We Should Not Vilify Sales People

One of the biggest hangups I see with trying to help people become healthier is persuading them to do the work.

With dementia it becomes even more difficult. Just trying to persuade them to dress themselves or take a shower can be challenging.

I also hear from a lot of people that they can’t convince their mother or father to eat well, exercise or change their habits.

Heck many of us struggle to convince ourselves to change our own habits.

Our society doesn’t like the idea of sales and persuasion. Seems gross and slimy. Corrupt even.

Yet our society would not function if it were not for sales and persuasion. Yes there are times we feel like someone ripped us off.

There are many more times that a helpful advertisement or sales person guided us to a solution that improved our lives. Hopefully at the lowest cost. The most successful brands and sales people do this. They are the most successful because you walk away feeling good about your purchase. You want to do more business with them in the future.

There are lots of psychological techniques sales people use to close the deal. It’s worth learning about them for your own life. Not to be manipulative or take advantage of people. More to lead people you love (including yourself) to doing the right thing and improving their lives.

Advertisers love a social psychologist named Robert Cialdini. Mr Cialdini teaches near me at Arizona State University. He wrote some books on the art of persuasion that I think everyone should read.

Like it or not the healthcare industry tries to influence you and your family every day. For instance, Mr Cialdini talks about a persuasion technique called “Authority”.

The healthcare industry uses this technique like crazy. The idea is that people will willingly do what ‘experts’ or authority figures tell them. Many people, and elderly people in particular, will do what a doctor tells them without question.

If I want to sell you a supplement, one of the most effective techniques is to have someone in a white lab coat with a stethoscope around their neck next to a picture of the product.

I don’t say this to make you mad at the healthcare system for manipulating you. I say this stir something in your brain along the lines of:

“How can I use persuasion to convince myself or my family to improve their health, finances or life in general?”

I often see children of elderly people saying to their Mom or Dad in a loud, frustrated tone something like:

“Mom take your pills now.”

I know many times they are frustrated. If they just took a step back and learned about persuasive techniques, their frustration levels would drop. And the compliance of their family members would increase.

That’s a win for everyone.

I will talk about some of these persuasive techniques in future newsletters. Hopefully they will help improve your life and those around you. And maybe this will help you think about how you can get your message across to those you love more effectively.