Secret persuasion tip no 2 – The power of punishment

Earlier on we were talking a little on the power of the reward and how this can really be the main way that you can try and persuade people to believe in you. In fact, the power of the reward is something that is being used all over the world and you might want to focus your overall strategy on your persuasion techniques. But that is one side of the coin, and it is time to look at something else. We have all heard about the analogy of the donkey, and how you can use either the carrot or the stick to persuade it to move along and carry your load.

Well, earlier, the reward bit was really talking about the carrot and now it is talking about the stick. The carrot is playing on the emotion of euphoria and hope, two really very powerful ways that you can persuade someone. Someone who has hope in something will do almost anything you say to realise that hope, and if you boost them with a little euphoria, you will have endless possibilities in the whole game of persuading people. So we have talked about those two emotions, and now we will be moving on to two more and they have to do with the concept of the stick, which is a concept of punishment. What you need to know about punishment is that it evokes another set of emotions, which can be down to fear and dread.

Now, these two emotions are just as powerful in letting loose some of the persuasion as well, and this can be easily seen. In fact, I do not need to say much about fear as a good persuasion technique because it is all around the world. Jails, prisons, in schools, at work – they all use fear to a certain extent to gain some performance or as a means to an end. So you need to be a master of both. Persuasion is not a one dimensional object that has only one route to success. What you need to understand is that there are more than one way for you to utilise emotions to persuade someone to do what you want them to do. Punishment does not mean that you will be physically hurting them or killing them if they do not do what you say, it is also about putting scenarios in their head called worst case scenario. The medical community does it all the time.

Take this, if not you will be dropping like flies in a few years. Or do not eat this, or else your kidneys will turn into paper. So there are really many ways you can use scenarios and the power of fear to your own advantage. Punishment is a great way for you to persuade someone to do what you want them to do so try and learn and refine the art, adding your own unique perspective on it. Soon, people will be eating from your hand.