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Taking It Down A Notch

Taking It Down A Notch:
The Power of Simplicity in Persuasion

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler.”—Henry David Thoreau

My daughter, Victoria, is becoming a beautiful pianist. Beginning piano students have a huge body of knowledge to learn—how to read music, hand position, tempo, foot pedals, where on the keyboard to place their hands. It takes lots and lots of effort to make a piece sound effortless. Students are not simply given a Beethoven Piano Sonata and expected to put it all together at once and play it.

Even an advanced player learns a piece ‘hands alone’, as in, learning the right hand separately from the left hand and then, eventually, putting them together.

There’s a long road from

beginning student to a sonata.

Breaking things down to their element and practicing, practicing, practicing… that’s the goal with learning anything, from the piano to persuasion.

I think everything is powerful in its simplicity and

when we start junking it up

with too much complexity,

that’s when it goes awry.

When I first got involved in the world of persuasion, I thought about all the trainers and teachers in this field who have not succeeded. I realized that it’s partly because they are trying to do all these complex things all together and none of it works.

So what I started doing is going back to the real basics, to the real simple things and say, ‘I’ve got to master this basic idea until I can do it in my sleep, blindfolded, when I’m exhausted, in the middle of my dreams, in the middle of my third dream, I want to do it that way.’

So I started working to do that and I started to put those things together. But all of a sudden the more complex things just started happening. I wondered,

“Why is it that I work on

the basics and the complex things

get better? I don’t get it.”

Well now I get it, and I’ll tell you something, the most profound things in the world are that which are really simple. And when you get really good at it, the big things start coming together more and more.

Take a few moments and evaluate the core of what you’re persuading people to do. What are the simple principles? Focus on these, and watch your results begin to climb.

Remember to connect them to your prospect’s deepest values. To learn more about how to do this, check out the Persuasion Factor at www.PersuasionFactor.com.

Have A Profitable Day,

Kenrick E. Cleveland

Click Here to Leave a Comment Below 3 comments
Rod Adkins - July 22, 2007

Thanks Kenrick – Good post on simplification, gaining clarity on the base buiding blocks that drive success. I can relate to what you have written. It’s also what mark Joyner espouses with his Simpleology course.
I would have enjoyed attending your seminar, however being in Australia, slows me down, just a little! No doubt you will have a DVD package from the event online soon.

cheers

Rod

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clifford cole - July 23, 2007

Thanks so much Kenrick!- I show business presentations quite often and I have noticed the more simple the presentation, the better the results. So many speakers and presenters seem to speak to hear themselves and fail to understand that a prospect is learning something new. A prospect or a client is like a baby learning to walk. So many presenters try to make a client run! And thats exactly what happens- they run away! Your teachings have helped change my results for the better.
The new look on the site is awesome too!
thanks again
Cliff

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Steve Walter - July 23, 2007

Absolutely! As an amature, albeit avid, photographer, I found the more equipment I bought, the worse my pictures became. When I started with only a basic, fixed lens 35 mm camera and used it to model some of the great photographer’s, I had some reasonable results. When I added all of the slick stuff the photo mags were promoting, my work suffered dramatically because I couldn’t focus on the basics.

For me, persuasion has been a long, ongoing process of discovery. I don’t remember which of Kenrick’s material I began with, but I have gradually and continously added to my repertoire.

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