Cause-and-effect statements can be incredibly persuasive because we naturally create cause-and-effect mental constructs to generate rules that are useful in our lives. For example, the first time you placed your hand on a burning-hot object you created a mental rule that excess heat causes pain. With this rule firmly implanted in your mind, you better understand the cause-and-effect relationships of physical events in your world and you are better equipped for survival.
As the human mind naturally creates and processes cause-and-effect constructs, it tends to accept a command, suggestion or statement contained within a cause-and-effect pattern without rationalizing the why implied in the relationship. As such, the suggested effect of a causative agent need only be plausible to be accepted by your listener.
Causal relationships can be indicated directly, as in the example: “Postponing the decision to own our widgets will cause you to lose more than two-thousand dollars a month.” Or, they may be implied rather than stated directly, as in the example: “As you read through our proposal, you will become more and more excited about the possibilities…”
Cause-and-effect statements are often presented in an “if – then” manner, suggesting that if (some event or thing) happens, then (something else) will occur. This is a simple structure that you can use to form your own cause-and-effect language patterns relating to your unique situation. For example, “If you read this entire article (then) you will naturally become more persuasive and more influential.”
You can also connect causes with their effects by using words like “because,” and “as” to generate simple, yet highly effective cause-and-effect language patterns. For example, “Because you are reading this now, you are ready to take the next step in becoming a more persuasive person.” Now, that may or may not be the case, but can you see how readily cause-and-effect suggestions can be accepted by the unconscious minds of your listeners?
As you become more familiar with cause-and-effect suggestions, you will notice that they imply a temporal (time) relationship in that the causative agent occurs before its suggested effect. And because these language patterns are virtually irresistible, temporal words can be used to form very powerful cause-and-effect statements, as follows:
- Before you… (causative thing) you can/will/ (plausible effect of causative thing)…
- As you… (causative thing) you can/will/ (plausible effect of causative thing)…
- After you… (causative thing) you can/will/ (plausible effect of causative thing)…
Cause-and-effect suggestions are powerful patterns of influence and persuasion. They are easy to formulate and use with your listeners. Once you have written and practiced a few of them you will find that you are able to use them more and more naturally. Eventually you will be able to use them without even thinking about it. But first you will need to practice writing and using cause-and-effect suggestions because after all, practice makes perfect; does it not?
Dr. Andrew Horton is a Certified Master Practitioner and Trainer of NLP. He is a Certified Master Hypnotherapist and has been a featured speaker at the American Board of Hypnotherapy’s annual conference. Dr. Horton’s doctoral dissertation project featured extensive research into the application of NLP and hypnotic language patterns in the profession of selling. Though not representative of all participants, some subjects of the project increased their sales by as much as 194% in just nine weeks by incorporating his methods into their sales efforts.
To learn more about the amazing, persuasive power of conversational hypnosis, and receive a free hypnosis course, visit Dr. Horton’s website at http://www.free-hypnosis-course.com now.
You must log in to post a comment.