Ian Rowland
Award-winning International
Speaker / Trainer / Magician
The opt-in audience for my 'Cold Reading For Business' class at a Florida conference
Cold Reading Techniques
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Introduction
In simple terms, 'cold reading' means how to talk to someone as if you're psychic.
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I've been doing this for decades (but never for money) and it's great fun. You can apply the communication psychology of cold reading to business contexts such as sales and management. You can also use it just to be better at building rapport with people and making good connections.​
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I've written three books on cold reading which I'll mention later. It's one of my favourite subjects! ​​​​​​​​​​​
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A Fuller Definition
Imagine a 'psychic' is giving a tarot reading to a client — who is a complete stranger. The psychic is somehow able to make statements that feel accurate to the client. These statements could be about the client's personality or about facts and events in the client's life, past, present and (probable) future. The client is likely to go away and say to friends, "She told me things she couldn't possibly have known!". Pleasantly surprised reactions like this have fuelled the 'psychic' industry for centuries.
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There are two ways to explain this phenomenon. The first is to believe that psychic powers are real. You can believe this if you want. I personally don't think there's sufficiently good reason to believe 'psychic' powers exist but I don't get into arguments about it. Life's too short. Believe whatever you want!
The other option is to say the psychic is using cold reading techniques.​
Demonstrating cold reading for a Channel 4 TV documentary when I was young and had amusingly long hair
Why Is It Called 'Cold' Reading?
Within the psyhic industry, there are two ways to give someone an apparently very accurate reading.
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The first is to secretly obtain information about the client beforehand. There are many ways to do this and mentalists (magicians who specialise in the type of magic that looks like 'mindreading') know lots of them. Within the psychic industry, this is called 'hot' reading. The psychic is going into the reading 'hot' i.e. armed with some information on which to base the statements they make.
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The other way is to give the reading completely 'cold', meaning without any advance preparation or information.​​​​​
How Is It Done?
Surprising at it may seem, it is possible to make apparently meaningful statements to a complete atranger. There are many ways to do this. I wrote a book called, 'The Full Facts Book of Cold Reading'. ​In the book, I describe 39 different ways to make meaningful statements to a complete stranger!
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I describe 7 techniques for making statements about personality and character; 11 techniques for making statements about facts and events; 8 ways to get information from the client without appearing to do so; and 13 ways to make statements about the future.​
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The above photo shows me, with amusingly long hair, giving tarot readings for a Channel 4 documentary called 'The Talking Show'. The people taking part, all complete strangers, said my readings were very accurate. We explained the truth to them afterwards in a tactful way that didn't make anyone feel foolish or embarrassed. ​
Teaching a cold reading class in London
​​Examples Of Cold Reading Techniques
I can't describe or teach all the various cold reading techniques here on this page or this website, but here are just a few techniques you may find interesting.
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One technique is called 'The Rainbow Ruse'. This involves making a statement that mentions a personality trait and its opposite. For example, "You are quite a punctual and reliable person who feels it's important to be on time for appoinments. However, there are occasions when this tendency deserts you and you find yourself in something of a last-minute rush to get somewhere — and perhaps turn up rather later than you meant to."
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Experience has shown that most people, most of the time, can relate to statements of this type. Why? Because it's based on very common personality traits (e.g. reliability, tidiness, organisation) and mentions both having that trait and also not having it — so most peope will find something to relate to.
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Another popular technique is the 'Fuzzy Fact'. This is where the 'psychic' provides the words but the client provides the meaning or significance. For example, suppose the 'psychic' says, "I can see a connection with a relative, or someone you know well, living overseas or far away, and I sense the letter 'M' for some reason". If the client happens to have a brother called Michael who lives in a different country, this will seem like an astonishing 'psychic' insight.
However, there are countless ways in which someone could find some significance in this statement. There is plenty of room for interpretation. Most people have a relative or 'someone they know well' living overseas. The letter 'M' could refer to either the country where they live or the person's name. And many clients will accept a 'near miss' if the relevant letter actually happens toi be 'N', for example.
