George Washington Wasn’t “Green” – A Lesson In Persuasion And Influence
August 11th, 2009 by Jim Fortin

Last month I was at the Amon Carter museum, and I was looking at an artist’s rendition of “Washington Chops Down The Cherry Tree.”

It was a really cool picture, lots of vivid colors, a good visual metaphor of the story and I remember thinking, “Wow, that artist painted A LOT of cherries on that tree and they’re all so perfectly round – I wonder how long it took him to paint this?”

I enjoyed it for a bit longer and moved on.

As I was standing and looking at the next picture, a woman with two very young girls (appearing to be between the ages of 6 -8) started looking at the Washington picture and one of the girls said, “Wait, he can’t do that. He’s killing oxygen. Trees produce oxygen, and when you cut them down, you kill the environment. What could he have been thinking?”

I kid you not, that came right out of the mouth of a seven year old girl! She and I saw the exact same picture and we “saw” wildly different things.

OK, a lesson in persuasion and influence. Every sales person knows this, and most continue to miss just how subtle and fundamental this is.

The lesson is this: We all see the world differently, and relevant to buying and selling, people buy only from their model of reality, not yours.

Just yesterday, a recent student (a seasoned sales pro) said, “Yes, I know that we’re all trained to get into the minds of prospects and customers but many of us get so wrapped up in our own products and services, we forget just how subtle and important it is to sell to their model of reality, not from ours.”

To sell more and Move People®. Next time you’re with a client, ask yourself, “Given everything I know about my prospect and client, and everything they know about me. If I were they, what would I have to see, do or hear to be convinced to buy?” Now, feed your answer back to them, you just might be surprised at how much more you sell.

One Response to “George Washington Wasn’t “Green” – A Lesson In Persuasion And Influence”

1. Rich Says:
   August 11th, 2009 at 2:48 pm

   Nice Job Jim… great point

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