After reading Lakhani's first book on persuasion (2 stars from me) I decided to give him another chance and read this one. I shouldn't have. This is even worse. If you think I'm biased and anti-Dave, I don't even know the guy, and to be fair, books by Kevin Hogan (another persuasion "expert") aren't much better or more useful either. Even Cialdini's "holy book" on influence isn't such a great and rivetting read, but it still is a few classes above these younger "gurus" works.

In short, full of generalizations, unsubstantiatied half-thruths and platitudes.

I believe we all sell our ideas to others therefore persuasion is a topic of interest. Dave Lakhani's book titled "Subliminal Persuasion" provides the reader with a pallet of tools for persuasion. The eleven chapters of the book clearly layout a set of tools and tactics to be a persuasion machine then adds a clear way for you to put that you have learned into action. In the first chapter Dave said "my publisher wouldn't publish the book I wanted this to be because it was too edgy, too dangerous" well whether edgy or dangerous you should not be scared away. This book is clearly valuable and should be added to your library . . . maybe get two, one for the library and one to uses as a well thumbed reference.

Subliminal Persuasion Influence & Marketing Secrets They Don't Want You to Know. Dave Lakhani. 2008. ISBN 9780470243367. Also Persuasion. the art of getting what you want. Dave Lakhani. 2005. ISBN0471730440. Taken together these are two of the bets books on persuasion I have come across . The author uses his well researched techniques throughout the book so you can experience how persuasion is not manipulation, its selling, marketing, seduction. all rolled up. Lakhani is the guru in this space and his research is extensive and documented for the discerning reader.

You need to read these books to

1. recognize and be forewarned when techniques are being used and
2. learn how to apply them.

You will recognize the impact of these techniques through stories about Volvo (safe and boxy), The Sierra Club, the Organic Food movement (pay more for the same thing) as well as the Natural movement. Read about the most influential (and unknown) American ever, Edward Bernays who made it fashionable for women to smoke, promoted bacon and eggs until it was the American breakfast, stoked the fear of communism to "rally the population", and participated in the United Fruit Co /Guatemala/CIA led government toppling. Bernays believed that the conformity of the masses made for a smoother "democratic" society. Amazing yet serious stuff.

The authors take on Positioning:

* Positioning and packaging is creating a legendary message that meets the expectation of your target audience and gains persuasive compliance.
* We are leveraging storytelling.
* We are focusing on creating complementary models
* We are creating a persona that is easily identifiable with you, your company, and your product or your service you are leveraging.

Taken with Chip Bells work on customer loyalty, these persuasive techniques create a one two punch that would help you beat most opposition. I believe that todays sales and marekting leaders need to become more familiar with Lakhanis work. They are easy concise reads, well worth the little effort to learn.

Dave Lakhani's Subliminal Persuasion is a great book for AntiEntrepreneurs who no longer wish to be controlled or influenced by advertising, publicity or any other attempts from an outsider to create behavior. Dave outlines the tools, then tells you how they work and why. Anyone seeking to gain the upper hand will want this book in their arsenal. Anyone seeking to stop marketers from pushing them towards purchases, can see exactly what is being done to them.

He even explains product placement and why it works on television shows in a way that is easy to understand. I work with people on product placement and now I have a reference for the information they need.

If you own a business want to make it through the current recession with plenty of money, doing the strategies in the book will get you there. I highly recommend this book to Wright Place TV Show viewers and Entrepreneurs everywhere.

This is my second book to read by Dave and I must say it seemd a little pieced together. His first book on Persuasion was well crafted but this one seems choppy at best. Much of his information in this book seems to be a regurgitation of other books on persuasion.

I was impressed with some of the information which I found very interesting, but some of it was quite strange.

For instance, a quote atrributed to George W Bush on page 98 has no source for the quote. And regardless of what you feel about this man, the quote attributed to him is rather strange and I cannot imagine any President saying something like that. I e-mailed Dave about the quote and never received a reply.

I find it ironic that in a book about Subliminal Persuasion he would try to subliminally persude you about a political figure. I would hope that he has more integrity in the future when attributing quotes from anyone without any bibli.

