Guest Post | Why Your Opinion Doesn't Count

Guest Post | Why Your Opinion Doesn’t Count

November 9, 2017

You know him as a master closer, highly-skilled negotiator, and international keynote speaker. For me, he’s just JP. My road warrior buddy who always wow’s me and the audiences we are presenting to. John Palumbo is not only one of my best friends, he is the most creative, innovative, sales thinker in the home building industry. No one has more original, interesting ideas than John and this guest blog is no exception.

John is presenting the ideas in this post at this year’s International Builders’ Show in his Spotlight Session Highly Influential. The program expands on material from his newest book by the same title, which debuts at the International Builders’ Show and will available at the BuilderBooks Store.

Enjoy this week’s #ThoughtfulThursday article and if it doesn’t make you feel a little uncomfortable and make you go, HUH, then you aren’t reading it right. Trust me, that’s the desired effect.

Everyone has an opinion on almost everything. Opinions come up casually in conversations, are heard on television, and are even expressed on social media, like Facebook and Twitter. For better or for worse, opinions are quite literally everywhere. And opinions are excellent! I believe that our ability to come to our own conclusions about everything from food to politics – and the freedom to share those opinions openly – is what makes our country so great. Opinions can be bold, stir pots, and upset people… or they can start conversations, ignite change, or grow friendships.

But when it comes to influence and persuasion, your customer isn’t paying you for your opinion. Where you stand on an issue, no matter how passionate you are about it, doesn’t really matter.

If you want to become a more effective communicator and influencer, I encourage you to stop offering up your opinion and instead use the following insider secret of highly influential individuals.

Whether it’s in casual conversation, an actual debate over an issue, or the need to articulate a persuasive sales presentation, stop offering to give your opinion. Instead, pause for just a moment and offer a different “perspective”.

When you offer a new perspective, you’re giving your own distinctive point of view based on what you know, think, and have experienced as a professional. Perspective also allows you to provide a unique insight in a meaningful way that also delivers a vision of ownership, solution to a problem, or a benefit of buying/owning.

By offering your listener(s) the opportunity to take a different perspective, you start down a different path of logic and reasoning inside the subconscious. Quite frankly, when most people offer opinions, they’re simply expressing the way they would like to see things done, the way they would like the outcome to be, or how they want to push their own agenda. That’s all an opinion, in many cases, is doing.

However, when you say to the listener, “Let’s look at a different perspective.” It allows the subconscious mind the opportunity to make its own decision, oftentimes coming onboard with your line of logic and reasoning. In other words, when the listener is given the opportunity to draw their own conclusions through a different lens (perspective) they feel as though they’ve made their own decision with no persuasion at all. When in reality, the ability to introduce a different perspective into the conversation becomes a very powerful advocate of influence and persuasion for the listener. This is one of the secrets of highly influential people and how they get their agendas, ideas, and services accomplished and/or sold in the marketplace.

So the next time you feel yourself wanting to give your opinion, simply stop dead in your tracks, pause for a moment, and say “Let’s take a different perspective…” and watch how the outcome changes dramatically… and more than likely, in your favor. Because remember, your opinion doesn’t really count.

About The Author

John A. Palumbo is an expert in the science of influence and persuasion and a highly sought-after marketing strategist and global speaker. He has been invited to lecture around the world including Ukraine, Mexico, Poland, Canada, and Jamaica, on his unique perspective on consumer psychology and human behavior. He has been published and interviewed by numerous publications, including the Wall Street Journal. He is the author of eight best-selling books, which are available at Amazon, including Sell the Results, which managers are calling “the best thing to ignite our sales results in a long time.” His newest book, Highly Influential, will be released in January 2018.

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