If you must know the four words, I’ll save you from scrolling and just tell you right away. The four words are:
“I’m not going to”
There. You’re done. You don’t need to read more. But, if you like, do read more, and I’ll give you a bit of context to make sense of these words.
A couple weeks ago, I got a message on LinkedIn (yes, LinkedIn, I have a profile there that I never check) from a dude who was reading my “10 Commandments of Con Men, Pick Up Artists, etc.” book.
I saw that he buys houses for cash. We got into a bit of a conversation. I asked him if, while dealing with house sellers, he has found any little persuasion tricks or deeper psychological principles, along the lines of what I share in the 10 Commandments book.
He had a bunch, including the following:
“When a person says ‘I’m not going to’ it usually means whatever they say after that, they’re going to do or want to do.”
He didn’t give me any examples, but I had heard an example just earlier that day. I had been listening to a call by marketer Travis Sago. Travis was talking about a campaign he ran to sell a bunch of spots for, I believe, an $11k program.
Travis’s strategy was to announce the price early in the campaign. People were shocked at how expensive the program was. One guy apparently wrote in to say, “Have you lost your everloving mind?”
Travis worked his magic during that campaign.
That “everloving” dude ended up buying on the final day. And when he did, he wrote Travis to say, “You know it’s funny, I told myself this morning I’m not going to do this.”
When you think about it, it’s obvious that when people say, “I’m not going to,” they are actually going to, or at least they want to.
Otherwise, why would the thought of doing the thing even be in their head? Even more so, why would they need to try to psychologically guard themselves against the thought by telling themselves and others that it won’t happen?
This is part of a bigger psychological principle, and one that you can use to communicate more effectively and influence people on a day-to-day level, whether you want to buy houses for cash, or to make people laugh, or even to win an election.
I cover all that in Commandment VI of my 10 Commandments book. Speaking of, here’s what the dude on Linked wrote me initially about that book:
“Hi John, I’ve almost finished your book (10 Commandments) and just wanted to say it’s delightful and I appreciate the menagerie of experts you drew on! Thank you”
If you haven’t gotten your copy of my book yet, here’s where you can find it waiting for you: