Now back to your task. In addition to matching people's experience with your statements to get rapport, you need to be able to do something with the rapport you'll have. The key to this is being able to make transitions. You need to have a graceful way of guiding someone from his present state into a trance state—going from describing his present state to describing the state you want him to go to. Using transitional words allows you to do this smoothly. Transitional words such as "as" or "when" are words which imply that there is some meaningful relationship between two utterances. "As you sit there, it's possible for you to realize that I'm about to tell you something." There's no relationship between your sitting there and realizing something. However, it sounds meaningful, and it's the tone of voice and the transition "as" that imply meaning.

Beginning with sensory–based information allows you to make transitions and elicit responses that induce altered states. The sensory base for transitions needs to be something that the person with whom you are working can find. It doesn't need to be something he already has in awareness, but something that he can find. If I sit here and look down at Stan and say "Stan, you can feel the texture of your moustache and as you slide your finger, you can notice that you smiled and stopped. You can even feel your elbow with your other hand and sense the rise and fall of your own chest as you breathe. And you may not know it yet, but you're about to become aware of the temperature of your right foot."