Facts AREN’T persuasive. Beliefs are.

If you want to persuade someone, they have to believe what you’re saying is true. If they don’t believe you (even though it’s true) you can’t persuade them.

Why? Because our belief systems (which are impossible to change when it comes to marketing) determine what’s true. Not “the facts.”

For example, I tell you this fact: you can get better results in the gym strength training 3 days per week, not going to max exertion every session, and resting on your off days. But you’ve spent the last 4 years training 5 days per week and taking every session to max exertion. You won’t believe me given your inertia of the last 4 years, sunk cost bias, and confirmation bias. What I say doesn’t match what you believe.

In this example, the truth is on my side because there’s a body of evidence to prove it and it’s what the experts say to do. However that doesn’t matter when attempting to persuade you because it is your belief system (not the facts, not what the experts say) that determines what’s true. So what do I do?

It’s all about how I gradually set things up.

I start with something the prospect accepts as true. If he’s interested and believes the claim, I do the same thing in the next step. I gradually work from one accepted truth to the next, gathering the prospect’s acceptance along the way. And it’s carefully sequenced, because if a claim isn’t believed early on, I’ll lose him. But if I gather acceptances based on their beliefs, I’ve got a shot.

This step-by-step sequence from accepted belief to accepted belief leads your prospect to the solution your product solves. This process is called Gradualization and is from chapter 9 of Breakthrough Advertising.