Research shows that Nice Guys DO Finish Last

If you have read any self-help books, you have undoubtedly read the adage “Nice guys finish last”. Now research from Notre Dame and Cornell Universities show how being too agreeable negatively impacts your earnings. More recent research from Stanford, Northwestern and Carnegie Mellon) continued on the same path showing that people who are overly caring, for overs, generally tend to make bad leaders. In particular, being overly nice generally means that you will likely fail in 2 important leadership domains: prestige and dominance.

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How human needs influence motivation

Human needs psychology teaches us that all human motivation can be explained by the need to meet one or more of these primary needs:  Certainty Variety Significance Connection and love Growth Contribution  Anytime you are in an interpersonal relationship whether to close a sale or coach an employee, it is important to understand which of the needs (one or many) are motivating the other person. Each need is met differently so take the time to think about it.

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Conversational Hypnosis #2

This is part 2 of my series on conversational hypnosis. Please read part 1 before continuing. Let me start by thanking everyone that wrote in with positive comments about my blog and the content. One of the requests was to break the content into smaller nuggets, which I will be doing starting from this entry. I have read lots of books and attended dozens of seminars... Dr Cialdini has really summarized the “Principles of Influence” very succinctly. These are :

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Conversational Hypnosis (part 1)

After writing my entry about selling encyclopedias, many readers wrote in asking for more details. I had an internal debate and wasn't sure whether I should write a detailed article about covert hypnosis.... I have spent the better part of my carreer learning the techniques of covert hypnosis. When people read the word hypnosis, they think of a guy with a pendulum trying to get you to do things you normally wouldn't. They think of negative manipulation. Whatever your job or position, you spend your day convincing people to see situations your way.

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Build Rapport in 30 seconds or less

In my previous entry (What I Learned Selling Encyclopedias), I talked about overcoming objection. Quite a few of the readers of this blog wrote to me asking what techniques I use. The techniques of persuasion and overcoming objection cannot be explained in one entry and takes years to master. I have spent a lot of time and money learning various techniques and practicing them over and over to get them just right. I will share with you some of those techniques in upcoming entries.

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