Editor’s note: Here is another quote from the book Persuasion Mastery: 500 Lessons, by Stephan Thieme. This time, try to imagine you’re working with a client that has doubts on the effectiveness of NLP or Hypnosis – how can you use this strategy below (which is by itself based on NLP!) to overcome such objections.

Parallel Universes

By: Stephan Thieme

When a prospect turns their nose up at a sale because they foresee a negative outcome, how can you proceed without trying to take that negative prediction away?

Try this.

Point out both possible futures. Start with the negative one. Acknowledge the basis for it. Bring up the positive possible future. You must end with the positive one. State a basis for that which is based on their values and beliefs.

If you aren’t clear on their values and beliefs, see if you can make a little conversation with them.

Find out how they dealt with their bad experience, how they made a major decision related to the product, and anything else that might be helpful. Then bring things back to the positive future. If you over hype it, if is too positive, you will lose them, so use some restraint as you do that.

“Yes, our profession has been heatedly discussing the bankruptcy of (insert large insurer here). That was disturbing news, until cooler heads pointed out the overall strength of the industry. I was already aware of that because I stay very well informed of the indicators. There are also safety factors that I tell my customers about, since it is a well-regulated business. I see continued payouts on all policies.”