Future pacing is a bit of an advanced strategy in persuasion. It’s not difficult to understand, but it is challenging to learn to do. It involves reminding your prospect or client about all the reasons they decided to buy your product or service and places reminders in the future, at which point triggers, which you’ve installed, can be fired off.

This is a technique I use every time I sell something. It is potent in helping your client or prospect feel secure in their decision to purchase regardless of what outside influences (including their own second thoughts) might try to say.

With that said, I’m not going to get into the technique too deeply, but I’d like to tell you a story about how I used this when I was a young man selling health spa memberships.

I had an eighteen year old guy come in and he wanted to buy a membership so I sold it to him. I didn’t even really have to ’sell’ it to him because he was so eager to sign up.

Once the young man signed the contract, I did some future pacing with him just for good measure. I said, ‘Imagine if someone were to tell you that this was a bad decision. What would cause you to stay with your decision to join up?’

And he said, ‘I want this and no one’s going to talk me out of it. I do what I want.’

I said, ‘Okay. Supposing you begin to doubt the decision yourself, what would cause you to stay with this decision?’

He said, ‘This is absolutely what I want and there’s no way I’ll doubt it. I definitely know what I want.’

Later that day my phone rings. The young man’s mom is on the phone. ‘Hey, you sold my son a gym membership.’

I said, ‘He came in and bought a membership, I didn’t have to sell it to him.’

And she said, ‘Okay, he bought a membership. I’d like you to cancel it and send me notice that it’s been done.’

I said, ‘I’m sorry but I can’t do that. Your son will have to come in with his paper work and, as per the 72 hour cancellation policy, we’ll go ahead and take care of that.’

She said, ‘Okay, we’ll be there tomorrow.’

The next day the young man and his mother showed up together. I could see the young man was unhappy about this. His head was hanging low. He said to me, ‘I need to cancel this membership. But I wanted to bring my mom in to see the gym. Can I work out today and show it to her. On my way out I’ll stop by to cancel it.’

I said, ‘Certainly. Go right ahead and show her around.’

If I recall correctly, the young man and his mother drove separate cars, and after he finished working out, he ducked out the back and left his mother there.

She came up to me and said, ‘Okay, we need to get this canceled.’

I said, ‘I would be happy to take care of that for you if you can just give me the contract.’

She said, ‘I don’t have it. He has it.’

‘Well, as per the terms of our agreement, I need that contract to cancel it. And like I said, he’s got 72 hours, so he can come back later or tomorrow and take care of it then.’

The next day the kid comes in, brings the agreement and says, ‘I’m supposed to give this to you, but before I do, can I just work out?’

‘Absolutely.’

For the second day in a row he worked out, and for the second day in a row, he left without seeing me.

On the third, and final day, the mother dragged him in and yelled at him, ‘Turn it over to him right now.’ He hesitatingly handed it to me.

She said, ‘Cancel the contract.’

I turned to him and said, ‘Do you want it canceled?’

‘No!’ He started to argue with his mother in front of me, all the reasons why he had to have this membership. He seemed virtually ready to sever his relationship with her to save his membership.

At this point, I took the membership and canceled it. I realized what had happened. I hadn’t given it a second thought until I saw this kid unable to hand back the agreement because he had made a decision and I had future paced it.

When you future pace something, you lock it into the mind of the person and I’m telling you right now that with the power of the strength of their own mind, you will have virtually locked them in.

Tags: Business

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