“Of mankind we may say in general they are fickle, hypocritical, and greedy of gain.” – Niccolo Machiavelli, Born May 3, 1469.

Darling Nicci. How I love you.

Listen, so many people will tell you that you need to deeply probe the customer's mind to be able to sell them.

You need a 159 point avatar that you researched, and focus grouped, and analyzed, blah blah.

It's mostly bullshit.

Humans are just apes who wear shoes and think they aren't apes. This is an uncomfortable truth that most civilians won't face.

Most marketers and politicians and business owners won't realize and accept it either.

But real success in steering both the individual and the herd comes from accepting what mankind really is.

And hey, if it makes you too uncomfortable to accept and use, here is how to make it sound positive and less sinister.

Give your prospect the power of choice – and provide the information they need to pick the best option you offer. (Fickle.)

Empower your prospect to do what they hate their rivals for getting away with. Let them cut corners while they preach the virtue of 100% full corners. (Hypocritical.)

Show your prospect how to get an edge on life. How can they get back more than they put in? How can they get a no-brainier deal that lets them knowingly take advantage of you? (Greedy of gain).

The real power of persuasion comes when you understand what people really are. Once you accept what humans (including you) are made of, it becomes a lot easier to mold that clay.

If you didn’t realize before now, it's not your fault. You're just a walking bag of meat with unreasonable ambitions, so of course you're going to think better of your fellow meat bags.

In fact, you may well have been misled by folks who HAVE realized it, and shepherd the sheep for their own benefit.

But now you know. Can you accept it? If you disagree, you're just not ready to face the truth and wield your full power.