FPA -- Feint and Point to Attract

With Cognitive Science, that insight into how boutons ideate, we can now update the art of persuasive communications.  We can make persuasion more scientific.  Any persuasive objective can now become more energy efficient, by pre-design.  

FPA is a powerful leadership idea that is not to be abused.  Some ideas and insights require a higher-level of integrity.  This is one.

The FPA method starts with the behavior of boutons.  Boutons (those pre-synaptic bumps that grow connecting neurons based on repetitive idea patterning) individually have a will.  They want to live and have learned how.  This skill is taught by DNA.  Boutons individually make go/no-go decisions (to release electro-chemical energy, or not) partially based their internal free will to live.  They want to channel and be immersed in consistent sensation-energy streams.  They cluster and decide together, to live more.

Boutons move.  They laminate towards consist sensation energy streams.

OK.  So what?  What can I, as a persuasive communicator, do with this bouton behavior insight?

The gist of this method is to Feint, Point, and then Attract (FPA).  It is often better to be indirect.  People that blurt out their Dikw (data-information-knowledge-wisdom) are less persuasive than those whom plan how to affect; in the three-staged set named FPA.

We all need the integrity of statesmen and women.  But, we can also be political in our communicative approach.  These two traits are not mutually exclusive.  In fact, they complement each other.  FPA links these two into a true and more powerful method of persuasion.

How does FPA work?

Attraction is the goal.  We want people to enjoy following our lead.  Studied indicate that a systematic FDA approach will work better (see research below).  Why is this?  Why do bouton clusters respond better to indirection?

If your idea (the message) is directly and overtly presented to a set-of-boutons (as a direct, outside-in presentation) the existing bouton-set would fight the new idea.  Why?  The new idea would change sensation energy flows.  This change would create new boutons and kill other, existing boutons. 

Those existing boutons that sense this personal risk to their existence would fight the direct confrontation.  The new idea, since it is new, would not have the bouton structures to win this battle.  The new idea would thereby go in one ear and out the other.  It is hard to teach old dogs new tricks.

A better approach, a more efficient persuasive communications method, is the three steps FPA: Feint and Point to Attract.  Let’s examine how these three can be linked in one communique.  On the next communication plan try the following three steps:

Feint (to distract).  Point (to assert).  Then offer a third option, which is more affective.  This sets three idea levels, on which people can connect.  FPA creates a general content (the feint), then presents a point, waiting for the opening to attract. 

1. What is the feint?  It is a move to distract.  A good feint disturbs the hemostasis.  It disrupts the bouton clusters.  Divide and conquer.  The feint also sets the context. 

For example, with the Padame software we wanted to direct mail Webmasters.  This is a group that you do not want to spam.  So, how do we direct mail webmaster@domain.com an email without setting off the “you’re spamming me mentality?”

Email subject is “Resolving the semantic vs. data web argument.” The first paragraph stated:

Dear Webmaster,

We have not met and I apologist for sending this email.  If you do not respond, then you’ll never hear from me again.  Etc...

“Resolving the semantic vs. data web argument,” that message is the contextual feint.  It is true, yes.  I am being honest with an important question.  However, it is not the real subject of my outbound email.  I have another objective in mind that they will come to using their own cognition.

2. What is the point?  It is a specific call to action.  A good point asks an honest, upfront behavioral question.  It appears to be the intentional objective of the email, but is not.  80% of the boutons will always say no to the point.  This is why outbound emailing has such a low ROI.  Their point is too overt.

I have looked at your Website and feel you might want to join our group.  You are not doing that much with data, at the site, but we feel your various audiences have data needs.  As a group, we are trying to share data-web processing experiences, in an analytic sense, to gain better insight. 

We think that you could make a contribution. 

Point is the apparent purpose of the communication.  It is stated directly and is overt.  There is no feint to the point.  There is also little bouton attraction, when you are in tell and/or direct-ask mode, with those over which you have no power.  The point is a thrust, an aggressive mental move.  Points pierce; they do not finesse.

3. What is the attraction?  Once you have feinted and pointed, now attract.  Here is my attraction.

Thank you very much.  If interested, return my email.

