are acutely aware of when to and when not to apply strategic ethical influences and persuasive techniques which will arrive at win/win desired outcome for both the customer and themselves.

Pay extra attention to your own body language and you will minimize any mistakes that you could unwillingly transmit to your customer.

Great Selling Everyone!
Eliot

Learn more about Influence and Persuasion by clicking here.