Derren Brown, The Mentalist and Your Business Success

Derren Brown, love him or loathe him, has been engaging everyone lately with his latest series of progarmmes “The Experiments”. I personally love watching him because he is so good at what he does using his own combination of illusion, magic, hypnosis, NLP, psychology and other stuff to entertain and confound. And he has a lot in common with another show that’s just come back for another series– The Mentalist.

So what can businesses learn from these two entertainments?

It’s all about communication – and a large part of effective communication is observation.

Most people think they are good communicators but just ask your nearest and dearest about how good you are….. I wonder what they would say?

Successful business is all about effective communication. It’s reckoned that 80% of problems in business (and I would extend that to problems in life!) are down to problems in communication.

Imagine what it would be like for your business if all of those problems disappeared, if you became a master of communication. What difference would that make for you and the results you achieve?

So how can you become a master of communication? By developing the ability to instantly connect with people and develop flexibility of behavior so that you get through every time.

The gateway to all effective communication is rapport (many people describe this as a feeling of being comfortable with someone) and the key to establishing rapport is sensory acuity – what Derren Brown and The Mentalist have developed to a very high level and you can too. Like anything else it just takes practice.

Sensory acuity is being aware of the minute changes that take place in people form moment to moment as they communicate. When you become aware of these subtle changes then you can become more flexible in your communication and that means that your message is more likely to get through successfully, you will attract more clients whilst developing a deeper level of trust quickly.

You can do this when you start to begin to notice what you notice…..

How well developed in your sensory acuity? Beginning with physiology.

Try the following exercise with a colleague or friend. It will take about 5 mins each.

Sit with your chairs at about 45 degrees to each other.

Explain that you are going to ask her/him a few questions and that you want them to answer truthfully.

As they answer just notice what you notice…….

What is their breathing like? Where do their eyes go? What gestures, if any, do they use? What other changes in their physiology take place?

Here are some questions you could use…..

• What is your favourite place/food/tv programme? Describe it.
• What do you like about it?
• What really presses your buttons/ gets you annoyed?
• What is it about it that annoys you?

And just notice what you notice as they answer. Swap roles and repeat the exercise and then share your observations.

Because it’s when you become more aware of how you and others communicate unconsciously that you begin to develop communication mastery.

Until next time,

With best wishes for your success

Cath

Cath Daley LTD