Hypnosis in sales?

Quote:

Originally Posted by TommyMac5

Milton, if I understand you correctly, you don't feel that Hypnotic suggestion is overly manipulative, whereas I do.

What is it about hypnotic suggestion that you find overly manipulative?

Milton
[What do you think their argument would be?]

I am not an attorney but perhaps one reads these forums and can offer an answer.
I would think something along the line of "diminished capacity" or "duress" for starters.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TommyMac5

The idea of using hypnotic suggestion in the sales process *really* rubbed me the wrong way, maybe it's just me. I don't know alot about hypnotic suggestion but I can't imagine it sticks long-term, and I would think that a buyer may have misgivings conciously or subconciouly about thier purchase that would affect future business.

I also feel that even if I was skilled at this - employing it on purpose in selling efforts just doesn't seem right personally.

Have you ever asked a client to "remember" something from their past? Have you ever asked a client to "imagine" himself in the future enjoying the benefits of using your product?

If you did... do you consider that as overly manipulative? Do you feel that you had an unfair and unethical advantage over your client?

It sounded kind of comlpcated to me. I think I'm in the 'old dog, new tricks' camp.

Susan

Quote:

Originally Posted by SalesGuy

Have you ever asked a client to "remember" something from their past? Have you ever asked a client to "imagine" himself in the future enjoying the benefits of using your product?

You've got the idea. When the client turns their attention inward to "remember" or "imagine" that is hypnosis.

First, even if I could do this, I don't think I'd want to employ such a method.
However, here's a new wrinkle in the discussion. A good friend of mine is a psychiatrist by trade. As part of his professional development, he did learn hypnosis and has found it to be an interesting tool, and uses it only ethically.

Here's the thing in terms of this discussion... He said it is completely impossible to use hypnosis to make someone do something they wouldn't normally be able to do. So in other words, he couldn't hypnotize me to rob a bank, because my values system wouldn't allow me to do it under normal circumstances, so therefore I could NOT be hypnotized to do such a thing.

SO.... in the context of this thread, if you WERE to use hypnosis to, say close a deal... then you know that you haven't forced your buyer into doing something they wouldn't normally do anyway.

Does this make it ethical? Heck if I know. In fact, I have to say that it may simply prove that you've used hypnosis to make someone make A purchase... does that mean that person would not have normally made THAT purpose.... or ANY purpose?

I've successfully managed to confuse myself... thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coda1108

Here's the thing in terms of this discussion... He said it is completely impossible to use hypnosis to make someone do something they wouldn't normally be able to do. So in other words, he couldn't hypnotize me to rob a bank, because my values system wouldn't allow me to do it under normal circumstances, so therefore I could NOT be hypnotized to do such a thing.

My understanding is that people go in and out of 'trance' all day long without anybody's assistance. So if you tell a story and the person goes into trance what is unethical about that? Sales trainers have been telling us to use stories for years.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jolly Roger

My understanding is that people go in and out of 'trance' all day long without anybody's assistance. So if you tell a story and the person goes into trance what is unethical about that? Sales trainers have been telling us to use stories for years.

Someone under a true hypnotic trance is very different from the state people go in and out of all day long. If you've ever seen a hypnotist perform with audience members, you'll see the members do crazy things like act like a kangaroo or something... That's real. (The hypnotist will undoubtedly have spent time with the people backstage before they come out... and when they're out on the stage, they're already under his hypnotic suggestion... he does something to "trigger" the kangaroo activity).

By the way, the end of my last post should have said "Purchase" both times I typed "Purpose"... woops, sorry.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jolly Roger

My understanding is that people go in and out of 'trance' all day long without anybody's assistance. So if you tell a story and the person goes into trance what is unethical about that? Sales trainers have been telling us to use stories for years.

Quote:

There are different levels of hypnosis which you can observe everyday in your friends and associates....

Light hypnosis is a wonderful altered state of awareness for programming your mind so that you can achieve higher levels of success and have more focused energy...

People who are in a medium-level hypnotic state are not distracted by outside disturbances... they may be reading a book or pushing a grocery cart and not even respond to a loud noise a few feet away...

In the deepest levels of hypnosis, the powers of the human imagination are greatly increased. At this level of hypnosis, if a person is given an onion and if that person is told it is a delicious apple, he will eat it as if it were an apple...

While deep hypnosis, or trance hypnosis, is a fascinating subject to study, there is seldom, if ever, any need for this level of hypnosis in sales.

The sentences quoted above are from Chapter One of "Unlimited Selling Power" by Donald Moine and Kenneth Lloyd.

I think this brings up the same points I raised in one of the other threads on the same or similar topic. 'Hypnosis' as described in this practise seems to have little or nothing to do with what most lay people, psychologists or psychiatrists consider hypnosis to be. It seem more like an analogy to hypnosis. But perhaps just calling it visualisation and suggestion wouldn't 'sell' the approach as effectively.... It might be an idea to give a little background before discussing specific techniques that are embedded in an alternative practise like NLP. Then the meaning of terms is established and less like to confuse. IMHO what you use hypnosis to mean here is by no means what most people here would understand it to mean.

Hypnosis in sales?

Sales Approach Forum