I’m notadvocating misspelling words or intentionally misleading
people. I’m demonstrating a principle. Your mind is vulnerable. It can
see things that aren’t there and miss things that are there. This is im-
portant information. It’s what allows magicians the ability to fool us.
So how does this secret help you with your sales letters, ads, e-
mails, web sites, and any other writing you do?
Here’s how: You can consciously weave your words in such a way
that people fill in the blanks. In other words, you can help them imag-
ine buying your product or service without asking them to get it.
This is the sport of Hypnotic Writing. Here’s an elementary
example:
“Imagine driving this sleek car down a country road.”What did you see in your mind?
Most likely you imagined a sports car.
But why a sportscar?
The word sleekled your mind to create a visual. That image
came from your mind, not mine. I gave you a prompt and your
mind leaped to a conclusion. Minds are like that.
Also, in the paragraph before that example, I planted the word
sportin your mind. Did you notice it?
It’s where I wrote, “This is the sport of Hypnotic Writing.”
The word sportwas already in your consciousness and was easy
to bring up when I asked you to imagine a “sleek car.”
I was talking with my friend Kevin Hogan, author ofThe Psy-
chology of Persuasionand many other books about influence. He
says that if you can actually get your customer to see themselves
doing or using whatever your product does, you win big. The trick
is, they have to imagine themselveswith your product.
All of this may be tricky to grasp. Let’s look at one more example:
I went to the MSN home page and saw a headline that read,
See a Ferrari Laptop.I like sports cars, so I clicked. Imagine
my surprise when I saw a picture of a laptop computer, not a
convertible. My mind highlighted the word Ferrariand let me
slide past the next word.How to Change Perception