Metaphors are incredibly powerful persuasive tools.

If you are telling another person what to do, or even suggesting a course of action, there will usually be resistance.

But as soon as you throw out a metaphor, all conscious resistance disappears.

So what is a metaphor?

It can be a story, it can be a single line, it can be anything, as long as it’s not direct communication.

The bottom line is to get your listener to think, on a conscious level, “Oh…she’s talking about someone else…” so they can relax and get on with the ride.

Let’s say you want to convince your partner to try that new broccoli pizzeria in town.

The direct method would be something like this:

“Hey, let’s go to that new broccoli pizzeria! What do you think?”

But let’s say you suspect your partner will say no, because he hates everything about broccoli.

But you want to convince them that it’s pretty good. So instead, you tell them a story. Choose two characters, one that represents you and one that represents your partner. And make the “plot,” so to speak, match what you’d like the outcome of your conversation to be. That is, your partner decides to open his mind and try some broccoli.

The nice thing about using metaphors is that, when used correctly, the “decision” to “test your idea” will seem like theirs. To them, it’s like they’re listening to you tell a random story, and suddenly they crave some broccoli pizza.

Anyway, you could try something like this:

[begin metaphor]

“Hey check this out I was talking to this girl at work (this is the character similar to your partner) she was telling me how she and her husband were looking for a new place to have dinner they always do that they’re not like boring couples who They eat the same thing over and over again.

Anyway, they saw this broccoli pizzeria.

Now, normally my friend would never eat broccoli pizza, but her husband started making fun of her and saying how normal and boring she was.

Anyway, they decided to give it a try and she told me it didn’t even taste like broccoli. I think she just gave it that name as some kind of marketing gimmick or something.

Anyway, he said it was very good, and while he still hates broccoli, he’d like to go back and try it again. I really admire that couple, because they are always trying new things. Anyway, what do you want to make for dinner?”

[end metaphor]

See how it works?