The language pattern is a powerful technique for getting what you want. The 'temporal pattern loop' is especially potent in persuasion.

Loops create an opening in the mind of your prospect or client which will leave them wanting more.

To understand open loops, or the temporal loop pattern, there are three important things you need to understand: 1) People, by nature, need closure.

Sales professionals experience open loops often when potential customers say those dreaded words, 'I'm going to have to think it over.' Either yes or no, don't tell me you have to think about it.

2) Open loops increase your prospects response potential. They make your client more likely open to your persuasion.

And, with that, you have all the information you need about open loops.

Hold on a second. . . didn't I say there were three things you needed to know about loops? I sure did. Frustrating, isn't it?

When people don't get closure, their response potential increases.

Are you still wondering what the third thing is? How much do you want to know?

Well, there isn't a third thing, there are actually only two things you need to know.

Leaving an open loop will pique your prospect's interest.

What is something you know really well? An area of expertise that you've gone over from start to finish? Let's just use the Civil War as an example. Say you have it all mapped out and there's no test you couldn't ace on the history of the Civil War.

Out of nowhere someone writes a new book or teaches a class on some new information on the Civil War. Impossible! You already know everything about the Civil War. Your loops are closed.

People get anxious with open loops and they make them sit forward and try to figure out what's going on, what's missing. I told you there were three powerful things you needed to know but only told you two. For many readers, this was a lure they wanted to follow up on and the knowledge of the third thing was going to satisfy this anxiousness.

If you were just skimming this article and not paying too much attention, your conscious mind may not have picked up on the open loop. No matter, you other-than-conscious is always at work and you may have been left with a little nagging feeling of incompleteness.

With open loops, people begin to believe they don't know as much as they thought they knew about a subject. This works to your advantage. When people 'know everything' they tend to go away and not come back. Why stick around if they've gotten everything out of the interaction?


Kenrick Cleveland teaches techniques to sell to affluent clients using persuasion strategies. He runs unique public and private seminars and offers home study courses, audio/visual learning tools, and coaching programs in persuasion techniques. Find more free articles at www.MAXpersuasion.com/blog. Be sure to sign up for his free report entitled "Yes! Persuasion."