PromoEQP: Promonoise... An Altered State of Mind

Promonoise... An Altered State of Mind

Feb 9, 2022

Nope, not interested!

I’ve heard that before. I’m sure you have too. It’s a common refrain, particularly in sales (and sometimes in relationships).

Your pitch was impeccable... You followed the sales process to a “T.”... Your opening was fresh... You asked a lot of questions... Stimulated the imagination, checked-in with the prospect, educated, overcame objections, and closed fearlessly.

But they still gave you a big NO. So, you probably weren’t successful in altering your customer’s state of mind.

The two primary drivers of life altering change are:

1) Catastrophically significant events

and...

2) An open mind.

On second thought... Forget number two.

For as much as we think we’re open-minded, we’re really not. Our paradigms, programs, habits, norms, and understanding, are embedded so deeply in the subconscious that it’s practically impossible to rewrite the narrative. That is, unless something catastrophic happens or you’re taught properly how to reprogram your subconscious.

The great news is that a sale doesn’t necessarily constitute a life altering change (unless you’re selling a Boeing 747). This means that you can actually practice the art of speaking to someone’s underlying subconscious programming if you look at the brighter side of catastrophic events. (That sounds preposterous doesn’t it?! Is there a positive side to catastrophe?)

In a catastrophic situation, what’s actually happening is that the occurrence is typically so intense and so emotionally impactful that everything else that runs in the subconscious stops working. You find yourself immersed in the situation at hand and nothing else matters. Grocery shopping, cleaning the dishes, cutting the lawn - none of them matter. You have the ability to wholly focus your attention on one thing. This is when you’re finally open and vulnerable. This is when you’re open to change.

To a lesser extent, opening the door to the present moment and having a corridor to open-mindedness can happen when routines are deliberately broken. This is why a lot of people say that the biggest deals are brokered on the golf course or with a couple of martinis. This is because you’ve broken the routine barrier. Unfortunately, it’s not always possible to get your prospect on the golf course or meet them for dinner (especially during this age of COVID).

But remember this:

All you need is the slightest of openings to be able to resonate outside of the program.

And you can create that slight opening by altering someone’s state of mind.

So how does one do that? Drugs, alcohol, and terrible behavior are all things that come to mind, but we’re not interested in those medieval tactics. No; what you want to do is to use your power of individuality to do or say something that completely takes your prospect by surprise. There’s a very popular Tony Robbins video of him speaking with a person who is suicidal. It’s a tense exchange at first, but then Tony does something completely out of the ordinary. He asks the fellow why he hates himself. And then he asks if it’s because of the fellow’s red shoes. When the suicidal person says, “no,” Tony asks again, but this time with some coarse language. He says, “Are you sure, because they’re fuckin’ red?!” At that exact moment, the fellow smiles and Tony reaches out to touch him on his face. It’s all so unbelievably unexpected that it’s plain to see that Tony’s metaphorically broken open the door to this person’s programming. It’s at that moment that Tony’s message can resonate. But not before. Check it out on YouTube if you haven’t seen it. It’s incredible.

I’m not suggesting that you have to swear or do something crass to break the routine, but I’m suggesting that you allow the moment to guide you into doing or saying something that’s unexpected and from the heart. If you do that during a sales call or when you have something really important to share with your significant other, there’s a great chance that you’ll resonate and that your message will get past the defenses of the subconscious program.

I’m inclined to write something extremely witty and extraordinary right now in order to radically alter your state of mind and force you into remembering this article, but there are other techniques that I’ll touch on in another post that work quite well. I’ve just used one of them… ;)

Let’s keep making beautiful noise together!

Alex