Much of the book is about branding and is decent but not new material. I really tried to get into this book but it just fell flat.

An easy to read, no nonsense, guide into the world of modern day propaganda. The author offers more than a walk down memory lane to the origins of subliminal advertising; he offers practical tools that enable the reader to implement his ideas, as well as sources of additional information.
Useful book for the advertising novice and a reminder to the experienced marketer the power of subliminal advertising.

As someone who has read all of Dave's books, I would have to agree that this is his finest work to date. This book gives a step-by-step roadmap and process anyone can follow to become more persuasive.

The difference between this book, and Dave's first one:
Persuasion: The Art of Getting What You Want is that this book is much more subtle, though no less effective. It is possible to become subliminally persuasive, and to have people adopt your opinions and viewpoints without any direct or overt recommendations.

The methodology for accomplishing this is in this book. Like any other technique, these can be used for good or evil. But, whether you use them or not, you need to know about them. We are constantly being persuaded by subliminal means everyday. And, in this case, ignorance is not bliss.

As a small business owner, these techniques are particularly crucial for getting your business noticed. You'll learn how to use the power of endorsements very effectively, for instance- and how to create lots and lots of social proof. This means that your customers or prospects practically sell themselves on your product or service. Result: more money, with less work for you.

This is not the kind of book you can read once and "get it." You need to read it once, let it sink in, and then go back and read it again. If you really want to master it, read it the third time- and then, APPLY what you've read. No book will work unless you implement what you've learned.

I've been able to use several of these techniques in some sales meetings I've recently had, and my outcomes have been very good- with much less effort.

I suggest reading both Persuasion: The Art of Getting What You Want along with this book. You can never be too persuasive.

I've read this book cover-to-cover, and it was a total waste of my time. I am a business coach by profession, very involved in sales and direct response marketing, always on the lookout for ways to improve my skills. This book is a total disappointment. It was obviously neither designed nor intended to help the reader. I am little bit confused... Who are "THEY" and what don't they want me to know? I thought Kevin Trudeau was already beating this one to death. Thumbs down on this one.

If you're reading this, you're interested in the field of persuasion. I don't know if you're like me, but my bookshelf is full of persuasion and influence books - from Le Bon's The Crowd to Cialdini's Influence - Science and Practice.

And if you're considering buying this book, you might be wondering "Is this just a rehash of the Cialdini influence principles, or an overview of the fabled cinema subliminal advertising experiments (which never took place) in the 1950s?"

Well, rest easy, as it's neither. And it has a wealth of information on how to persuade using techniques used by such diverse groups as mass-market advertising agencies to those running cults.

Now, let's get one thing out of the way straight away - Lakhani uses the term subliminal persuasion in a significantly broader way than you might be imagining. This is not about flashing images at you at a rate that the conscious mind cannot detect. It's not simply a re-presentation of priming, and it's not just about embedded commands. It's all together a great deal more subtle than that.

Lakhani examines the interplay between the medium, the message and how it's presented. He looks at how the elements contribute to getting over a message that's not stated explicitly.

The very different methods of subliminal persuasion are outlined and explained. Story-telling as subliminal persuasion is picked apart. How the media use persuasion is peppered with examples.

Chapter 3 - Position and Package your Legend and chapter 5 - Get a Real Endorsement - are essential reading for anyone seeking to attain expert status in their field and be recognised for it.

The book is laced with examples that make the points he makes more understandable and they act as a bridge to your implementation of the ideas.

And for that reason, this is probably a book you'll come back to time and again - there is a great deal here.

This is far from a must read. Lakhani strings together some information from various books and interviews and cobbles together just enough for a book. It reads more like a C+ term paper. He thinly covers a few of the basics: figure out a person's pre-exisitng beliefs and play to that frame; seek emotional engagement with those who you want to persuade; understand the power of questions in teasing out how people feel. He has an interesting section on coaxing out an endorsement of you and how you do it in order to gin up social proof. There are lots of much better books.

Because if this were another 5-star review, you probably wouldn't be as curious about it. But heck, this isn't a 5-star book, it's a 6-star book. As at least one other reviewer has said here, this is Dave Lakhani's single most important effort to date.

