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PERSUASION WIKI

Accelerating

Accelerating is one of the Four Ways to deal with emotional objections. It consists of agreeing with the person’s objection and then amplifying it until it becomes ridiculous, and asking the person to agree with it (or justifying themselves).

  • “Maybe I should buy this product”
    • “Maybe you should. Maybe everyone should change their mind. Maybe nobody should be a loyal customer. Maybe nobody should give their word. Do you agree with this?”
      • “Uhhh… not exactly”

Or

  • “Maybe I should buy this product”
    • “Maybe you should. Why are you here?”

The Persuasion Psychology Behind the Technique

The two types of accelerating work due to slightly different reasons. Accelerating to a contradiction works because you’re exaggerating the person’s words and trying to force them to agree with the exaggerated version. It’s an example of failed intent labeling.

Accelerating to a justification works because the person is trying to get you to chase or prove yourself, and instead of doing that, you take the opposite route and give them a way out. And on top of that, you flip it on them and force them to come up with the justification themselves.

You use the two types of acceleration in similar manners. To accelerate to a contradiction, agree with someone’s words and blow them out of proportion. To accelerate to a justification, agree with someone’s desire to leave and then force them to justify why they haven’t yet.

Usage

Sub-Techniques
(2 in Total)

Examples

"Nothing of value"

Accelerating an objection to make it seem like the person never has considered anything of value can make it implode. “So I’m sure you never bought anything expensive, never made a significant investment, don’t have anything that is high quality, […], and so on, right?”

No investments

Similar to the previous, but accelerating to making it seem like the person never invested in anything. “Everything should be free, and people should never pay for things, and paid products are all useless, […], right?”

"Why are you here?"

Accelerating to a justification. Anytime someone tries to get you to prove yourself, you’re flipping it on them

  • Other examples:
  • Billions TV show, dog owner interaction (S01E03. One of the main characters, Chuck Rhoades, passing by a guy on the street whose dog poos and he doesn’t pick it up. Chuck confronts him, guy asks to “let it slide”. Chuck goes on a monologue saying (something like): “Sure. Just let it slide. Let’s let petty larceny slide as well. People stealing things. Let’s forgive them if they kidnap your wife as well. Let’s forgive all of those people that break the law, right?”. Perfect example of accelerating to a contradiction)

Use Cases For the Four Quadrants

Key Takeaways
(3 Total)

How to Stack This Technique