I recently had a student ask me, "Kenrick, how do you keep track all of these persuasion strategies? Every time we have a call, you pull out another technique. Sometimes I can't even remember to use the 'unconscious hello'."

So I asked my student, "Have you ever learned a second language?" He said, "Yes." I asked, "Well, were you fluent within a week of starting it?"

And I asked him, "And have you ever learned to play a musical instrument?" He said, "In fact, I have. I play the piano." I asked, "Well, were you playing Rachmaninoff Piano Concertos after a few lessons?"

My feeling is that persuasion is equally as rich and intricate as learning a new language and playing a musical instrument, and maybe even more so, because once you know a language, aside from learning more difficult words, and once you play an instrument, aside from learning more challenging compositions, there is a finite amount of information you can learn. With persuasion, we are dealing with an ever expanding field with breakthroughs happening one after the other.

The absolute best way I know to become proficient and masterful in persuasion is to drill on the basics. In order to master the basics, you have to practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. There's no trick to it.

Scientists and educators agree that there are five different traditional ways of learning: imprinting, habituation, associative learning, observational learning and play.

Imprinting is a phase-based learning usually associated with young animals and humans and is the process by which babies learn from their parents. This, obviously, has no use for us in learning persuasion, but for the fact that the brain state which is achieved by use of the light and sound machines closely resembles the brain state of the very young.

When an animal responds to a stimulus, this is habitual learning. If the stimulus isn't rewarding or harmful, then their response eventually diminishes. This learning rests in the other than conscious mind.

For persuasion purposes, there are two types of learning that we can use in our quest for mastery. The first is observational. We are all very familiar with observing. We do it all the time. Observe, repeat. Observe, repeat. We pay attention to what's going on around us and then we emulate it.

And lastly, we have play. Whenever I give out homework for one of my coaching calls, I call it 'home play'. I love the idea that what we are doing is creative and playful. The concept of playfulness is a way to enhance learning and our experience of life in general.

To my frustrated student, I responded, "Persuasion is playful, persuasion is observation, persuasion is habitual, persuasion is repetition, persuasion is emulating, it's commitment, it's intention, and it comes in time with persistence and practice."

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