TV shows about con "artists" are very popular now, right up there with murder mysteries. A weekend of bingeing gives one a pretty good education on the art of the con.
Con men. Short for CONFIDENCE men. It is the one thing they all have in common. Man, woman, or child (as in 12 year old walking on earth Gods), believe in themselves.
Maybe a side "affect" of narcissistic personalities, or something on the sociopath yellow brick road.
We have often mentioned Blair Warren, who has a really good introductory course into the black arts of persuasion; FORBIDDEN KEYS TO PERSUASION.
Con persons (lets include the ladies, a ME TOO subset), are for the most part Natural people readers, although, they don't so much as cold read as cold project. It is about THEM, hardly ever about you.
Which is a part of the reason why the brush off can be effective.
I think there are very FEW learned con artists, those who have studied the persuasive arts and sciences seldom go down that path, they don't need to.
Also, controversy is an integral part of gaining our attention, almost all of media is built upon it. IF IT BLEEDS IT LEDES has been the media mantra since Hearst, et al, set up shop.
Thanks Dien for the share, I'll put this on my reading list.
And I think you are right, DELIVER the goods may be the difference between a really good salesperson/persuader and a confidence artist.
Maybe most are confidence journeyman, haven't reached the artist stage yet.
Gordon
PS A new TV show, The CON ARTIST APPRENTICE. Just a rumor, but....
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dien Rice
Hi Gordon,
I'm currently reading through a controversial book... (For readers offended by controversy - now is the time to shut your eyes tight...)
It's called "The Art of Manipulation" by RB Sparkman, written in 1978.
The author spent time (intentionally) sharing his place in Houston in the 1970s with various con artists.
Even though he knew what they were, they still managed to con him out of thousands of dollars (and that's in 1970s money)!
That's right - he invited people to stay at his place, who he knew were probably going to end up conning him...
Foolish? Or genius?
What happened was... he learned a thing or two, and wrote a book about it...
I am against con artists, but... I do think you can learn things from everyone, even them...
The main difference between an entrepreneur and a con-man, in my opinion, is that an entrepreneur delivers on his promises, while the con artist doesn't.
Anyway...
RB Sparkman's "Tactic 4" is... "I don't need you. You need me."
As soon as you seem "desperate," it repels people... I think we've all experienced that!
But (according to Sparkman), if you can convince people you really don't need their business... they're more interested, maybe even desperate, to give it to you...
In romance... Who gets the girls (from a man's point of view)?
It's usually the cool cat, who acts like he doesn't need them, and doesn't care...
Not the fellow desperate to get laid...
The cool "I-don't-give-a-crap" tough guy is pretty much the character Elvis Presley played in all his movies... And girls loved it!
(I used to try to emulate movie-Elvis's attitude when I was in high school! It kind of worked...  )
Maybe this got you "All Shook Up!" 
Best wishes,
Dien |