What is The Language and Behavior Profile (LAB Profile®?) and how to use Words That Change Minds in your work
The Language and Behavior Profile (LAB Profile®) helps you understand people and enables you to respond with just the right Influencing Language for individuals and groups of people.
The LAB Profile® shows you:
- how people get motivated
- how they process information
- how they make decisions.
It is NOT a personality test. It measures behavior and motivation, which change in different contexts.
Personality tests tend to label people in general but as you know, we do not behave the same way 24-7.
People have different behaviors in different situations and the LAB Profile® is the only tool that takes context into account and lets you use it in real-time conversations.
What is Lab Profile?
What is the language of Influence?
#1 What the LAB Profile® can do:
How to attract the right employees
FACT: LAB Profile® finds the best employees for Southwest Airlines
LAB Profile® can be used as a recruitment tool. You ask a few questions to identify Motivation and Productivity Patterns that your best-performing employees have.
With this information, the HR department can be trained to write job invitations that attract the right people as well as a screening tool for that set of patterns in the language and behavior of the applicants. Here is an example…
Many years ago, Southwest Airlines had a corporate culture problem. They wanted to be the lowest complaint-ratio airline in the USA. But some of their flight attendants seemed to attract customer complaints, while other flight attendants seemed to do the exact opposite, and no one ever complained on their flights.
The LAB Profile® specialists profiled the complaint-generating flight attendants and those who were never complained about. That’s how they clarified the difference between them.
They applied the “Words That Change Minds” to the recruiting and screening process to attract the best candidates and repel those who were most likely to cause complaints.
The result was that Southwest Airlines achieved its status as the lowest-complaint ratio airline in the USA and it maintained that status for many years.
#2 What the LAB Profile® can do:
How to attract the right customers
FACT: LAB Profile® finds the best customers for a mutual fund company
A mutual fund company had the following problem: They were generating leads for high net worth individuals from their investment advice television program, but they were not happy with their closing rate.
Typically, the high net worth prospective clients, people who had $2 million or more to invest, would watch the TV program where the CEO handled phone-in inquiries about investing, and after several months of watching, they would phone to find out about investing with the company. The issue was that customers were somehow lost along the way and the company didn’t know what was happening.
They hired Shelle Rose Charvet to help them by conducting LAB Profile® market research. She interviewed prospective clients who phoned the company and said “yes” to investing and prospects who phoned but didn’t end up saying “yes”.
From these interviews Shelle uncovered what were the key LAB Profile® Motivation Triggers™ for each group. Using that information, she designed a sales process for them and proposed a series of keywords to use on their website and in the television program that they are still using today, 15 years later.
And the results? Their closing rate increased by 50%. Because of this this, the CEO decided to come and train with Shelle, because he wanted to understand what was the difference that actually… made the difference.
He took a 10-day program with her, but wouldn’t commit to doing the whole program because of his busy schedule (even though he had paid for the whole thing). At the end of each day, the organizers wondered whether or not he was coming back the next day. In the end he stayed the full 10 days. He was fascinated by the words that change mind even though he had a very busy schedule.
#3 What the LAB Profile® can do:
Make your ideas irresistible to anyone
FACT: LAB Profile® gets the job (even if there were hundreds of applicants)
She worked with Shelle Rose Charvet to come up with a strategy to make sure she would get an interview. Shelle suggested using the Skeptical People Process from the LAB Profile®.
Instead of starting off her cover email with the usual “I am the perfect person for this position,” she opened the email by saying “I suspect I might be just the right person for this position.”
Then she offered evidence for their consideration. The “I suspect” language set her apart from many others who were pushier because it created curiosity in the recruiters’ minds.
Results? She got the interview and the job because she used language that engages people who are hard to convince.
After getting the job, she said to Shelle: “If I hadn’t been able to get an interview by using this technique, I never would have had a chance to get my dream job.”
#4 What the LAB Profile® can do:
Avoid conflicts and prevent disagreements
FACT: LAB Profile® wins a high stakes negotiation
The bargaining team thought it might be possible to get an agreement with the union reps. The problem was that there wasn’t a lot of trust between the people bargaining on behalf of the Union and the membership: differences in culture, race, and social class.
