There's a bumper sticker I saw recently that said, "Don't believe everything you think." Ironically, I found this oddly thought provoking. Something about it resonated with me. There's something to the idea that thinking is a little bit overrated.

Wikipedia defines thought or thinking as: a mental process that allows beings to model the world and to deal with it effectively according to their objectives, plans, ends and desires.

C.S. Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia, believed that there are three levels of human thought. 'Will' is the first level and contains all that is verifiable, tangible, real and factual. These are the thoughts that dictate your day-to-day actions and have influence and an impact on your other than conscious mind.

The next level of human thought is your intellect. The intellect tends consists of your conscious thoughts and decisions, things we've studied, academics, true and verifiable information.

'Fantasy' is the third level and is the most random thought level. This is most active in children and more artistically inclined people, but even if you don't have an artistic bone in your body, this level can be really rich (if you're a lucid dreamer, for example). The projection into this level can give our prospects and clients images in their minds of what their lives will look like once they've purchased our products and services. This is powerful stuff.

By giving them a "fantasy", we have them invested, at least partially, in being involved with what we have to offer. It's a simple process where saying, "I'd like you to picture X" or "How do you think it will look when you have Y" (X or Y being whatever their highest criteria is). They are then in the position of feeling what it will be like to have their core values and highest criteria met. Follow this up by "marrying" your product or service with their criteria. For added power, determine whether you are dealing with an away from or a towards person and orient your language to go in that direction.

'The will' is another interesting arena that we can explore in terms of persuasion. Everyone believes they have strong wills, and for some of us, that may be true. I believe I am not someone who is easily influenced and my clients and students have exceptionally strong wills, however, we are constantly working on learning persuasion and can notice when someone is attempting to influence us the second it starts. Most of the world doesn't have the information we have and that's our advantage as we learn to unlock our our affluent prospect's and client's minds.

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Kenrick Cleveland teaches techniques to earn the business of affluent prospects using persuasion. He runs public and private seminars and offers home study courses and coaching programs in persuasion techniques.