“Tell a man how to think and he may rebuff you. Suggest subliminally how he should think and he’ll be more accepting of your thoughts.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert
“How To Negotiate Better By Using Subliminal Messaging”
Subliminal messaging is conveyed in every negotiation. If not overtly, it occurs covertly. It can be camouflaged in a message that’s plainly displayed (e.g. eat right for better health – with ‘better health’ being the underlining point of focus) or it can be dramatically exclaimed as, eat right for better health or die!
The point is, to negotiate better, subliminal messaging has to be applied adroitly in your negotiations. If done so nimbly, you’ll enhance your negotiation efforts.
Consider using subliminal messaging in the following ways in your negotiations.
In Your Communications:
Have you caught yourself in a mental quandary when doing or thinking of something and wondered the source of the thought or action? You may have said to yourself, I don’t know where that came from. During such times, you’re more than likely operating off of a subliminal thought that stemmed from some source placing it in your subconscious mind. Just like others do to you, you can intimate such suggestions to others too.
When communicating with the target of an upcoming negotiation, consider the verbiage that might conceal your hidden/subliminal message(s); this will be different each time you negotiate because the message has to be tailored to the perception and perspective of the target. Thus, to be effective, you need to know if your target is more disposed to enhance her environment or escape the one she’s in. The difference in perception is the degree that you would need to craft your subliminal message.
If you raise your awareness to the usage of subliminal messaging, you‘ll note its prevalence all around you. Noting its usage and how it affects you will give you more insight about how you can become better at employing it.
Agenda Topics/Points:
When shaping the agenda of the items that’ll be discussed in a negotiation, that’s another opportunity to embed subliminal messages. As an example, at the outset of the negotiation, the first topic might be ‘how to avoid an impasse’. The subliminal message could be, ‘avoiding an impasse is important to me’, ‘if we can’t agree on how we’ll address a possible impasse, there’s little need for me to continue negotiating’, ‘there are items on this agenda that I’m concerned about. Let’s address them up front’.
By planting subliminal messages in the agenda, you begin to set boundaries per how you’ll engage in the negotiation. You gain the added benefit of knowing, through her response, the thoughts the other negotiator has about your message. That gives you greater insight per the way she’s thinking and the opportunity to shape her thought process.
In The Media:
Your negotiation position can be enhanced when you provide proof of what you state as truth that’s in the media. To do so, plan how you’ll use pertinent subjects that are in the media during your negotiation as a point of proof. To enhance that proof, you can point to it as social proof to highlight your point (i.e. everyone is thinking a particular way, so it must be valid).
You don’t have to tell people how to think when you direct them to what they should think about. To the degree you can dictate their thoughts skillfully via subliminal messaging, you can control their thoughts. Once you become proficient at doing so, you’ll easily win more negotiations … and everything will be right with the world.
What are your thoughts? I’d love to hear them. You can reach me at Greg@TheMasterNegotiator.com
Remember, you’re always negotiating!