Greg Wilson who is known as “The Honest Conman.” Greg is a top magician specializing in close-up magic, sleight-of-hand and confidence trickery. Past celebrity clients have included Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tony Curtis, Ted Danson, Mel Brooks, Jamie Foxx, Ice-T, Ashton Kutcher, Kevin Pollack, Barbara Eden and Neal Patrick Harris. The list just can go on and on.
He is a Federation of Magic Societies two-time award winner
He is also a teacher on the art of persuasion.
You can find him online at gregorywilson.com.
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What To Listen For
Everyone is persuading someone.
If someone says that they aren’t trying to sell you, they actually are trying to persuade you – self-stultification.
Golden rule of persuasion: people have free will. “A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.” If they aren’t persuaded, you won’t get them to yes. They can’t feel coerced.
How to Persuade People Who Don’t Want to be Persuaded: Get What You Want, Every Time!
Persuasion isn’t forcing. It is finesse.
“Use collaboration bate.” Classic force is used in sleight of hand tricks. In conversation, you can use reach and withdraw as a technique.
In a normal conversation, you might have a destination in mind that you want to get to but but not an exact map. The key is to wait for something favorable to you. If someone brings up a feeling (emotion) you might say based on what they say. You might then follow with “are you saying?” After a while, you can say “tell me more.” This gives a framework using someone else’s words.
Manipulation is a common word associated with persuasion. Greg frames this as “positive manipulation,” meaning that if someone gets what they want, you will get what you want. In the One Minute Salesperson, it talks about the paradox because you can’t give to get.
One of the top books on persuasion is Influence.
Greg came up with a framework called “M.A.G.I.C.” This is to get someone to see your line of thinking.
M stands for Melt. Greg looks at this as how you would need to heat up a candle for it to melt. For this you can use humility and humor.
If you look at rapport as red, yellow and green, you usually can’t go from red to green with someone. You need to first get them to “yellow.”
A stands for Ask. You don’t get what you don’t ask for.
G stands for give. Give them manners. Be extra polite. Get into their shoes.
We looked at getting a speeding ticket, and when the officer asks if you were speeding, you can use the line “you could be right.” Never admit that you are wrong and that they are right.
I stands for inoculate. This is done by “overcoming the objection before it arises.” A way to remember that is: OTOBIA. With persuasion, you want to defuse something at the fuse instead of taking a cannon ball to the chest.
C stands for collaborate. This is something you are doing with another person.
Two steps to make this whole process easier: 1) know where you are going, and 2) get an idea of what someone thinks about in that process.
While the term persuade is accurate, Greg likes the word “sway” because this is more of a dance. There needs to be a certain amount of harmony and when resistance shows up you are the one that needs to do the moving.
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