Indoctrination is the process of sharing your view of the world with the person. It can be about ideals, specific techniques, processes or other, as long as they are viewing the world through the same lens as you.

Examples can include:

• Getting someone to read your 3-step process and memorize the 3 steps;
• Having a 5-principle framework and getting them to understand the 5 principles;
• Having a specific terminology for the different client types and getting them to identify with one of them;
• …

Underlying Psychology/Biases

This works because getting the person to speak your language and think in your terms persuades more. The person will already be used to you, so it will be less mental effort to buy or adopt what you’re suggesting. It’s streamlined in their mind.

Sub-Techniques

• Third-party indoctrination
  • When you don’t have enough authority (or materials) to indoctrinate someone using your own elements, just indoctrinating them “in general” can work;
    • For example, if you sell accounting software, but don’t have materials or frameworks of your own, indoctrinating the person with the benefits of accounting software in general;
    • If you’re a consultant for mental health for entrepreneurs and don’t have your own materials or guidelines, just educating them on mental health principles in general can work;

Examples

• Marketing funnels
  • Especially with email marketing, indoctrination is one of the best ways to warm up an audience;
  • By showing people how you view things, the terms you use, and so on, they will know how you view the world, and will more likely end up buying (or doing your ask);
• Freemium applications
  • The freemium model is great for indoctrination. If you use an application such as Netflix or Spotify, you’re used to how they categorize content, how you curate playlists and watchlists, and it will be easier to keep subscribing;
• Actual religion and cults
  • In real life, indoctrination is the principle behind religion and cults. The more that someone wants to rise within the ranks of a religion, the more they need to know about its principles;

Commercial/Known Uses

Key Takeaways

• Indoctrination is the term given to the practice of making a target/client view the world through your eyes. Your ideals, behaviors, specific wording, and so on;
• As with other techniques, there are different levels to this technique. You can indoctrinate soft or hard, and with different levels of acceptance;
• Indoctrination is great to warm someone up before an ask. Not only does it qualify the person, but it qualifies them to your specific view of the world, which makes it easier for them to buy/do your ask;