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Open- or Closed-Minded
Lets consider the first step: listening to what you have to say. People listen with either an open or a
closed mind.
Open-minded people evaluate what you have to say based on what they hear or observe. They
make up their minds based on what you have to tell or show them.
Closed-minded people evaluate what you have to say as it relates to what they already know. These
are the people who believe that Japanese cars are better made and will not listen to any evidence to the
contrary. Its the buyer who is happy with his present supplier and wont take the time to listen to your
proposal.
Obviously, a closed-minded person is harder to persuade. With open-minded people, you may be
able to persuade them by talking about what you or your product can do or by letting them read about
it. With a closed-minded person, your persuasion must include letting them see a demonstration or,
better yet, getting them to take part in a hands-on demonstration.
Open-minded: Show and tell.
Closed-minded: See and do.
When its not obvious, how do you tell whether a buyer is open- or closed-minded? For the sake of
example, lets say that you sell glass bottles and youre trying to get a spaghetti sauce company to
switch to you as its packing supplier. You might say to the buyer, You tell me that your present
supplier is the best in the business, but how do you know that?
If the buyer says, I never hear any complaints from our production department, or I read the
quality control reports, youre probably dealing with someone who is open-minded. Lucky you!
However, if this person says, I personally inspect the rejects every week, and its never more than
one-tenth of one percent, or I spent five days at their plant in Pacoima. Nobody can touch their
quality control, then youve probably got a closed-minded person on your hands. You have to get
this person to see what you can do.
Youre not likely to run into many people whose primary sense is tactile (touch), gustatory (taste),
or olfactory (smell). You will be primarily concerned with distinguishing between auditory and visual
people. So, heres a quick test to see which you are: Close your eyes and think of the house in which
you lived when you were 10 years old. Hold that thought for 15 seconds, then open your eyes and
continue reading.
When you did that exercise, did you primarily see the house in your mind, or did you mainly hear
things (such as the laughter of children or your mother working in the kitchen). As I told you in the
earlier chapter on credibility, most people are visual. They believe more what they see than what they
hear.
The point Im making here is not that you should be able to analyze which of their five senses
dominates. I want you to realize that some people are persuaded by what their five senses tell them.
Some people are dominated by their sixth sense, intuition. However, it is interesting to note that you
can tell whether people are visual or auditory by the expressions of speech they use. Here are some
comparisons:
If you determine that the person youre trying to persuade is primarily using his five senses to
analyze your presentation (a conscious thinker) you will know that you must be concrete in your
appeal. He needs to see it, hear it, touch it, taste it, or smell it in order to be convinced. Do everything
you can to let him experience your product or service sensually. For food or drink, tasting and
smelling will be important as well.
Conversely, some people dont interpret your presentation with their five senses at all. They react
more by gut instinct or intuition. These people are called kinesthetic (feeling) people. When we add
kinesthetic language to the chart, we get a new feel for whats going on!
When dealing with kinesthetic people (unconscious thinkers) its less important that you let them
see, hear, touch, taste, or smell your product or service. The way to persuade them is to paint vivid
mental pictures of how its going to feel to be doing business with you.
(What Ive covered in this chapter is based on the work of famed psychologist Carl Jung, and I
cover it in more detail in my tape program Confident Decision Making, which is available by calling
my office at (800)-Y-DAWSON.)
4. Next, determine if the buyer is open- or closed-minded. You can persuade the open-minded
buyer with show and tell, but the closed-minded buyer must see and do.
5. Next, does the buyer process the information youve given her with conscious or unconscious
thought? Conscious thinkers process the information with their five senses. Unconscious
thinkers go with their intuitive feeling about your persuasion presentation. So with conscious
thinkers, you must let them see, hear, and touch your product or service. With unconscious
thinkers, its more important to romance their imaginations.