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 every one should change their mind. Maybe nobody should be a loyal customer. Maybe nobody should give their word. Do you agree with this?”
    • “Uhhh”
• Or
• “Maybe I should buy this product”;
  • “Maybe you should. Why are you here?”;

Underlying Psychology/Biases

Sub-Techniques

There are two main types:

• Accelerating to a justification
  • Agreeing with the person, continuing their reasoning, and asking them to stop and prove themselves;
  • “Maybe I should pick another candidate”
    • “Maybe you should. Why are you here in the first place?”;
  • “Maybe I should buy this other product”
    • “Maybe you should. Why did you come to me in the first place?”;
  • It’s a type of exclusion confirmation;
• Accelerating to a contradiction
  • Amplifying the objection until it becomes ridiculous or exaggerated, and then asking the person to agree with it, which they never will;
    • It’s a failed type of intent labeling;
  • You can do it in short statements or a monologue;
  • “This is too expensive. Maybe I shouldn’t buy it”;
    • “Yes it is. Maybe nobody should buy expensive products. Maybe we should all buy discount products and cheap things. I bet you bought your home on discount, right? I bet you sent your kids to a low-price school? I bet you don’t have any expensive products, right? Do you agree?”;
      • “Uhhh”;
  • You can use an abbreviated version of this, which is just asking, “Should everybody do it?”;
    • “Can you do this for half price?”
      • “Well, it’s possible. Do you think that everyone in the world should cut their prices in half as well?”;
      • “Well, no, I guess, not everybody”;
      • “Then just me in specific?”;
      • “Uhh, yes”;

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;
• Billions, dog owner interaction
  • TV show Billions, Season 1 Episode 3;
  • One of the main character, 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;

Commercial/Known Uses

Key Takeaways

• Two main types: accelerating to a justification or a contradiction
  • Justification: When they try to make you prove yourself, you flip it on them and make them prove themselves;
  • Contradiction: When they make a point, twist their words to make it seem more exaggerated and try to force them to agree to it;
• Both types consist of not going against the objection, but instead increasing it and corroding it from the inside;