Kevin Dutton, who is a famous psychologist has a term he calls “unbelief” which is the active resistance to what the other side is saying, complete rejection. This is where the two parties in a negotiation usually start.
They trade penny stocks, you think penny stocks are dumb.
They trade bitcoin, you think bitcoin is dumb.
They trade forex with 500:1 leverage, you know this is fucking dumb.
The problem is that we tend to love the “I’m right, you're wrong” debates which 99% of the time are a complete fucking waste of both your time and energy. You need to get out of that dynamic quick and avoid trying to overly impose your own point of view on your prospect (I know, easier said than done). We need them to come to their own conclusion, that what they are doing is bat shit insane without making them feel like bat shit (no one said sales was easy).
Unbelief is the friction that keeps persuasion in check, without it, there'd be no limits
If you can avoid the head banging against one another and get the other side to drop their unbelief, you can slowly work them towards your point of view on the back of their energy. You don't want to directly persuade them to see your ideas, instead you ride them toward your ideas.
Our job as a persuader is easier than we think, it’s not to get others believing what we say, it’s just to get them unbelieving in what they think. Once you can achieve that, the game is half won. Now let's take a look at two different examples of this below.
Pushing them toward your idea
I trade penny stocks… (them)
Losers trade penny stocks (bad you)
Well fuck you I trade them and I am not a loser (them)
(waste of time)
Riding them toward your idea
I trade penny stocks (them)
How has that been going for you? (you)
Pretty bad I have had a few winners here and there however also some major losses (them)
Damn I am sorry to hear that, we do not allow our members to trade them since the risk factors tend to outweigh the potential reward, is there a reason why you continue to trade them? (you)
Well I’m new to trading and don't have a lot of capital to trade bigger names (them)
Why do you feel that you can't afford to invest in bigger names? (you)
In a name like Apple I would only be able to buy around 10 shares but with penny stock I can sometimes buy 1000 shares (them)
You are correct, having less shares sometimes might not feel as great however if you have 1000 shares of a penny stock or 10 shares of apple and they both increased by 10% which one would have made more money? (you)
Umm wouldn't it be the same? (them)
That’s right, with investing it’s all about the percentages not the number of shares, now which do you think is more likely to lose 50% in a day that penny stock or a leader like Apple?
Probably the penny stock (them)
That is also correct, are you starting to see why we focus on the winners, our downside is much less costly while our upside can be the same regardless of the amount, wouldn't you agree? (you)
Do you have balls?
Give this attempt a whirl and post the conversation in the Group Chat so we can see how it went and if any tweaks or improvements can be made.