They needed to find a strategy that would also speak directly to the membership. And that’s what Shelle taught them how to do.
So, they worked together, and she trained them in the LAB Profile® Strategies for Negotiations. They ran role plays, simulating actual negotiations. It was difficult, and everyone ended the training days tired and with large sweat stains on their shirts.
They learned how to use language that would not only speak to the negotiators on the other side, but would also indirectly get a message through to the membership.
What followed was very interesting. They were able to get a deal with the union reps, as expected. But when it went to the membership, it was voted down.
Strangely, two days later a number of the members initiated another vote because they had gone away, thought about it, and decided it was actually a good deal! So they instigated a new vote. Not only did the membership approve the deal, they signed the first 5-year agreement in the history of the company.
Up until then, there had only been 1- or 2-year agreements. This was the very first time they had ever gotten a 5-year agreement because the members realized it really was a good deal.
The company’s bargaining team told Shelle afterwards that they were not expecting to be able to avoid a strike. But the strategy worked. Everyone realized it was an excellent deal. And they were very happy that the relationship with the union membership had dramatically improved.
#5 What the LAB Profile® can do:
Get people’s agreement really fast OR going from distrust to getting buy-in really fast
FACT: The LAB Profile® helped calm people down and avoid a rebellion
In the third day of the course, the trainer received a call from one of the program assistants to let her know that a number of the participants were feeling very dissatisfied with the program. Specifically, they couldn’t see the point of many of the practical exercises from the course plan and they had gotten quite angry about it.
The assistant was told that they were planning to confront the trainer next morning and demand their money back.
Naturally our trainer stayed up most of the night worrying about what to do. She called a meeting with all the program assistants very early next morning but even at the end of the meeting still wasn’t sure how to handle the situation.
She left the elevator, walked into the large meeting room, up onto the stage and started the morning and something changed. She addressed the problem directly and said: “I understand a number of you are not happy because you don’t understand why we are doing the activities we are doing. So I’d like to explain to you why.”
She used the LAB Profile® Zooming Out technique. On the flip chart she created an overview, framing the whole program, in two large overlapping circles, illustrating not only WHAT they were doing but WHY they were doing it; the purpose, applications and why each element was essential.
Results? She said: “They all sat there with their mouths open. And when I asked: “Any questions,” no one had anything to say. Everybody was OK with it. They all nodded and then they continued as if nothing had happened.”
The participants were happy, nobody asked for their money back, everybody continued with the program to the end, and gave rave reviews. And the trainer still uses those frames today to introduce the program.
#6 What the LAB Profile® can do:
Write email proposals that get accepted in half the time
FACT: Using LAB Profile® elements to write a different kind of proposals
Have you ever written a proposal, spent a long time on it, and then got no answer? The problem is that clients are really busy, so it can be difficult to make sure it is a priority for them, even if they requested the proposal.
They may even have insisted they need the proposal on their desk right away, and you stayed up all night or worked all weekend to get it to them and still nothing happened.
Part of the problem is the word “proposal”. What do people do when they get a proposal? They think about it. Often, they don’t do anything about it. It’s the wrong terminology to use.
Shelle Rose Charvet taught a group of consultants the LAB Profile® Proposal Template. How to use language that moves the process forward, using Proactive Language.
She suggested that instead of doing a proposal for a prospective client, to get an “okay” from them to submit a “Plan of Action”. The word “action” is built right in the title and people tend to respond to this much quicker than a proposal which just sits on someone’s desk.
The point of a “Plan of Action” is to solve a problem or achieve a goal for the client – how to get there. This is how to shift people out of the “thinking and waiting mode” into the “action mode” and when you pre-schedule a follow-up meeting to discuss the Plan of Action, this enables you to get your proposals accepted in half the time.
#7 What the LAB Profile® can do:
Use the right words at the right time
FACT: Using LAB Profile® elements will help you keep and boost your credibility
Aruna had to do a presentation for her company in a large, packed amphitheatre, standing at the bottom in the light, looking up at the rows of seats of people, mainly in the dark. Just as she was about to start, an unseen man sitting way up at the top yells out: “Hey Aruna, you’re just as beautiful as you used to be 20 years ago.”
