Here's a brief recap of the first article: A continuum works best when the client you are influencing is at one end or the other, not if they're middle of the road on a particular matter.

So if your prospect is at the far left side of the 'towards/away continuum' we'll call it the 'away' side but in the 'internal/external' continuum, they're right in the middle. . . well, we'd just ignore the internal/external component and concentrate on towards and away. If they're in the middle of one of them, that means they won't easily be influenced by language from either side. It's simply not going to make much of a difference to them.

Continuums are organizing principles. They represent a way of looking at things. They are a filter through which people view their circumstances. And the best part, for persuasion purposes, is that they are habitual. People generally keep the same perspective within the context in which you have inquired.

True, big life changes can alter an orientation, but they are, for the most part, a set way of viewing things.

Some of the different lenses we have are 'toward and away', 'internal/external', and 'options and procedural'. When you understand what they are, they enable you to zero in on the functioning of the person you're influencing with laser like precision. Things start to get incredibly powerful here.

All it takes is some attention and knowing how to adjust your language to fully take advantage.

Most likely, up until now, you might have assumed that everyone else thinks the same way that you do. And when I say 'thinks the same way', I don't mean that they have the same views. I mean that their thought processes work the same way. And this is simply not true.

I think the way I do. You think the way you do. They think the way they do. We're all complex little creatures.

So step one in learning how to work this is to put your mind in a white board state. . . a blank slate, so to speak. Your interaction with your prospect is about you being there to be marked upon and allowing a part of you to be molded by the way your prospect thinks and speaks. It's a kind of mirroring/matching.

This is not at all about you changing your beliefs or core values. This is only about temporarily changing the way you express yourself within the context with this one client.

You've heard the saying, 'You are what you eat.' Well, are you? Are you what you wear? Are you what you drive? Are you where you live? Are you who you're with? We are all made up of any number of things but not one solitary thing.

You're way closer to being a belief or a value, than you are to being the shoes you wear. But still, you're not just a belief. You're not simply your values. When you combine all that you think and feel and believe and, yes, wear, together, that's who you are.

By changing your languaging with your prospects, you retain who you are. It's more like changing a shirt or getting a different haircut.

The goal of all of these interactions is flexibility.

As the context changes, so does the orientation. If we're talking about health and then switch to finances, then in that given context, the orientation has to be reestablished. Don't assume that because someone is 'away' in one context, that they'll be 'away' in all contexts.

Coming soon: Backing the Ambulance Up to the Door: The 'Away' Perspective.