Skip to content

NLP Presuppositions and Your Content

Supposing You Want to Persuade Your Audience…

There are a number of different techniques you may wish to try when encouraging customers to buy products or use your services. After all, the more you use, the greater your chances of having the most persuasive content, right? Absolutely!

This is where the fine art of crafting NLP presuppositions comes in. A talented writer will be able to fit these nifty little phrases into your website’s content as and where they are needed, helping you by turning an audience’s assumptions and beliefs in the direction you need them to go. Whether that is towards a contact form, an online checkout or anywhere else on your website is completely up to you.

To begin with, what is NLP?

Neuro-linguistic programming, otherwise known as NLP, is a practiced approach to communication, psychotherapy and personal development. It was created from the belief that there’s a connection between neurological processes, language and behaviour learned through experiences. It’s also claimed that each of these can be modified, changed and developed to help an individual achieve the goals they have in life.

What are NLP Presuppositions?

NLP comes with a number of starting points, otherwise known as “assumptions” or “presuppositions”. The general idea of presuppositions is that they are the fundamental beliefs of a particular system, so in the case of NLP presuppositions, they are the underlying beliefs which guide NLP as a practice. They may or may not be true, but they can produce extraordinary results when used well. 

These are the principles that should be kept in mind whenever you are working with NLP as a concept:

People work perfectly: all behaviour, whether good or bad, has a structure to it. When you understand this structure, you can make the outcome of the behaviour what you would like it to be.

Every behaviour is the best choice for that individual, at that particular time: this particular principle may also be viewed as everyone “doing their best with the tools they have available at any given moment”. Making mistakes is natural so you can learn from them to do something better, just like adding newer tools (choices) and more advanced resources impacts on your behaviour in a given moment.

There’s no such thing as failure: only feedback exists, and we learn from our mistakes. If you commit to an action but you don’t achieve the results you’re hoping for, try something different in how you approach the problem.

There’s a positive intent behind every behaviour: this positive intent, sometimes known as “secondary gain”, is connected to the idea of each behaviour representing the best choice at one particular time. This principle comes from the idea that each individual behaviour is valuable and will be useful somewhere, at some time. It may then be used to determine new choices for other scenarios in the future.

The meaning of the message is the response: you can measure whether you’ve communicated well or not by checking if the other person has understood what you’re trying to say. You are responsible for communicating clearly, so if they don’t understand, the communication method is most likely wrong. From there, you will be able to test out and pick a new one.

If it doesn’t work, test something else: if you test and try out an action but it doesn’t work the way you want it to, try something new. You may even want to test again, even if the new method does work, to help you come up with the best practice which works for you.

The map is not the territory: there is a difference between how we experience the world and how the world actually is. How we “represent” something is merely how we see and interpret it; this does not mean it is the only way to represent a subject, and our way of viewing said subject may not necessarily be the correct way. That is why it is important to respect the way others “view the map”.

You cannot not communicate: whether verbally or non-verbally, we are always communicating. Even the absence of a response provides information. You can also never not manipulate, but the choice is yours of how you will apply it – whether to help others or further your own ends.

The mind and the body are connected: they both affect the other in different ways, which can help you to pick up on behavioural cues. These cues coming from the body can reflect how our mind (or another’s) is already functioning, while deliberately accessing them can influence a mind into functioning differently. Focusing on someone else’s body language can open up a new world of information!

Everyone already has the resources they need: in this case, “resources” refers to the internal responses and external behaviours needed to get a response, which are all kept inside your subconscious mind. For instance, if you have already shown a particular skill in one area of your life, there is a chance the same skill may then come in useful at a later date, with a different context.

No one is incapable: anybody can get ahead, as long as they have the right state of mind and perform the correct series of actions. A person’s behaviour is also not who the person is; the person is to be accepted, even if the behaviour isn’t.

Resistance is a lack of rapport: clients do not resist, there are only inflexible communicators. When trying to communicate with another person, you should use all the methods and skills you have available to get your point across clearly. 

Behaviour and change should be evaluated in context and ecology: if a behaviour needs to change, it is always best to check ecology (the relationship between one living thing and another, as well as its relationship to its surroundings). If your current communication with another person is not working, there is a lack of ecology, which should be modified to better suit the individual you are communicating with.

Work with the structure, not the content: you cannot change what is said or what has happened, and you cannot change what is seen or felt in another person’s representation. That is all content. Structure, on the other hand, you can modify to suit your needs. This includes how you say something, how another person may experience it and the distinctions found in the representation.

The person or element with the most flexibility in the system will have the most influence: the person with the most options and choices of behaviour will have the greatest amount of control in a system. They will have enough experience to undertake any type of communication, providing them with the outcome they need to get a job done.

The past is not the same as the future: something which may have been useful in previous contexts, such as a method of behaviour, may not be useful at all in the future. Every new opportunity at communication is a chance to do something different.

What NLP can do for Your Sales

You may be wondering what all this talk of NLP presuppositions has to do with content marketing and sales. To help find the answer, you must consider the very basic nature of NLP presuppositions; they are assumptions. As assumptions are things that are assumed to be true, any assumption you make within a piece of content has the chance to be seen as true as well. 

When NLP presuppositions are used effectively, you will be helping your audience to believe what you are telling them. This becomes especially useful if you are attempting to sell a product or service, because you can convince your audience that you hold the solution to all of their problems. You may even be able to embellish their current circumstances, so they will be more eagerly persuaded into buying!

Once you have convinced an audience that you can help them with everything they need, the number of people who will see you as the go-to place for their own needs then goes up. As a result, you should find that the amount of traffic going into your website will increase, as will the number of conversions on your pages.

Examples of NLP Presuppositions

Any statement or question which assumes something, thereby persuading an audience that it is the truth, can be considered an NLP presupposition. The best will be placed within content so they are read, but not consciously picked up on as a marketing technique. To demonstrate what our writers can provide for you in your content, however, we have listed a few NLP presupposition examples from our own work below:

  • “Own up: who can truly resist an open box of MaltesersÂź? Neither can we.”
  • “Personalised gifts are the best, anyone will agree.”
  • “a UK firm you know you can trust.”
  • “It is vitally important that clinics, doctors’ offices, hospitals and healthcare centres all receive the highest quality toilet cubicles available.”
  • “you need an expert guide to help you find the perfect unit for your company building.”

Contact us to help with your content

Our SEO team is ready and waiting to provide you with the highest quality content on the market. All you have to do is give us a call or send us an email and we can talk you through the services we have available before you sign up with us. From there, our team of copywriters will let inspiration strike and work their magic on your website’s content. Your business will see an online boom in no time!