And everybody laughs. Of course.
And not only that. Because they all worked for the same company, they were probably thinking: “WOW! Did they have an affair 20 years ago?”, “Why is he saying that?”, “Did he sleep with her?”, “What kind of relationship do they have?” They were certainly no longer thinking about Aruna’s topic.
Many women who have been sabotaged in this jovial manner are taken aback and feel embarrassed. They end up just laughing because everybody else is laughing. Huge mistake! Because now everyone is distracted, and she may have just lost credibility by not handling the situation.
It looks like Mr. Joker has just pulled the rug out from under her feet. Some people may even start feeling sorry for her!
But Aruna didn’t make this mistake. She was Shelle’s student for many years and didn’t fall into the trap. She knew exactly what to do when somebody throws you a “Banana Peel,” implying: “Here, darling, slip on this!”
She followed Shelle’s teachings about how to handle a “Banana Peel”, by throwing it right back to the person who threw it at her. And she was brilliant!
Aruna said: “Gee Peter, unfortunately I can’t say the same for you”. Everyone laughed, and she immediately regained credibility and did a great presentation.
Later, she told Shelle: “If I hadn’t known how to respond to a banana peel, I probably would have fallen in the trap of laughing and lost credibility.”
Do you want to find out your Language and Behavior Patterns for a specific context?
Take a LAB Profile® for free
See what others are saying about the LAB Profile®
LAB Profile® expertise facilitated my professional “U-turn” from employed sales manager to self-employed trainer-consultant in many ways. It allowed me to gradually position myself as “an expert” in communication and influence and I use LAB Profile® in my training: sales, influence, public speaking, motivation, communication.
I thought the online LAB Profile® program was excellent! I felt that I was in the training with Shelle. The information was very clearly explained for me and it was fun and interesting to study it each week, in fact, I looked forward to each new module every week!
Also, I was pleasantly surprised by how easily and relatively simply it all came together at the end in order to be able to profile people, using the questions and worksheets.
The LAB Profile® trainer program with Shelle has been incredibly valuable for me as trainer and consultant. I used it immediately back in my work, setting up several successful programs and promoting more effectively. So what came out of it? Awesome customer feedback, new business opportunities and a great reputation as an expert in LAB Profiling.
We significantly increased the response rate to our direct marketing by matching the language in our communications to the correct Motivation Pattern for our target group.
I think this course is brilliant and it is already helping me with my work environment. I love Shelle’s style. She is amazing!
I am loving the online program. I bought the book years ago and loved it, but this brings it much more to life. I think I’ll be able to use the concepts more.
I am delighted to have passed the LAB Profile® certification. Due to the fact that it took me so long to complete I have ended up watching the LAB online sessions about four times over. In retrospect, this has been a very positive move as I feel the techniques are more effectively embedded than if I had completed the course quickly. For me I’ve found, it’s about being aware that context is king to understanding people and with that in mind not to assume that because someone acts in a particular way in one situation they will act similarly in another if the context has changed.
Totally awesome! Perfect mix of content and exercises and perfect for modeling how to do a training.
Really enjoying the online program. I’m an NLP Master Practitioner and have been interested in getting the LAB Profile® certification separately for some time – so when I saw it was available I jumped at it. Really looking forward to the future modules and embedding the “academic” understanding I had of Meta Programs.
I am really enjoying Shelle’s lessons and her style of delivery. I also really like the aspect that she is a Jewish (French??) Canadian. I really appreciate the intercultural coloring, which is typically my professional context as well. Speaking of context, I really love how Shelle is clear on the aspect of “specific context”, which has been my criticism of most of the personality models out there.
Great job with the online course. It is tightly packed, easy to follow, great examples, interesting stories- super. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to take this training from you in the comfort of my home- it is a super program, great content and the added bonus of being able to be in touch with you and the other participants on Facebook is super. THANK YOU!
I found Shelle’s online programme invaluable in deepening my understanding of the LAB Profile®. Her training is very comprehensive, detailed, delivered with an appropriate style and a lovely sense of humour which complements the provided materials. She gives excellent examples in LAB Profile® application including pattern combinations which are not found in her well-regarded book (Words that Change Minds).