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One more example. There's a technique called 'The Pollyanna Pearl' (named after Eleanor Porter’s 1913 novel). The template here is 'an area of life that has been difficult lately will start to show improvement' or, more simply, 'things can only get better'. For example, "I get the sense that your work or career has been on your mind lately. There's a sense of dissatisfaction. You have perhaps been wondering about your choices and your options for the future. However, over the next three months or so you'll see some new opportunties to make improvements and to move forward in more positive, and more fulfilling direction."
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Statements like this are likely to be well received for at least two reasons. First of all, not many people are likely to say they feel perfectly satisfied with their current situation. We all usually feel there's some room for improvement. Secondly, people like to hear good news and to feel they will soon reach a more positive situation. ​​​​​​​
Demonstrating 'spiritualism' for an ABC 'Primetme' Halloween special
What If It Goes Wrong?
One of the great joys of cold reading is that it can never really go wrong!
I've provided a few examples of how a 'pychic' can make statements that the client will most probably accept as meaningful. But what if the client flatly rejects a statment as being completely wrong and incorrect?
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Interestingly enough, this doesn't create any problems at all for the person giving the reading!
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First of all, most people who go for readings are believers. As such, they will be very likely to find significance, and to relate to, whatever the 'psychic' says — even in cases where this is 'a bit of a stretch' and calls for some rather creative interpretation.
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Secondly, most people are fairly polite. Not many will flatly reject a statement and assert that it's wrong. They are more likely to remember the parts of the reading that seemed accurate, or that they enjoyed, and quietly ignore or forget the rest.
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Thirdly, the 'psychic' can use what I call 'revisions'. A revision is a way to get out of the awkward situation of having made a statement that is apparently wrong. The first and simplest of these is the Time Revision. It sounds like this:
"I sense that you have recently come across a new financial opportunity that could prove to be quite advantageous. You're not quite sure what to do, but you're seriously considering pursuing this interesting opportunity."
If the client can relate to this in any way, even if it requires some creative interpretation, it will be regarded as a 'hit'. But what if the client flatly rejects the statement and says it means nothing to them? The psychic can say:
"That's all right. Well, if this hasn't happened just yet then it's likely to come up in the near future. Will you look out for that? It's going to be quite an interesting opportunity."
The 'psychic' first of all made their statement as if describing current events but then, when challenged, simply shifted to the future. This is an example of the Time revision.
When I teach cold reading, I teach seven different revisions in all. Once you know all seven, you can make any statement you want to someone and never, ever be completely wrong. This is why the art of cold reading can never really go wrong. There is always a way out​!
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The above photo shows me taking part in an ABC 'Primtime' Halloween Special in which I talked to a room of complete strangers and pretended to be a 'spiritualist' — someone able to relay 'messages from the dead'. During the 20 minute segment I got numerous apparently very accurate 'hits'.
Afterwards, in a group discussion hosted by Chris Cuomo, we explained the truth in a tactful and sensitive way that didn't make anyone feel foolish. ​The point of the segment was just to show that getting apparently accurate messages from 'the other side' does not, in and of itself, prove anything about the afterlife or 'spiritualist' abilities.​​​​​​​​
​​My Books And Training
I've written three books on different aspects of cold reading. You can get them from Amazon.
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'The Full Facts Book Of Cold Reading' describes how cold reading works in the psychic industry. It's not primarily meant to teach you cold reading, although you could probably glean enough from it to at least start learning about the subject and giving readings.
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'Super Psychic Readings'. This book teaches you my own personal system for giving any type of reading you want, to anyone, anywhere. There are no 'stock' or standard lines, every reading in improvised and different, and there's very little to memorise. In real life I call them 'personal' readings and never mention the word 'psychic'. But I had to put 'psychic' in the title so that people would know what the book is about.
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'Cold Reading For Business'. This explains how to take some of the principles of cold reading psychology and apply them to other areas, such as sales and management.
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I love to teach cold reading!
I can teach 'conventional' cold reading or cold reading for business.
I can teach one-on-one, or small groups, or large conference audiences.
I offer training in real life or online via Zoom and similar platforms.​​​​​​​​​​