Gary Deines

Data Web Pages

gld@padame.com

Did you see it?  Do you see the subtle “call to action” in this salutation?

What would you do if you got this “spammed” email?  Obviously, you would not take-up the point.  You would not join our group: few would.  Nor would you respond to the honest feint and start to think about merging the semantic/data webs.

What would you do?  Post your comment and we’ll see the crowd answer.  Would you read the entire email?  Would you be interested?  Would you report this email as a spam?  What would you do?  

That action is my attraction.

FPA, in sum

FPA is a recursive model for behavior modification, for people over which you have no control.  This alignment makes it more persuasive.  It works because it speaks directly to bouton clusters, subconsciously.  The subconscious communications is why it is a powerful technique.  FPA should only be used for the good of Ourkind.  The FPA technique is so powerful; there is no reason to be deceptive.

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The Research:  Here are some other ideas on persuasion.  They all have bouton correlates and can be explained using bouton willful quadations.  FPA is a primary outbound email method.  These other methods are used, as needed.

• The Single Most Effective Method for Influencing People Fast - Works like magic: a little-known influence technique that out-guns the usual suspects.

• The One (Really Easy) Persuasion Technique Everyone Should Know - It's supported by 42 studies on 22,000 people and it's the easiest, most practical persuasion technique available.

• 3 Universal Goals to Influence People - Effective influence and persuasion isn't just about patter, body language or other techniques, it's also about understanding people's motivations.

• The Persuasive Power of Swearing - Show your passion and people have one more emotional reason to come around to your point of view.

• Loudest Voice = Majority Opinion - Even if only one member of a group repeats their opinion, it is more likely to be seen by others as representative of the whole group.

• Don't Take No For An Answer - You ask someone for a favour and they say no. Where do you go from there?

• The Influence of Fleeting Attraction - Friendship is a fantastic lever for persuasion and influence, a lever we happily push on every day.

• Caffeine Makes Us Easier to Persuade - Of all the effects caffeine has on our minds—enhanced attention, vigilance and cognition—perhaps least known is its tendency to make us more susceptible to persuasion.

• Persuasion: The Right-Ear Advantage - If you want someone to comply with a random request for a cigarette, you should speak into their right ear.

• Balanced Arguments Are More Persuasive - The instinct to paper over weaknesses in our argument is wrong—so long as we counter criticism.

• The Battle Between Thoughts and Emotions in Persuasion - Nowadays people tend to use 'I think' and 'I feel' interchangeably. Does it make any difference whether what you say is couched in 'thinking' or 'feeling' terms?

• Our Secret Attitude Changes - When you change your attitude about something, do you know why?

• Are Fast Talkers More Persuasive? - Beware the fast-talker, the person with the gift of the gab—the friendly salesman, the oily politician—running through the 'facts' faster than you can keep up.

• Persuasion: The Sleeper Effect - Any time we receive a persuasive message before we find out who the source is, the sleeper effect can come into play.

• Communicating Persuasively: Email or Face-to-Face? - Face-to-face communication is usually most persuasive but it's not always possible to meet in person. How, then, do people react to persuasion attempts over email?

• The Influence of Positive Framing - Do people really pay more attention to frightening messages? Actually emphasising the positive can be more persuasive than pointing out the negative.

• The Illusion of Truth - Repetition is used everywhere to persuade: advertising, politics and the media.

• 9 Propaganda Techniques in Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 - Back in the Summer of 2004 Michael Moore brought out 'Fahrenheit 9/11', his personal view of how terrorist attacks in the US were used to pursue illegal wars.

• Persuasion: The Third-Person Effect - Attractive woman holding a bottle of beer? Hah! How stupid do they think we are?

• 20 Simple Steps to the Perfect Persuasive Message - Perfection is hard to achieve in any walk of life and persuasion is no different.

• Why Stories Sell: Transportation Leads to Persuasion - Stories which transport people are more likely to be persuasive.

• How To Encourage People To Change Their Own Minds - Let people talk themselves around to your point of view.

• When Does Reverse Psychology Work? - Reverse psychology works best with people who are contrary or resistant.