Labelling Huckster Trick

Screenshot from her 'reel'.

As she identifies, the technique of 'labelling' is where you project the desired quality or behaviour on to the person you seek to influence.

She features the faux/dangerous example of moulding your other half. To be your 'best ever'. Then follows up with one "to make money", where "your girl's in Sales".

There's a touch of the reverse-psyching to consider. Reminiscent of the kind of taunt making Marty McFly see red of 'chicken!' When sometimes to label someone in the negative will prod them to be the opposite.

Yet in this styling, here's her given advice;

"You essentially want to give somebody a label of how you want them to act. And when you put an expectation on somebody, they naturally want to reach that expectation."

"If I want somebody to be decisive at the end of a sales call and make a decision, I label them as just that.
To my customer, during a sales call, I say like, 'Oh, finally I'm on a call with somebody that's decisive and knows exactly what they want'.
I say this earlier on into the sales pitch, that way they have to live up to that expectation at the end of the sales call.
They're not very likely to tell me I need to think about it at the end of a call because I labelled them as decisive and they agreed with it.
So they're going to act in that way."

I recognise this as a standard trope in Enterprise settings.

Maybe because I'm English, but I find it a fairly natural, and regular, occurrence. Casually dripping with playful sarcy ribbing.

Also, in an early exposure to presentation pitching three decades back, one piece of advice was to home in on a pivotal word. Use it as the deal key. Mention it on a slide three times. And at least seven over the course of the deck.

A little obviously formulaic. Yet still today I see this tactic abound.

I've even taken the singular buzzword of the chief exec and lathered my speech with it.

The one thing the big boss wanted everyone to be.

My pitch became indisputably that very thing.

Uniquely enabling them to be just so.

There's been many such generics down the years.

Best-of-breed. Disruptive. Move fast.

I sense a whole vocab around AI liberally applies today. If perhaps slightly waning now.

Yet for all this, that 'decisive' tip is actually a half-decent one.

As alluded to, it pre-empts the 'stall' objection.

Reminiscent too, of the powerful tangent that asks whether your prospect is 'open' to discussion.

Yes, my dear customer, you are indeed the best client ever... (!)