Dave Lakhani has an interesting post on the future of marketing and mass communication in which he coorelates it with singularity.

So as I studied The Singularity it occurred to me that the answer to how do you get your message to the masses and have it be heard most likely won’t be answered by us, it is much more likely to be answered by the individuals collectively that we hope to communicate to. In fact, it is my belief that another form of singularity will occur, in which potential customers will become evermore sophisticated in their ability to filter and consolidate information. As they become more sophisticated, they create individual influence streams from which they get all of their information, information that is highly personalized and highly selected. Rather than trying to increase the number of people they follow they become increasingly selective about who they receive information from ultimately reducing the noise while becoming much more connected to the channel through which they receive information. RSS was the first glimpse and promise of the idea that you could consolidate the information that you wanted into one single feed. In social media FriendFeed is trying to do that. And overall web wide Twine is also trying to do it. But for most consumers they don’t go far enough.

Great video on the difference between manipulation and persuasion in sales situations. The basic premise Dave Lakhani outlines on the difference between manipulation and persuasion in the sales process comes down to one thing… Intent.

Dave’s definition on persuasion: “Getting people to come to their own most logical conclusion which happens to be one that you share”.

Dave goes on to outline 4 tools to persuasion; 1) Storytelling. Works subliminally and generates immediate response and reaction. 2) Be Seen to sell? Let people know you are selling, gives you credibility and authenticity. 3) Transfer of power, such as celebrity endorsements and testimonials. 4) Develop persuasive persona, even use your voice different, your body language different depending on the situation, adapt your persona to the situation.