Honestly, I didn't know what to expect. Was this going to be a re-hash of Vance Packard's 1957 tome, The Hidden Persuaders?

Not on your life.

This is an aggressive, pithy, no-nonsense, no-holds-barred war plan for making use of tools that are already at your disposal. At least half a dozen times, you're likely to read something Lakhani has written, and think, "Duh. Of course. I've been subjected to that throughout my life." Only now, you can switch from being a passive subject of these tactics to being an active user, one who knows how to be infulential, purposeful and persuasive.

I love this book. I'm buying copies for my most important clients, along with pocket-size Moleskine notebooks. This is weaponry that any astute marketing professional should have in his arsenal.

SIDEBAR: Be forewarned: you will probably begin spending a fortune on Moleskine notebooks. If you're serious about using this book, it will lead you down the path to the addicitve little luxury of using the same notebook as Hemingway and Picasso--which, frankly, is a good thing indeed. I've been using them for years, and Dave Lakhani has me enjoying them more than ever. (I personally prefer the pocket-size, square-ruled Moleskine. Your tastes may vary.)

There are only a few people who could make such a bold promise -influence and marketing secrets they don't want you to know - and then authentically deliver on that promise. Dave Lakhani's latest book, "SUBLIMINAL PERSUASION: INFLUENCE AND MARKETING SECRETS THEY DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW", does that and more.

The information is delivered in an organized, logical and persuasive manner. Each chapter takes an important topic with step by step instructions for putting the information into practice.


Most chapters end with the mantra, Implementation is everything - Money follows action , with specific actions for creating your desired results. Essential further study for each chapter gives recent books, viral videos and websites, and movies that when read, seen and heard will solidify and enhance learning. The lists of books alone will likely keep my Amazon account humming with activity for the near future.


I found the book instructive because of the topics, the structure, content and the focus on implementation and action. Most importantly, this book was interesting! It's the kind of book you don't want to stop reading and underlining until you digest every morsel. My suggestion - just let yourself read and enjoy. Then invest the time to go step by step through the processes. Any one of the many secrets in the book can have a profound effect on your life and your business.

Dave has opened my eyes to elements of marketing that I may have had a gut sense about - yet could not put any real identity to. Now I know. Now I can use the information about what was happening to me as I was being influenced, subliminally persuaded. Now I can do more that ever before. For fun. For profit. For business.

His earlier book on persuasion was a paradigm shift. This one is a quantum leap. Thanks!

In the wrong hands "Subliminal Persuasion: Influence & Marketing Secrets They Don't Want You to Know " is a dangerous book.

However, "Subliminal Persuasion: Influence & Marketing Secrets They Don't Want You To Know" if used for good can be used to multiply the proceeds of non profits and charities and help the world to become a better place to live.

Author Dave Lakhani states that "Subliminal Persuasion was written for every entrepreneur, salesperson, advertiser and small business person who suspects there is a key to effectively moving markets and controlling customers."

I totally agree.

The information in this book if implemented could be used by you to sell more products more easily and give you the time and freedom that you have always wanted.

Subliminal Persuasion author Lakhani knows all too well the downside of subliminal persuasion having been raised in a cult that he later broke away from.

Due to Lakhani's unique insights he will also reveal to you how to recognize when subliminal persuasion is being used on you so that you can defend yourself against subliminal persuasion campaigns.

Subliminal Persuasion is a thoroughly researched and well thought out book that covers the interesting history of subliminal persuasion in America.

"Subliminal Persuasion" includes a rare discussion of how Edward Bernays [the cousin of Sigmund Freud] used inside information from Freud to implement subliminal persuasion to become the most subliminally persuasive marketer in America.

"Subliminal Persuasion: Influence & Marketing Secrets They Don't Want You To Know" also includes up to date information on using subliminal persuasion on the internet through the use of blogs, viral videos and social book marking.

There is even a cutting edge discussion of how to achieve "Conversation Domination" on the internet and how you can achieve Cult Status like Jimmy Buffet with his "Parrot heads."

