The Art of Strategic Persuasion
- Are you meeting a representative from one of your suppliers and
need to negotiate new pricing with them?
- Have you inherited a dysfunctional team working on a high-profile
project? How do you bring them around to working more cohesively
and productively?
- Do your co-workers control information and resources that you
need to fulfill your projects and are not forthcoming or supportive?
- Do you have a new idea to put before your boss, who is known
to say 'no' before even fully hearing anyone out?
- Do you want to cultivate 'champions' within the organization
to help promote your ideas to others?
- Do you want to be viewed as more charismatic?
If you responded 'yes' to any of these questions, you are a prime
candidate for sharpening your powers of persuasion.
It's no longer enough to 'tell' others what to do. Effective
leadership nowadays depends on your ability to influence key
thought leaders, senior management and cross-functional teams.
A persuasive argument is critical, but only if you deliver it
with the confidence that comes from having done your homework.
The process of persuasion begins with the way in which you think
about the people you need to influence. Your success in persuading
others depends upon your ability to communicate and interact
effectively and strategically with them. Understanding how to
shift attitudes and behaviors results in positive outcomes
for everyone.
But before I present some of the elements that form the basis
for a persuasive argument or presentation, let me make a small
but important ethical distinction, namely the difference between
persuasion and manipulation.
Being upfront, transparent and guileless will provide you with
the foundation for strong, trusting and long-lasting relationships.
Using coercive or manipulative tactics may serve short-term goals,
but people will not respond kindly over the long run. Manipulation
is the UNETHICAL use of the principles of persuasion. Period.
End of story.
On the other hand, persuasion introduces compelling perceptions
to others. This is based on the premise that people can only do
or agree to what they have first imagined. The persuader's task
is to get others to imagine doing what it is you want them to do.
No coercion, no force, just valid information presented in a way
that makes sense. Here are some of the characteristics and tactics
that make an effective template for persuading others:
INTEREST BASED (aka What's In It for Me?)
- Position your arguments in terms of what's in it for your customers.
- Imagine things from the other's perspective.
- Understand what motivates and interests them.
SOCIAL PROOF
- People's ability to be influenced depends on the social proofs
that we call testimonials.
- Use examples of how other clients have benefited from your
services/products.
POLITICS
- This strategy relies on finding others to support your idea.
- Highly competitive people and self-sufficient people tend to
push their ideas through on their own and don't use this form of
persuasion as much.
- Cooperative and group-oriented people seek support from others
to champion their ideas, often before the meeting even begins.
THE POWER OF LESS
- Offer only three solutions. Your client, boss or customer
will be more apt to decide, and the middle almost always wins.
So frame your solutions that way.
- More options confuse your clients that result in their
procrastination for moving forward.
RATIONALITY
- Using reasoned debate, evidence and logic to support your
proposal will help guide move people towards a resolution.
- The more reasoned and logical your solution sounds, the greater
the chance they will say yes.
INSPIRATION AND EMOTION
- Using story-telling, images and pictures will help move your
customers emotionally.
- Studies by Wharton in conjunction with IBM researched that you
are 38% more likely to influence when you use visuals.
- Make your stories touch the heart of clients.
RELATIONSHIPS
- Sharing something in common breaks down walls.
- The more similar you are to your colleagues and customers,
the more persuasive the message becomes.
THE LIKEABILITY FACTOR
- Positive relationships predispose your customers to be more
open to and supportive of your ideas.
- The more you are liked, the more likely others will support
your ideas.
- You're more apt to be forgiven for mistakes when you
have champions.
For this next section, I am indebted to G. Richard Shell and
Mario Moussa, authors of The Art of Woo: Using Strategic
Persuasion to Sell Your Ideas. In my opinion, no one puts it
better than they have, so I am going to forgo trying to reinvent
the wheel and just paraphrase what they say in their book:
THE LAW OF RECIPROCITY
- Your customers will be persuaded to do something for you when
they first see you doing something extraordinary for them.
THE PROXIMITY EFFECT
- After a favor is done, your customers will place a higher value
on the favor than you. However, as time passes, the trend
reverses. The value of the favor increases in your eyes as the
doer and not in eyes of the taker. So don't wait forever to call
in your markers.
SCARCITY
- Your customers will show a greater desire and interest in
something when they learn its availability is limited. Look for
people to snap up Pontiac cars now that the line will be
discontinued.
- Placing limits on quantity available and restricted timelines
persuade people to act more quickly.
FOOT IN THE DOOR
- Evidence suggests that after agreeing to a request, your
customers are more likely to help out again.
- They see themselves as committed to you and will be open to a
larger request.
Well, there is so much more to persuasion, and we don't have
time to get into it all in this eletter format. To meet your
company's unique needs and long-term strategic goals, we are
offering a new program called, you guessed it, "The Art of
Strategic Persuasion - Savvy Strategies to Influence Others." This program is customized for high-potential leaders and
professionals to accelerate their impact using practical,
powerful and transformative techniques.
Email us at contactus@usheroff.com for more details.
Warmly,
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