YOU DON'T WANT TO...
Smile (open and with teeth showing…make eye contact dammit!)
Power shake (single pump, web-to-web, don’t press too hard…WTF?)
Build rapport (look for common interest and pretend you also like your gecko stew a tad warm)
Give compliments (I really love your orange suit, it goes so well with your blue hair and purple tie)
Because...
It’s not (just) about saying the right things
It’s not (just) about having a strong argument
It’s not (just) about building rapport or being nice or sweet or authentic
You MUST learn how to get inside people’s brains and get them to take action
You MUST use buyer psychology in every interactionYou MUST sell what they want to buy (hint: it’s not a THING)
You can half-ass the website, the logo, the brand colors….
and get away with it but if you half-ass the PSYCHOLOGY, you are screwed.
That's where I come in...
"
I help the frustrated, the lost and the uber confused; bulldoze their way through counter-arguments and objections effortlessly and gracefully (like a ballerina on roller-skates)
"
It really is THAT simple!
I'M BUSHRA...
Born in 1978 to unsuspecting parents, It was quickly noted by the nurses that I was a little unconventional, leading one of them to remark that I looked like I came out of the womb with a plan. I am still trying to figure out what that means
Featured in Forbes, Fast company, Inc. and 50 other super places on the internets, to working with big-ass companies like Pepsi, Unilever and E&Y, to being a well-paid (way too much if you ask me but shhhh…) consultant, I have my hands quite nicely full.
I am a tolerable wife, an eccentric mom, a spicy food connoisseur, a dreadful tennis player and a social psychology aficionado.
Get ludicrous discounts from suppliers over and over and over again.
And I didn’t even have to take my clothes off 😉
Bag giant-ass contracts that everyone in the company had given up on, because I knew exactly which buttons to press.
Influence people through written word… emails, blog posts, pitches or break-up letters…
I did all and won most (my track record with the break-up letters isn’t really stellar miserable).
I am also the office go-to person for softening down or toughening up the tone of critical emails.
Negotiate better timings, better rates and better treatment… often without a precedent.
I am a persuasion strategist. I help people persuade people…
Executives persuading their bosses to be less shitty, companies persuading their customers to buy more, CEOs persuading the boards to be less stingy and entrepreneurs persuading investors to shell out some (or lots of) money.
I look for persuasion lessons in every book, movie, conference or meeting.
I have practiced some outlandish tactics in the name of experimentation (mirroring does not always work folks... I once tried to mirror a man who was in the habit of touching his crotch every 3 seconds. Needless to say that didn’t go too well)
That human beings are irrational and trying to persuade someone through a rational argument is like trying to stop a 5 year old from ODing on M&Ms by explaining the evils of high fructose corn syrup.
That when a person takes the road less travelled, they challenge the universe and that the universe loves challenges.
That what parents love most in life are their children and what children love most in THEIR life are their own children.
I want to live in a world where
Meetings are short and lunch dates are long
Cake has zero calories
People only go to jobs they love and come back to families that love them
Where children… all children, are loved, cherished and revered - for the miracles that they are
BEING ABLE TO MAKE CRITICAL PHONE CALLS WHILE CHANGING DIAPERS, COOKING OR WASHING DISHES. EXCEPT FOR THAT ONE TIME WHEN I DROPPED BY BRAND SPANKING NEW IPHONE IN A BOILING POT OF SOUP… IN THE MIDDLE OF A CLIENT CALL.
ENTER YOUR EMAIL AND LEARN NEW PERSUASION HOOKS EVERY WEEK THAT YOU CAN USE RIGHT AWAY ON YOUR CLIENTS, PROSPECTS OR SPOUSES
(Not your children; this isn't magic!)
[…] Bushra Azhar’s “60 Second Persuasion” community will give you bite-sized actionable tips on using the psychology of persuasion in your business…everything from website copy, design, emails, client communication, negotiations, positioning…the “whole ninety-nine yards”. […]
[…] I love this quote from Bushra Azhar: […]