Business NLP and using Metaphors
By Rintu Basu NLP Case Studies No Comments 15th May 2012This article is a demonstration of using business metaphors as a persuasion device. You can read it on multiple levels. On one level it is a business case study with useful information about attracting customers. On another level the article is using covert persuasion and NLP language on the reader for some specific purposes, so you can read the article looking for these and working out what they are being used for. But I would suggest reading this article a second or third time, once you have spotted and understand the patterns that are being used so you can relate them to your world and your applications.
NLP Case Study, Introduction
This article is about using some specific persuasion techniques in business. We will use a case study to demonstrate how you can use a few simple processes to structure your business to draw in raving fans that are desperate to spend money with you. You may have noticed that The NLP Company website has been through a long overdue overhaul. We will discuss the two guys I entrusted with that job, why I did that and the business they have generated as a result.
The Key Players
Cain and Matthew are two guys in their early twenties running their first internet based businesses. Cain has several sites of his own and has successfully created a website that was generating four figures per month by the third month of operation and is set to do a lot more. Matthew has just completed his degree including a research project about the business uses of social media. Matthew is currently working on an internship with me and Cain and I share an office space.
Find a Problem that Needs Solving
Successful businesses are based on finding a market that desperately wants to buy something that the business has. One of the easiest ways of finding a product or service to sell is to look at the problems you desperately need solutions to.
In 2006 when we launched the NLP Company website it was incredibly innovative and cutting edge for a whole number of reasons. Now in 2011 it was looking a little old, tired and doesn’t have all the functionality that is needed after five years of internet evolution. In fact the website has needed an overhaul for about two years I have just never found anyone that I was confident in to do it.
The problem was I needed a web designer that understood web design from a commercial perspective. Not about fancy looking, clever design but things that draw people in, make them feel like they want to stay and ultimately to buy things. In my experience you can eliminate roughly half of the web designers out there just based on that criteria alone, but there is so much more I needed from them.
I needed someone to make critical decisions on some content, sales copy and web design so they needed to understand at least some basics about NLP Persuasion Skills and Hypnotic Language Patterns. I’ve met lots of web designers that pretend that they know something about persuasive language but have seen few with any substance. The people I used would also need to know a huge amount about search engine optimisation, email marketing and integrating social media platforms on a business basis.
Again you will find lots of web design state that they do most if not all of these things, but trust me ask a few pertinent questions and you will find that they have little knowledge. You may already understand how frustrated I was getting and why it has taken me two years to get a solution.
With Cain and Matthew I spotted an opportunity to train them to be able to do what I needed. Cain designed his website and in less than three months it is making him four figures per month profit. Matthew passed his degree with research on the business use of social media platforms. Between them they already had the attitude, the skills and a large amount of the knowledge needed for the job.
Creating the Motivation, Developing the Skills
The situation was not as easy as letting Cain and Matthew just work on my site. Whilst they needed some more experience and to gain some more skills it was vitally important that they embraced a particular reframe or shift of perspective about what they were doing. Also whilst I am happy to pay them for the work I actually wanted to give them something a little more valuable than just money.
There are thousands of web designers of varying quality out there. What I needed Cain and Matthew to understand was the special and unique nature of the service they could provide. What this pair could offer is a service to create a website specifically designed to sell a product or service including integrated blogs, facebook and twitter along with hypnotic sales copy fully search engine optimised with integrated opt in and email list management.
In essence they could offer a website designed to your specifications with cutting edge marketing tools built in ready to sell your product or service. All you need to do is plug your material in and it is ready to go. Along with all this they can offer training in how to use all of it and via third parties can also offer traffic driving services and with me add a whole hypnotic / NLP / Persuasion Skills slant to their web sites. I suspect there are very few web designers that could get close to this service.
When I put the idea to Cain and Matthew I was quite specific in the language I had them using. Here is something I had them saying, “If you want a website then there are hundreds of designers out there and many of them will give you a much nicer looking website than we could produce. If you want to sell your product or service on line and you want the marketing engine in one place with easy to use functionality that you control then talk to us.” This is what I call out branding. Providing a product or service that no one else in the market place is offering.
In any context imagine the situation when you suddenly appear to be unique and are providing something that no one else can.
Testing the Idea
In reality I got them the first prospect and suggested to Cain and Matthew that they could make a few extra pounds by doing the site for before telling them how they could market themselves. They did a great job on the first site and then we started to discuss the idea of them developing this as another business stream for them.
Here are some of the sites they have worked on:
Once they had a few websites designed and built I decided they had gained enough knowledge and skills to work on mine. The down side is that they charged me. The up side is that I was fully confident that I had found a company that could do what I needed them to do.
The Difference that Makes the Difference
Whilst there is still work to be done on my site Cain and Mathew are now branching out and working with a few selected clients. They are specifically looking for clients that have a product or service that would sell via the internet. They are looking for people that need a high converting websites that the owners are going to use to drive traffic organically through search engine rankings as well as developing their social media presence.
The point that is worth making about a persuasion skills context is that these guys now have a highly niched service for specific types of people. The benefits of the service are clearly defined and the service is unique.
This makes the persuasion process so much easier. It is easier to find the right types of people and they are much easier to sell to. Often it is much easier to find people that want to go where you want to lead them rather than trying to convince resistant people.
A Unique Deal
These guys have done a brilliant job on my site and have found themselves in a position where they can genuinely offer something great to their prospective clients. I want them to succeed. You have read this far into this article and that means you are interested in either persuasion skills or internet marketing or both. And I want you to succeed. For these reasons I am willing to offer a very special deal.
If you are in a position where you can make use of Cain and Matthew’s services go and speak to them. If they accept you as a client on whatever basis you agree with them I will give you two individual skype coaching calls on whatever area of your internet business you feel needs it. This might be doing a review of your sales funnel, it might be working through you sales page making it more hypnotic, it might be working on a joint venture email or even how you are going to hire more staff. Whatever business coaching you need I will give you two skype sessions. This alone is worth over $1000.
If you want to take advantage of this offer you need to talk to Cain and Matthew and arrange to discuss with them your website requirements. Let them know I sent you and from there I will be in touch directly and we can arrange your coaching sessions. But remember my time is limited so I am restricting this to the first five people that book. You can click through and find out more about Cain and Matthew on their website.
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