The art of persuasion is usually challenging for most people so the challenge is magnified at a company level. Have you ever tried to persuade an analyst, editor, partner or prospect that your solution if unique, affordable, valuable? If you have then how did you go about it? Were you successful?
A common mistake for most in trying to persuade is what I like to call the “teenager effect.” For those of you with teenage children you know all to well that whenever they want something you believe isn’t in their best interest, they will pester you by repeating the same statement over and over or try to deliver some related facts. The heart of their persuasive technique is to overwhelm you with so much information, or “talk you into submission,” that you will just cave in to get some personal peace. How many times have you done this to an analyst, editor, partner or prospect?
Turning back time for a lesson from history, Aristotle discussed three ways to persuade based on:
- Ethos: focus on trust and integrity of speaker
- Pathos: focus on emotion of the listener
- Logos: focus on logic and evidence
I would offer an observation that there are three fundamental “modern” ways to persuade:
- Make statements until something “strikes a chord”
- Rattle off 3rd party facts and validations
- Ask questions until they come to your conclusions
Make Statements
This is unfortunately the most prevalent technique used today in business. Whether it is your website, presentation or latest customer/prospect/partner/analysts briefing, you will invariably spew copious pithy statements about why you think your audience should care about whatever it is you are selling. Even if you are an expert the challenge with persuading others by just making statements is one of independent credibility and audience acceptance.
3rd Party Validation
So the next crutch used by many to persuade is to find an independent source for validation of your ideas, goods and/or services. This can be from existing customer or partner references, industry analyst reports or various surveys done in and out of house. You will definitely get your audience’s attention and certainly now have overcome the independent credibility gap, but you are sill challenged by the audience’s personal biases for acceptance.
Ask Questions
Yes! One well asked question is worth 10 statements and 5 3rd party validations. Why is that you may ask? Simple… if you can get your audience to internalize your subject and help them think it was their idea or something coincident with their ideology then they are more likely to accept it.
So, whenever you want to persuade someone of something try asking more questions than making statements and of course support with 3rd party data when and where available.
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