There are certain Neuro-linguistic Programming [NLP] skills that you need to master to be competent in this field. Some of them are:

1. Calibration: This means reading people's mind. You must have met some people who thought you were upset though you may have been very happy at that time. They failed to properly calibrate your feelings. Calibration involves reading what's going on in a person's mind no matter what physical actions he may be displaying. In the World Poker Championship, there's a lot of calibration. Here, people constantly calibrate people's behavior and judge who is bluffing and who really is in a strong position.

2. Detection of Patterns: Patterns actually forms the keystone of NLP. People always get confused regarding the use of this word in NLP. Here in NLP, patterns talks about events that are predicted to come about based on previous observations. An example is this is when a young child who observe his father constantly having his breakfast after reading the morning newspaper. So based on this observation, the child is able to deduce the next set of events whenever his father puts on the newspaper. Therefore, you have to master this skill in order that you will have the ability to make deduction.

3. Proper Questioning: There is a direct correlation to quality of information that you will receive based on the type of questions you ask. As such, you need to be able to frame a question properly to get the right kind of information that you need for your analysis. Ask precise and specific questions, which are relevant to the subject matter in question. You must be clear in your questioning and not ask a question which is capable of more than one meaning.

4. Reading the other party's eyes: This is also another skill which is extremely helpful to those who want to gain insight into another person mind. Researchers have found that when people try to recall something from their memories, their eyes will move in certain manners. Although these in itself cannot give direct inferences to a person mind, You can draw vital clues as to how a person is processing those information from their mind. If the have no problems, usually their eyes flick upwards. But if they have problems, their eyes movements will usually be down casted.

Please bear in mind that the four skills explained above does not represent the entire list that you have to master. But they are the main skills which are a person need to master if he wish to be a competent NLP practitioner.