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Persuasion power can help you get more of
the things you want faster than anything else you do. It can mean the difference
between
success and
failure. It can guarantee your progress and enable you to use all of your
other skills and abilities at the very highest level. Your persuasion power will
earn you the support of others.
You Have Two
Choices
There are always
two choices: either you can persuade others to help you or you can be persuaded
to help them. It is one or the other. Most people are not aware that every human
interaction involves a complex process of persuasion and
influence. And being unaware, they are usually the ones being persuaded to
help others rather than the ones who are doing the persuading.
The Key To
Persuasion
The key to
persuasion is
motivation. Every human action is motivated
by something. Your job is to find out what motivates other people and then to
provide that motivation. People have two major motivations: the desire for gain
and the fear of loss. The desire for gain motivates people to want more of the
things they value in life. They want more money, more success, more health, more
influence, more respect, more love and more
happiness. Human wants are limited only by
individual imagination. No matter how much a person has, he or she still wants
more and more. When you can show a person how he or she can get more of the
things he or she wants by helping you achieve your goals, you can motivate them
to act in your behalf.
A Presidential
Insight
President
Eisenhower once said that, “Persuasion is the art of getting people to do what
you want them to do, and to like it.” You need always to be thinking about how
you can get people to want to do the things that you need them to do to attain
your objectives.
The Fear of
Loss
People are also
motivated to act by the fear of loss. This fear, in all its various forms, is
often stronger than the desire for gain. People fear financial loss, loss of
health, anger or disapproval of others, loss of the love of someone and the loss
of anything they have worked hard to accomplish. They fear change, risk and
uncertainty because these threaten them with potential losses.
Use Dual
Motivation
Whenever you can
show a person that, by doing what you want them to do, they can avoid a loss of
some kind, you can influence them to take
a particular action. The very best appeals are those where you offer an
opportunity to gain and an opportunity to avoid loss at the same time.
Action Steps
Here are two
things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.
First, before
trying to convince someone of something, take a little time to think and ask
questions to find out what it is he really wants. Then, motivate him to act by
showing him how you can help him get it.
Second, think
about how you can save a person from some loss or guarantee them a particular
outcome if they accept your ideas.
Remember, people
are
motivated for their reasons, not yours.
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The Four P's of Persuasion
There are four “Ps” that will enhance
your ability to persuade others in both your work and personal life.
They are power, positioning, performance, and politeness. And they
are all based on
perception.
Develop Personal
Power
The first “P” is power. The more power
and influence that a person perceives that you have, whether real or
not, the more likely it is that that person will be persuaded by you
to do the things you want them to do. For example, if you appear to
be a senior executive, or a wealthy person, people will be much more
likely to help you and serve you than they would be if you were
perceived to be a lower level employee.
Position Yourself
Properly
 The second “P” is positioning. This
refers to the way that other people think about you and talk about
you when you are not there. Your
positioning in the
mind and heart of other people largely determines how open they are
to being influenced by you.
Watch Everything You
Do
In everything you do involving other
people, you are shaping and influencing their perceptions of you and
your positioning in their minds. Think about how you could change
the things you say and do so that people think about you in such a
way that they are more open to your requests and to helping you
achieve your goals.
Perform At Your Best
The third “P” is performance. This
refers to your level of competence and expertise in your area. A
person who is highly respected for his or her ability to get results
is far more persuasive and influential than a person who only does
an average job.
Commit To Excellence
The perception that people have of your
performance capabilities exerts an inordinate influence on how they
think and feel about you. You should commit yourself to being the
very best in your field. Sometimes, a reputation for being excellent
at what you do can be so powerful that it alone can make you an
extremely persuasive individual in all of your interactions with the
people around you. They will accept your advice, be open to your
influence and agree with your requests.
Treat People Politely
 The fourth “P” of persuasion power is
politeness. People do things for two reasons, because they want to
and because they have to. When you treat people with kindness,
courtesy and respect, you make them want to do things for you. They
are
motivated to go out of their way to help you solve your problems
and accomplish your goals. Being nice to other people satisfies one
of the deepest of all subconscious needs, the need to feel important
and respected. Whenever you convey this to another person in your
conversation, your attitude and your
treatment of that person, he or she will be wide open to being
persuaded and influenced by
you in almost anything you need.
Perception Is
Everything
Again,
perception is everything. The
perception of an individual is his or her reality. People act on the
basis of their perceptions of you. If you change their perceptions,
you change the way they think and feel about you, and you change the
things that they will do for you.
Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do
immediately to put these ideas into action.
First, think continually about the
impression you want to make on others and then make sure that
everything you do or say is consistent with that perception.
Second, be nice to people. Practice the
Golden Rule in your
interactions with others. Always be polite and make others feel
important. The more people like you, the more open they are to being
influenced by you.
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