The programme has certainly given me more insight into the way that people use language and behave. Furthermore, I am much more aware of how I use language with myself as well as to others in conversation. My suggestion to others is to seriously consider this programme if understanding and influencing people is important in their role.
Fantastic! The amazing discovery and journey on language that create a person’s destiny. Spread the LAB Profile® around the GLOBE!
I LOVED the course. I have watched all the segments with great pleasure and interest. Your material greatly compliments and expands my work.
I’ve trained with many trainers in the UK and in North America, and nobody seems to know their subject as deeply as Shelle knows hers.
Brilliantly conceived and entertainingly delivered, a course I would recommend to anyone.
Your online program is amazing. You make it so understandable and clear. I have read most of your books and listened to the audios and must say, seeing and hearing you train in the video brings such clarity and “lightbulb” moments. As I move from session to session I see so clearly how I can use this skill to improve my Retirement Coaching conversations with my clients. It’s exciting to think how I can verbally “nudge” them into moving forward more quickly with their own solutions to attaining their dreams, overcoming their self-imposed limiting beliefs and/or inner obstacles. Developing this skill makes me realize my responsibility in its use too.
I loved your presentation and thought it would be great for our leadership teams.
I am loving the program as it’s so well done. I took my practitioner a long time ago with Shelle so it’s a nice refresher. I would recommend this program to anyone as it will enhance your rapport building and communications skills in a major way.
This is the first, in a very long line of online trainings/education that I have purchased over the past 5 years, and this is the ONLY program that has actually worked with my learning style. Thank you. I look forward to completing this class. It’s so refreshing to finally have information that I want and I am eager to learn in a format that truly resonates.
The online LAB Profile® program was so much fun and, like others have commented, gave me valuable insights and tools from the minute I started the program online. I’m so pleased I did it. Very, very pleased, inspired and motivated to use it in my work and in general life.
I am in awe of your productivity!! Not just in your fast response to my material, but for example your attention to your learners in your Online Programme as well as all the other products you have come up with. Many thanks for your time and consideration to the chapter.
If you want to convince yourself so you can work with others I invite you to go through the LAB Profile® Practitioner course and Consultant/ Trainer course. It is the most powerful and fun learning programme I have been on and worth every bit of personal, physical and intellectual expense. It’s more than a toolkit, it’s the complete multifunction personal tool and needs no batteries!
Shelle never fails to deliver great sessions. Her tips are well explained with plenty of metaphor and real examples. This lady is already a stand-up comedian in my eyes :-). Her style is just so infectious. Can’t wait to see her again at future sessions.
A couple of things occurred to me when I was ‘doing’ the course which you may find amusing. Over the last few weeks, I realized I ‘get’ my husband a lot more now. Because his parents rarely praised him (didn’t want to “give him a big head”) he is highly internal in many things and doesn’t give praise easily himself. Coming from a typical warm Jewish family, you can probably imagine how I grew up developing a largely external pattern in many contexts! It’s really helping me understand his needs more now! That gets me thinking – has anyone ever done any research on how we develop the LAB Profile® patterns?
I fully enjoyed the course. I found it had practical examples from different industries, liked the online forum for exchange, exercises I could follow/do at home and you also conveyed personal connection through the internet!
It was a pleasure doing the course and I’m finding it really interesting now that I’m noticing some of the patterns in peoples general conversation. Thank you so much for making the course available online, I really appreciate the opportunity to do the course now; it has whetted my appetite even further to attend a ‘live’ training over the next few years to get the full certification.
I’ve been watching some of your videos today and just had to email to say how brilliant you are at getting a point across on video. Especially love your humour.
Thank you for the certification and the program as a whole. I liked the simplicity of the program and also clear structure. I liked that it was presented as a useful tool in the toolbox rather than a universal cure for all diseases.
I do use the skills in daily personal life. One of the first time I actually did that was giving a piece of advice to my brother on dealing with his 4-year-old son. His son was more internal in the context of communication with parents, so we decided that letting him think for himself works better than implying someone’s else’s opinion. Of course, this works only when he (the child) understands how to behave based on previous experiences. Watching TV became different, more oriented to form than to content.
