With NLP, we can use anchors to help us connect with a state of being or action.  Just like a ship anchor, you can create a mental anchor to keep you connected to something you want to create.  I just completed a series of NLP classes for Real Estate salespeople and created an anchor to help me remember to record the call. I invited one of the participants, Yelena to cross connect with my memory, so that each time she came on the call, I was reminded by her presence to start the recording.

NLP anchoring uses a powerful image, sound, or experience that brings forth a memory. The most memorable anchors are ones that have meaning for us. I told one of my coaching clients who was struggling with her schedule that my “anchor song” when I was prospecting was “For the Love of Money” by the O’Jays.  Simply the beginning of the song was enough to make me smile and boost my energy. When I learned the NLP circle of power exercise, I used “Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash. I had conditioned myself with a stimulus that created a state of being.

Anchors can be a picture, a sound, a feeling. Remember a time when you were energized, excited, and couldn’t wait to leap out of bed in the morning? You can access that state whenever you want to with a positive anchor.

Advertisers use anchors all the time to elicit a powerful memory from us, pulling up images from the past. Soundtracks from the 60’s and 70’s bring back all the feelings we had when we were younger. Movies produced about Spiderman, Captain Hook, and Mr. Potato Head emote those nostalgic themes from childhood take us back to the times we cherished. Remakes of classic movies and songs anchor us to the sights, sounds and feelings when we saw the first version.

The first step as a salesperson is to notice when you are in a peak state. Maybe you just closed a difficult seller, maybe your energy was high, or maybe you felt like you could take on the world.  When you are in that state connect with a unique anchor to remind you to go back and create more experiences like that.  It’s important to repeat the anchor each time you are at the peak of the experience.

• It could be a certain piece of clothing you wear…a lucky tie, or a piece of jewelry.
• It could be an inspiring video that you like to watch again and again. (I like this site for inspiration: http://www.boxofcrayons.biz/)
• It could be the feeling of writing thank you notes as soon as you close the sale.
• Maybe it’s smiling in the mirror and saying an affirmation
• An anchor can be a person, such as an accountability partner. (Or like Yelena, who helped anchor my memory to the recording).
• Anchors can be visual, auditory or kinesthetic.

Be creative. What has meaning to you? Link it with a state of being or action and you’ve got a powerful way to change your results.