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I was recently on vacation in the Caribbean with my family.  My wife’s aunt was with us on this trip (let’s call her Carol), and she is one of those people who has a real problem believing that there is any such thing as hypnosis.

Remember that hypnosis is simply a tool to get people to act on an unconscious level.  Anything that accomplishes this can be called “hypnosis” even if it doesn’t look like a trance, etc.

Ironically, although Carol is not a believer in hypnosis, she is a masterful negotiator when it comes to haggling over price.

I was standing beside her one evening when she was buying some jewelry to take back home.  She ended up taking a common influence strategy (that the vendor tried to use on her) and flipping it completely back onto him with total success.  She used HIS tool against him.  I loved her perfect execution.

Here is what happened.

She wanted to buy 3 items.  The first item was $15, but the vendor immediately said he’d drop the price to $10 for her.  The second item was also $15 and after only 30 seconds of discussion, the price became $15 for both items.  This is all very standard stuff.  Never ever believe the first or second price you are given from a vendor in a Caribbean vacation area.

Here is where it gets clever.  Carol showed some hesitation about the price on her expression.  Seeing this, the vendor moved in to use a tactic known as “commitment”.  He put the two items in an envelop so she could hold onto them.  This seems harmless but Carol is left holding an envelope and unconsciously that is a lot like having decided to buy the items.

I lean towards her to say to her, “You know what he’s doing here right?  He’s building in commitment”.  She looks at me as if to say “Fool – I’m a master … watch me flip this around on him”.

At this point Carol is holding an envelope with two items inside.  She then expresses an interest in a third piece.  This one, the vendor says, is normally $20.  She likes this piece, and casually drops it into the envelop as she tells him that she’s interested in all three.

At this point, Carol had been already offered a price of $15 for the two items.  She tells the vendor “I like all three – I’ll give you $15 for the three”.

The vendor looks at her as if to suggest this is crazy.  Keep in mind that because she already put the third item in the envelope he now envisions himself as already having sold all three items.  He’s under more unconscious pressure to deal because of this.

He softly refuses the $15 offer for all three items.  Carol puts the envelope down in front of him softly.  She says, “Well – hold onto these … I might be back.  I’m just going to take a look around a bit more”.

As we shift our bodies towards the exit, he picks up the envelope and hands it to Carol saying “Ok”.  He took the $15.

She got his initial asking price from $55 down to $15.  Not bad.

Was this covert hypnosis?  Sort of yes, sort of no.  Sure, there was no trance induction but she certainly had his attention focused on selling three items, and she controlled his unconscious behavior by reversing the “commitment” trick on him.

Way to go, Carol!