Title - Principle of Self-Identification Tags - influentialwritingselfidentification
The person quickly identifies that they’re in the right place without being told overtly. Their heart beats a little faster - and their eyes start to dilate - because they discover someone saying what they already believe. It may be the first time in a long time some one is describing their experiences exactly the way they have it and saying what they already believe.
“It’s like you’re hiding under our kitchen table at midnight while we were having a discussion. You heard it and you’re feeding it right back to us.”
You get an external head nod and internal sense of being understood. Best done when said in their private language; not necessarily their public language. Most people aren’t publicly calling people “nitwits and morons” but when they’re pissed off and alone in their office - or having a beer with their pals… they use politically incorrect language, and that’s what you want to say, too.
You want to keep hitting this principle - in every media item - so that even the people who you have already established influence with keep having to nod along and re-affirm that “yes, I’m with the right guy/“I’m in the right place.”
Two basic approaches to get people to self-identify:
1) Rope them in
Overtly say the thing you want them to identify with. If the person nods their head and says, “well, yeah, I am like you,” then you’ve got ‘em.
Example 1
“Dear Friend:
When you and I were growing up, financial security planning was probably the last thing a woman thought of for herself. If your childhood was like mine, when the subject of life insurance came up, Mother usually stayed in the kitchen and let Dad handle everything.”
[#hodgson1986greatestdirectmail]: Richard S. Hodgson (1986): The Greatest Direct Mail Sales Letters Of All Time: Why They Succeeded , How They’re Created, How You Can Create Great Sales Letters, Too!, Dartnell Corporation, pp. 172, Banker’s Life “One Woman to Another” Letter
2) Make them deny negatives
Nobody likes to admit that they’re a loser - or that the negatives thing you are saying are true for them - so they tend to deny them.
Use language desgined to shake their head and say, “No, no, no. It may not be for everybody but I’m one of the guys that it is for, because I’m not lazy/stupid/cheap…”
Example 1:
“But to have “everything” is a promise without limitation! And an important part of Dyna/Psyc practice is the need fo detect and be free of any limitation. When you read the first sentence above, you may already have started to limit what this book can gtve you. It is important that you do not let this happen.
Let’s look at that first sentence again!
YOU ARE NOW ON YOUR WAY TO HAVING EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD YOU WANT!
What was your reaction when you read it? Did you start to reject the possibility of a truth in that simple statement? Did your habit-conditioned mind automatically say, “Not me … No way,” “Is he kidding?” The strong possibility that you did just that is the reason we’re dwelling on this statement at length.
Only a fool would accept such a statement on absolute faith, without any evidence whatsoever. But, a wise man, free of deadly self-limitation, would merely ask, “How?”
Don’t be guilty of self-limitation. Don’t reject the Riches which can be yours by “knowing” or “fearing” you can’t have them. Ask only, “How?”
How can you have everything in the world you reqlly want? Go with me through these pages, step by step, and you will KNOW! Can you forget self-limitation for the moment? Can you cast aside failure-oriented doubt long enough to try to learn how?
This is all that is required of you at this step. You don’t have to believe anything, yet. But you must not disbelieve the possibility that Dyna/Psyc, The Lazy Man’s Way to Riches, just might work for you.”
Ref: The Lazy Man’s Way To Riches
Example 2:
“I am well aware only one man out of 1,000 will respond to this. Most people whine and complain constantly, but when confronted with a real opportunity to change their lives, run and hide behind Mommy’s skirt! I’m afraid most men aren’t really men at all - and if their wives knew how timid they really were, would be ashamed to marry them. If you happen to be the one man in a thousand with the courage to act on…”
Example 3:
“DEAR SIR:-
The enclosed Special Privilege Card is worth money, so we have numbered it and limited it to your own personal use. If you cannot use it, ww should appreciate your kindness in destroying it.
For it gives a select group of Pittsburgh men the chance to obtain, for only 20 or $25.”
This whole campaign was built around the idea that you had to be a real smart and experienced traveller to be bright enough to appreciate the bags being sold.
Ref: The Robert Collier Letter Book.
Example 4:
“Wimps beware! This book is not for the faint of heart, fawningly polite, or desperate to be liked. It is, I hope, the hardest-nosed, most pugnacious, toughest-minded, most brass ballsy and brass knuckles material about the subject of TIME you have ever encountered. Hopefully, you have picked up this book because you are an entrepreneur, your time is incredibly valuable to you, and you are constantly “running out of it.” If you know me, then you’ve also been motivated to get this book to find out how I manage to do all that I do. I have been asked so often by what seems like everybody who becomes familiar with my life how the devil I fit it all in, that I sat down and wrote out the answer—this book. If you don’t know me, then your curiosity about my methods may be further piqued by the description of my activities that follow this preface. If you know me, skip that section.”
[#kennedy2017timemanagement]: Dan S. Kennedy (2017): No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs, Entrepreneur Press, beginning of Preface.
Example 5:
“I am sorry to tell you that you have been lied to for a very long time!
Note that I didn’t use softer words like “misled,” “misinformed,” or “offered less-than-optimal advice.” Nope. I laid it out straight and plain.
You’ve been lied to.
It’s critical to your success that I open your eyes to this fact. And I hope you’re interested in the blunt, unvarnished truth about what entrepreneurial dentists actually do to create top income, wealth, independence, and sustainability. Frankly, not everyone is ready for such a conversation. Many prefer excuses to achievement. Others prefer fantasy to reality.
What I’m about to teach you will radically alter how you acquire patients and boost your revenues and profits…”
[#kennedy2020mmfordentists]: Dan S. Kennedy (2020): Magnetic Marketing for Dentists: How to Attract a Flood of New Patients That Pay, Stay, and Refer, ForbesBooks, pp. 16.
Other examples:
You will find one or both of these devices in the early pages of ALL of the books that have sold millions of copies mainly by word of mouth. Think and Grow Rich. Napoleon Hill’s other books. How to Win Friends and Influence People.