Persuasion isn’t just the title of my favourite Jane Austen movie (first a novel of course!). It’s something you need to use when speaking to anyone from your employees to prospects to even your kids! As a professional marketer, I’ve delved deep into the topic. I even wrote a book called “How to Make Anyone Like You in 7 Seconds of Less“. So here are some of the ways to influence and persuade anyone to do anything you want them to do in.
Pain
For a happy person, I talk about pain a lot. That’s because I know that most humans only care about solving their problems (ie. pain). If you are not talking to your audience’s pain, you don’t have their attention. As I keep telling my clients and students, don’t guess at this very critical information. Research what pain your audience (whether a vendor, a prospect or an employee) has and how they talk about it. Then use this knowledge to persuade them.
Self-Amnesia
Remember that in the business of persuasion, it’s all about them. Don’t talk about or think about yourself or your problems. It’s always and forever about them. And the person who grasps this concept is naturally absurdly persuasive. Just ask any con artist.
Flow
When persuading your audience, rehearse to have a cohesive flow instead of just spitting out a bunch of facts or feelings. First start with what their problem is. Show proof of why this is a problem. Then talk about why their existing solutions aren’t working. Lastly talk about how you can help. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.
Succinct Storytelling
Once you use the flow of how you’ll be helping their pain, tell quick little stories of how you’ve helped others like them in the past and what the results were. For example, tell your vendor that you’re trying to persuade for an early delivery “I understand that you’re losing orders because you can’t deliver due to supply issues caused by the pandemic. However, with our other vendor X, we were able to guarantee them a higher price against a timeline commitment where we both won. Do you think this would help you?”
Persuasion is a fine art and it takes practice. But as long as you include the above elements into your argument, you always stand to win.
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