"Subliminal Persuasion: Influence & Marketing Secrets They Don't Want You To Know" is also an excellent resource on the topic of persuasion in that it lists other persuasion videos, books and websites on the topic of persuasion.

I wish this book had been around twenty years ago.

It would have saved me a lot of work and worry.

I highly recommend "Subliminal Persuasion: Influence & Marketing Secrets They Don't Want You to Know " if you are serious about getting the word of your product or service or charitable cause out to others or increasing your traffic or sales.

I give this book my highest rating of five out of five jalapeños.

Congratulations, You've Just Been Seduced!

Have you ever reluctantly made a purchase, then later been glad that you did? It turned out to be all and more you hoped it would be. And what about all those purchases you were very unhappy with afterwards?

Both times you were seduced to buy. Either a clever salesperson or by great ad copy. In either case, you may have been unaware of the "secret" persuasion techniques that were used on you.

Dave Lakhani knows all to well how these "secrets" work. He's used them and been abused by them. Now he's become the persuader of persuasion with his second book on the subject.

What he's showing his readers is so powerful, you can't but hope that this information never falls into the wrong hands. Well, rest easy, it already has, long ago. From con artists to dictators, this is the power of their very existence.

Fortunately it's also come into some capable and caring hands and minds with the likes of Lakhani. He's a proven practitioner of the art of not just persuasion, but "Subliminal Persuasion," which is the title of his latest book.

In Subliminal Persuasion, Lakhani takes his readers through what otherwise would be a labyrinth of the power of persuasion, but his is a straight line. No mysterious gobbledegook here, just well written prose that guides us into this world of real power.

Subliminal Persuasion is a book to be used, not just to be read. Lakhani shows us through techniques, exercises and application, with precise clarity, how to immediately apply subliminal persuasion in everyday life.

Even if you're not in marketing, you'll find this a riveting read and great protection against those unscrupulous black art practitioners who might otherwise deceive you, or at least, take undue advantage. Especially during an election year!

While I'm a fan of Persuasion: The Art of Getting What You Want, I was fully ready to discount anything that smacked too much of other works on the same topic. But his refreshing style and take on the subject, as well as his many years of success through his use of the white art of subliminal persuasion, deserves praise.

"The essence of subliminal persuasion is the message: the message your audience hears, receives and experience as being true."

....and then Lakhani goes on to explain the subliminal persuasion (SP) is a message that enters the mind without conscious evaluation.

In Chapter 1, Dave wastes no time and gives you the formula for creating an urban legend. (This is very cool, one of those "worth the price of admission" sections.)

He also shows a very, very nice strategy that beautifully illustrates what I might refer to as Covert Hypnosis but Dave is defining as subliminal persuasion and it is excellent. In a nutshell Dave walks you through EXACTLY how to construct covert communication. This is done elegantly and it works.

Chapter Two- Leverage Applied Propaganda

A sweeping discussion of propaganda which ends with five lessons to be learned from arguably the greatest propagandist in history. The formula Lakhani uses for propaganda is spot on.

Chapter Three: Position and Package your Legend

Here Dave talks about three crucial factors every person that uses intentional persuasion needs to know. What to do with story telling, how to create complementary models and finally how to create a persona.

Chapter Four: Control the Emotion and The Content

Dave cuts to the chase. The emotions that persuaders need to concern themselves with. He not only itemizes them for the reader but details them. Very nice.

Next up is a complete chapter about getting endorsements. This is something few people do as well as Lakhani and is another one of those "worth the price of admission" sections in the book.

Thorough discussions of "True Believers" and plenty on media use make for tantalizing reading that keeps you turning the pages and taking notes.

Maybe the hottest chapter is Creating a Cultic Following, followed immediately, interestingly enough by a chapter on Seduction.

This is far and away Lakhani's finest and most important work to date.

Unlike other books in the genre this book tells you not only WHAT to do but HOW to do it. That's a lot of bang for twenty five bucks.

Five stars?

No question. This is a book I want everyone in my Inner Circle to read.

Kevin Hogan
Author of The Psychology of Perusasion

Before I begin this review you should know that Dave and I are friends and this is a biased review. Now, I'm the type of guy that calls it like I see it and this is the best book of invisible tools I have yet read.

