Power Persuasion Writing: Embedded Commands

By Kurt W. Mortensen

A lot of people these days are really into NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming). For those of you that haven't heard of this, here's the one sentence definition: the words we say are planted into the prospects (or our own) subconscious mind and ultimately influence what we do. I'm sure you NLP scholars are groaning at my one sentence definition, but for now, this will have to do. Disclaimer: There's a lot of NLP out there. Some can't be validated by scientific research, some can. I like the stuff that can. That's why I like embedded commands. An embedded command is a technique used to communicate to the conscious mind while also sending a message to the subconscious mind. The idea is to actually by pass the conscious mind and communicate directly to the subconscious mind. Often, embedded commands are small fragments that fit into the full sentence and which are digested by the conscious mind. For example, Pepsi used to have the slogan "Have a Pepsi Day." The embedded command was "Have a Pepsi." Here are some basic pointers on using embedded commands:
 
They are most effective in writing. When doing so, visually highlight the command. All caps, yellow highlighter, etc...
 
Place the commands in sentences where the embedded words and phrases will logically and contextually fit.

The more embedded commands you can logically and tastefully use the better. The idea is to get your prospect's conscious mind to digest a lot of these, because we know that what is in our subconscious mind is eventually manifested in our reality.

For more information, contact John Page BCH CI at 435-256-0315 or visit www.lifeworkswest.com.