If you've ever sold anything ever, you've probably been subjected to the dreaded 'sales training' where you may have been taught your typical 'features and benefits' type training or some other easily definable, package-able, pat kind of interaction between prospect and sales professional. I learned these myself as a young man and quickly realized they were a road to nowhere. I had an awakening which opened up my sales unbelievably.

Something that defines me and an awful lot of what I do in the world is 'living outside the box'. In persuasion, there's no easy way out and no quick fix. This shouldn't deter you. Anything worth learning is worth spending some time on. Persuasion is ever expanding and limitless, as limitless as human nature and all the myriad ways we interact. This is not a subject that can be mastered, but a constantly growing body of knowledge that is constantly transforming as human nature expands.

This is not something to fear. When confronted with something as vast as a new language, or learning a new musical instrument, or a new subject that has always interested you, instead of fearing how much there is to know (as in, 'gee, there's so much work to do'), my inclination is to be thrilled at how greatly enhanced my existence will be once I start to incorporate the practice or the learning or the languaging into my life.

We are working to truly get ourselves out of the sales box and to create a new paradigm, one that we like, that enables us to interact with our clients and powerfully persuade them.

This is an invitation to be innovative. When we open ourselves to the creativity that stepping outside the box enables, we become free of limitations. By examining our frames and enlarging them, we give ourselves a much bigger toolbox from which to choose.

One comment in support of boxes: When beginning anything, it's hard to get the basics if you don't know the boundaries. Once the basics are learned, however, that's when it's time to expand and outgrow the imposed limitations. Great musicians learn theory, language students learn grammar. . .And once the foundation is in place, the real magic can happen.

The basics of persuasion is an open box which eventually will not contain you and you'll find yourself expanding beyond the limits.