Do you want an ultra-powerful persuasion tool?
Well, you’ve already got it. But you might not be using it to the full. Let me show you why, with an example from The Crucible.
The Crucible is a play about the Salem witch trials. A bunch of girls in Salem turn hysterical and start accusing people around town of being witches.
The local reverend, Samuel Parris, is all for the witch hunt.
John Proctor, a farmer and humanist, is all against it.
Proctor knows the girls are lying. He’s even got one of them to confess in private. And now he’s trying to reason with Parris. How could the best people in town, who have been respected and trusted their whole lives, suddenly be in league with the devil? But the Reverend cuts Proctor off:
PARRIS: Do you read the Gospel, Mr. Proctor?
PROCTOR: I read the Gospel.
PARRIS: I think not, or you should surely know that Cain were an upright man, and yet he did kill Abel.
When I read this line, I thought Proctor’s goose was gandered. How do you respond to that? For one thing, it sounds like solid logic. For another, arguing against it means you’re arguing against the Bible. And not respecting the Bible is a sure sign of being a witch… along with weighing the same as a duck.
But then in the very next line, I was shocked and awed. Because Proctor does respond, and in a way that gets him out of the mess he was in.
PROCTOR: Aye, God tells us that. But who tells us Rebecca Nurse murdered seven babies by sending out her spirit on them? It is the children only, and this one will swear she lied to you.
I thought this was brilliant. In fact, I thought I had hit upon something like the reverse philosopher’s stone. A way to turn gold back into lead. A way to diffuse analogies in general.
My greed glands started working. I could use the Proctor technique both to dismiss other persuader’s analogies… and to make my own persuasion stronger. I’d be rich!
Aye, but no. I tried to generalize what Proctor did above. And after thinking about it a lot, the best I came up with is, “Look close at the analogy and figure out where it breaks down.”
Bah. That’s about as useful as telling a kid to lick faster because the ice cream in his hand is melting. It’s too little, too late.
Because most of us aren’t as quick on our feet as John Proctor. And if you try to engage your System 2 brain in diffusing an analogy, well, good luck. The analogy is already in your head, and it’s done its work.
At least that’s my claim. An analogy is an ultra-powerful persuasion tool that’s almost impossible to resist when used right. It lights up your prospect’s brain from the inside. And it’s above critical judgment.
Perhaps you don’t agree with me. Fine.
So look at what Proctor did above. And figure out how you could do the same in general. And then take your new system… and let me know how well it diffuses the following related idea:
“Most people are like automobiles. They can be pushed or pulled along, or they can be moved to action by starting their own motive power within.”
Have I got your own motive power going? Then steer your automobile towards my email newsletter, because I have many more powerful persuasion ideas to share there.