“Marketing Tricks the BIG Companies Use to Fool You” Series Use the Same Tricks to Build Your NLPCoaching Business VI

Marketing Tricks the BIG Companies Use to Fool You” Series Use the Same Tricks to Build Your NLPCoaching Business VI

These articles are written to be equally useful for the beginner of NLP and the NLP Trainer although some of the articles may be more advanced than others. If you find yourself reading an article that’s too advanced, give us a call or send us an email. We will be happy to clarify the issue for you.

Marketing Tricks: Article No.06

Throwing the baby out with the bath water.

Like all human technologies, all these PR linguistic patterns, of course, have a “dark side”. We discussed in a previous article the issue of manipulation VS integrity. So, we’re not going to cover it once again – but this very technique or pattern would not be possible without the general public’s tendency to throw away the baby with the bath water.

Most people’s thinking is caught in a dichotomous way of thinking. Dichotomous way of thinking presupposes that something is being twofold; that there is a classification into two opposed parts or subclasses. In other words it is a contradiction, and opposition. It is either this or that. Either white or black. Either I am right or you. And intrinsically it is nothing wrong with this unless,

It Prevents You From Thinking Openly And Narrows Down Your Choices

There’s a question lurking in the background here, and I hope you notice it. The inability to integrate paradoxes (in other words to hold in mind both ends of an apparent opposition without any mental strain) keeps your thinking into a very narrow box.

Additionally as an NLP Coaching Practitioner or Trainer how could you ever hope to develop enough flexibility of thinking to figure out a solution for your clients (or students) if your thinking is as stuck and as inflexible as theirs at one of the ends of an apparent contradiction?

Here is a very simple example: there are people who will tell you that you should eat meat. And there are people who will tell you that you should be vegetarian. Both parties are bringing arguments over arguments to support their side in this opposition. And if you put together two staunch supporters of either side, soon, no doubt, you shall see them getting at each other’s throats.

So we have here two opposing points of view that could lead to conflict. Notice that you have either choice A or choice B. But what if you could be all right with either one depending on the circumstances? You could eat vegetarian or a good steak and be perfectly happy.

Notice that if you are able to look at both sides from another position, observing the two conflicting parties but not being involved in the conflict yourself, you can make better choices, you feel freer and you’re not caught in the struggle.

Imagine now that you are caught in the conflict. Let’s say you are on the side of eating meat, and trying to convince your vegetarian opponent that the human digestive system is actually omnivorous. And you bring in discussion the name of a great scientist, let’s call him X, Nobel Prize Laureate, who was supportive of this idea.

Your vegetarian opponent can say something like: but X has been divorced, and he’s admitted to have smoked Marijuana when he was in college, so I am not going to listen to him! He’s a bad person.

This is an example where your vegetarian opponent is throwing away the baby with the bath water. One has nothing to do with the other, since you’re talking about scientific facts and s/he is refusing to accept your point based on personal value judgments.

So, pay attention,.

Pattern No.6 – ATTACK THE SOURCE – Discrediting An Idea By Showing An Unattractive or Even Offensive Source

Here examples will be enough to demonstrate the technique:

• We once heard somebody proposing that since Estabrooks was part of the MK Ultra, therefore his hypnosis techniques are no good and we should not learn them.
• The Fastrack NLP Practitioner is based on the accelerated 7 days CD assist format therefore is no good (you can’t learn NLP Practitioner material in 7 days).
• Every person coming from Eastern Europe or South America countries can’t understand complicated topics, because they come from third world countries and therefore have no education.

This pattern is self-explanatory. If you don’t get it, read this article again from the beginning.

To learn how to use it you can write a small article (3-4 paragraphs) in which you condemn Estabrooks for being part of MK Ultra Project. Notice that in order for it to work well you have to bring some sort of “fear” factor in the equation.
Or you can write a little article in which you defend your coaching skills or training skills as a response of “Why aren’t you in the Guinness Book of records?”

Until next time, be well.