Reminders as Triggers

Have you ever truly analyzed a conversation? What typically happens is someone talks to you about an event in their life. They are sharing their story.

That's simple enough. But what happens next is you look through your memory banks for something similar to what you just heard. You might then say, "Something like that happened to me once, too!" And then you take your turn in the conversation.

As the person listens to you, they are doing the same thing. They might even get so excited when a thought or memory occurs to them, that they interrupt you and tell their next story.

What is happening here?

Roger Schank, writing in Tell Me a Story, says, "The question to think about is how, after someone says something to you in conversation, something comes to mind to say back. Even the simplest of responses have to be found somewhere in memory."

In short, stories contain elements—usually specific words—that trigger memories in people. When I tell you about my experience of having lunch today, and mention that an attractive young blonde-haired woman waited on me and seemed to flirt with me, I am setting you up to drift off, mentally, from the conversation.

The word lunch might remind you that you haven't eaten yet, and now suddenly you're thinking about food. Or my mention of the attractive young woman might remind you of sex, and suddenly your mind is off in a naughty place.

Where did your mind go, anyway?

Again, stories contain triggers. Schank calls them "reminders." These triggers are reminders of previous thoughts. Those triggers will cause people to mentally drift into an imagery experience that may or may not serve you.

If you want people thinking about food, mention lunch. If you want people thinking about sex, mention the attractive young woman. But also be aware of what is happening here. Your words are causing activity in the other person's mind.

This is what happens when anyone has a conversation. One sentence said by one person leads to a reminder in the other person, which leads to their saying something. The next person then hears a reminder and makes their statement. Two people in rapport and talking a mile a minute are two people experiencing reminders.

All of this is good news for you and your Hypnotic Writing. You want to consciously control your visitor's mental experience through your Hypnotic Writing. Again, use stories to convey your message. But keep in mind that the words you use within those stories will trigger reminders.

You want people thinking of you in a positive way, so refrain from any negative reminders. Keep people focused on what they get from your product or service, and keep them focused with a story that reminds them of their wants.

As you read this book, you will start to remember stories that have influenced you.

But what about just transforming your existing copy into Hypnotic Writing? How do you take your existing sentences and add to them or actually rewrite them to give them more power? How do you do that?

Direct Mail Secrets Exposed

Direct Mail Secrets Exposed


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