Invisible tools are what make persuasion work. The words you use impact other people's receptivity of you. We all know that. These invisible tools extend beyond words. You are either being very intentional about which invisible tools you use and adopt or other people are choosing for you.

You are either persuading yourself and others or letting yourself be persuaded. We live in a time of immersive communications and there is no middle ground. You either persuade or get swept along into somebody elses persuasion game.

Dave Lakhani bravely reveals the truth about how to control your prospects attention from first glimpse all the way into your never ending continuity program. This is your source for the most ruthlessly effective technology.

Advertising that looks like advertising is second-rate advertising. Dave Lakhani demonstrates how to pre-frame a prospect to step into your greased chute. Dave explains why and how you NEED to lead your prospect by the hand into your sales-system... which can't look like a sales system.

Nobody likes to be sold and yet everybody loves to go shopping. How do you as a business owner get folks to shop shopping and start buying? You gotta get them out of the "shopping" mind set and into your subliminal sales system, into the warm words of your actual offer.

Follow Dave step-by-step as he dissects how he does this through story and narrative. This isn't storytelling, what Dave does is storyselling.

You will read this book with a note pen in hand and you will be scribbling on every page. Every page of this book has an impactful tactic and tip.

This is the story of impactful stories. Yes, I know "impactful" isn't a word I can play in scrabble. The previous type of sentence is what Dave Lakhani calls a pattern-interrupt. Then, he explains their function in persuasion. You should know these things. Everybody else is doing it. It's as simple as that. You should click the buy button now.

In this new book, Subliminal Persuasion, Lakhani takes us a step further than his previous work. He shows us how to persuade the masses. He shows us the secrets of applied propaganda, harnessing the power of the media and creating a cult following to name a few.

I was enthrolled by this book! In my line of work I persuade and influence all day (but who doesn't really?) and this book has definitely persuaded me to change some of my approaches.

My favorite chapters were Control the Emotion and Content, Understand Beliefs and the Believers, Deliver the Experience, The Subliminal Power of Words and, of course, Seduction. I obsessively read persuasion, influence, sales and marketing books and this one is among the best.

If you work in sales, marketing, politics, public relations, religious activities, movie making or just want to control and improve your persuasive power, you MUST read this book! I know all my follow recruiters will get a copy.

"The essence of subliminal persuasion is the message: the message your audience hears, receives and experience as being true."

....and then Lakhani goes on to explain the subliminal persuasion (SP) is a message that enters the mind without conscious evaluation.

In Chapter 1, Dave wastes no time and gives you the formula for creating an urban legend. (This is very cool, one of those "worth the price of admission" sections.)

He also shows a very, very nice strategy that beautifully illustrates what I might refer to as Covert Hypnosis but Dave is defining as subliminal persuasion and it is excellent. In a nutshell Dave walks you through EXACTLY how to construct covert communication. This is done elegantly and it works.

Chapter Two- Leverage Applied Propaganda

A sweeping discussion of propaganda which ends with five lessons to be learned from arguably the greatest propagandist in history. The formula Lakhani uses for propaganda is spot on.

Chapter Three: Position and Package your Legend

Here Dave talks about three crucial factors every person that uses intentional persuasion needs to know. What to do with story telling, how to create complementary models and finally how to create a persona.

Chapter Four: Control the Emotion and The Content

Dave cuts to the chase. The emotions that persuaders need to concern themselves with. He not only itemizes them for the reader but details them. Very nice.

Next up is a complete chapter about getting endorsements. This is something few people do as well as Lakhani and is another one of those "worth the price of admission" sections in the book.

Thorough discussions of "True Believers" and plenty on media use make for tantalizing reading that keeps you turning the pages and taking notes.

Maybe the hottest chapter is Creating a Cultic Following, followed immediately, interestingly enough by a chapter on Seduction.

This is far and away Lakhani's finest and most important work to date.

Unlike other books in the genre this book tells you not only WHAT to do but HOW to do it. That's a lot of bang for twenty five bucks.

Five stars?

No question. This is a book I want everyone in my Inner Circle to read.

Kevin Hogan
Author of The Psychology of Perusasion