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Without naming names. . . a former student of mine has been attempting to teach the process of criteria elicitation. Persuasion, the way I know it and teach it, is a complex body of knowledge, and the fact that this student has synthesized it all down to this one question is fine, but only if you have no intention of working with a high end clientle.

Asking the question "What's important about . . . ?" over and over ad nauseum does not work. The line of questioning is going to annoy and irritate people to the point where they will not choose to work with you. It is, in essence, shoving your prospect down a rabbit hole and will not be effective.

I've noticed when complex material gets watered down for the masses to understand, it becomes next to useless. It is my pleasure and I am grateful that my clients are sophisticated and understand the value of really delving deeply into the heart of persuasion. It's the difference between learning something from an expert, say at a prestigious university to taking a Learning Annex course -- you're not going to get the same quality. Condensing things to this point depletes it of its real value.

The big frame is: what's the point of all of this?

Why do we use criteria?

We're not looking for a Band-Aid approach here or a short cut. We are genuinely in search of the model of the world of our prospects so that we can enter their model of the world (figuratively).

Once we're there, we bring our criteria in the back door and we get in there and expand their model. That is where persuasion takes place.

Criteria is the laser focus on what they need and want, it's also the overriding frame.

The simple way of looking at it is, what business do we have trying to sell somebody something if we don't know if it will be of value to them?

Persuading is becoming a master of communication, not just a memorizer of a few patterns.

That doesn't cut it. That never has cut it, it never will cut it, and if you don't have a full on commitment to mastery, you're not going to cut it. Sooner or later, you will become irrelevant.

If you are at the top of your field today, it is because you have made a commitment to it.

If you are in a field that deals with selling, you must have a full on commitment to absolute mastery of communication, psychology and how the two interrelate.

Criteria is an entry point: it's a beginning point, it's an end point, it's a mid way point, it's a frame. There are some out there that use it sort of as the "new fashioned" sales techniques but it's really so much more.

Asking people questions, the answers to which you don't really care about, is as bad as asking, "So, if I can show you a way to save energy, time, and money today, you would be interested in moving ahead with it, wouldn't you?"

It's ineffectual, but there are still people out there who will do it.

About: Kenrick Cleveland teaches strategies to earn the business of wealthy clients using persuasion. He runs public and private seminars and offers home study courses and coaching programs in persuasion strategies.

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