I'm almost embarrassed to tell this story.

If you know anything about NLP, you know Richard Bandler and John Grinder studied the life and work of Milton H. Erickson, the legendary hypnotherapist.

Erickson had the knack of getting people to do...anything.

And in the process of getting them to carry out some tasks, he expanded their limits and their world.

Like the time he got the shy repressed woman to eat beans for dinner and fart in her room.

Or the time he got the sexually repressed couple to tear off their clothes and attack one another.

Or the man afraid to go on a date who had to take out an attractive divorced woman who wanted to jump all over him.

These people changed in a hurry and knew Erickson was behind it.

What does this have to do with you?

Everything.

You see one thing you will learn as a copywriter is that your clients very often do not listen to you.

If they did, they'd make more money.

But they change the copy. Change the subject lines. You know the score.

Want to know how to get them to listen?

Give them a task to do.

Tasking was a seminar held in my hypnosis office years ago. I hired David Gordon - one of the founders of NLP - to teach it.

And when it was done, David said no. I couldn't sell it.

Grrr.

A month ago, after seeing the tapes sitting on my shelf (and these tapes are nearly five years old) I tried again.

David had forgotten the seminar. I sent him a set of tapes and...

He said sell it.

So I'm about to go into production on these tapes.

We sent off the 7 or 8 DVD's to the production house.

When they are ready, they will sell for $497.

But if you order them right away by calling Sandra at 561-395-7400, you'll get the first ones due in to my office on Monday for $397.

And let me tell you, these videos are killer.

David is one of the best teachers of NLP in the world.

If you work with clients and sometimes have a problem getting them to listen, you need this set.

NLP is powerful stuff

I love the Presupposition technique especially!

Harlan can I ask you a question: After giving all of us at copywritersboard the videos for free, would you rather buy us a candy stick or chocolate bar each?

(Sidenote: Psst! Don't tell Harlan this. I am using the presupposition technique against him.... may not work effectively in print coz it's less subtle however when spoken it'll work damn well... in other words, he'll give us the videos free... how cool is that...)

That wasn't a presupposition.

My 7 year old daughter could do better.

Show us doc that you can do better than your 7 year old daughter

You'll have to wait for my NLP and Copywriting Seminar for that.

I will agree that Mr Gordon is a genius, but unfortunately many who read his books just "won't get it".

Unless, of course he has someone like yourself who can convert it into layman's terms.

That reminds me of Jay Abraham!

He's a great marketing coach

But somehow I just "don't get him"

He is too sophisticated and profound...

I swear that the Mr. X book should be re-titled "Jay Abraham for Dummies." And even then, I had to read it a few times before I started to "get" it.

If that is too heavy, recommend starting with his "Getting Everything You Can Out Of All You've Got" book.

-Mike