One of the top persuasion expert in the world told me once, “The Quotes Strategy is an excellent persuasive strategy. It bypassess a person’s conscious resistance because the message apparently does not come from the speaker. It apparently comes from a distant, harmless third party. Therefore, it’s more readily accepted by the unconscious mind.”

THAT is an example of how to use the Quotes Strategy in persuasion. What happened? I took the message I wanted to communicate to you, put into quoes and said what I originally wanted to say.

Why does this work? It works because it’s disarming and very effective. If someone else has apparently said the message, then the listener is lured into a false sense that they don’t have to have their defenses up.

Compare and contrast the effects of a person telling you a message directly and a person relaying a message that another person already said. Which is going to have more impact on you? Well, consciously, you’ll be more likely to guard against the influence of the message coming drectly at you.

However, unconsciously, this strategy will have a greater effect  because the resistance has been lowered for suggestion. The suggestion went right in and was accepted.

That reminds me. I overheard a sales manager the other day talking about the success he was having using this the Quotes Strategy and he said, “This strategy allows you to fly under the customer’s radar to deliver whatever message you want.”