Seeing the Light
Hi Persuader,
In a previous article, I discussed the basics of the VAK (visual, auditory and kinesthetic) representational system and it’s value in gaining rapport with an affluent clientel . In this article, I’m going to go more in depth with visual language.
What happens when a person is using visual words (bright, vibrant, shining, ‘I see what you’re saying’)? They’re remembering and processing information visually in their mind. If you hear them do it a lot, it may be their dominant sensory system and the one they’re most conscious of.
What kind of behaviors might we expect from someone who’s using predominantly visual words? People who are visual tend to speak a lot with their hands. They generally talk faster as if they’re trying to tell you all of the thousand words that a picture is worth.
Put a picture in your mind and you’re trying to describe it to me you may really get off on a roll here with your words, you’re trying like crazy to describe it and you’re talking, like sometimes people they talk really fast, even talking a little higher. The pictures are flipping through their mind at high speed and they’re trying to give you all the information that they’re seeing and they can’t quite keep up with it even.
Read that last paragraph out loud really fast and you’ve got an idea of how a visually oriented person may describe this to you.
There are a few other things that you’ll notice. They may often breathe higher in their chest. You may also notice that they need distance between you as they speak. They don’t like to stand real close to people, not too close, because what happens is you will be in their picture if you stand too close.
Try this: if you think someone is very visually oriented when you’re talking to them, just move so you’re standing really close to them and see if they don’t get uncomfortable.
You can also do some other interesting things. If you notice them looking off into space at particular areas while they talk, you could point to that space and slide it around. In other words, point to the space and then move it to some other space and watch them get confused.
Just play around a little bit with it. You’re not going to hurt anybody doing that. It’s not like you’re going to cause trauma, or anything, contrary to what others might lead you to believe. But it will start to help you understand what happens when someone is highly visually oriented.
These kinds of people can be very powerfully persuaded. When you find them, you’ll learn to love what you can do with them.
When gaining rapport it is valuable to understand the representational system that the prospect is using, but as we will discover in future articles, there’s a shortcut. For now, just see if you can identify five visually oriented people this week and notice how they speak and gesticulate.
This is only the tiniest fraction of powerful persuasion basics. To get really deep, contact Kim and ask her to tell you all about the Persuasion Factor.
Until Next Time,
Kenrick E. Cleveland