Your success depends on your ability to get others to do what you want. Persuasion is a skill like any other; it has to be learned and developed. The addicted2success.com website summarized what makes people persuasive.
1. Encourage others to talk and don’t be too pushy
To be persuasive, the ability to make your case effectively is not enough. Don’t rush right into telling your listener why they need to agree with your idea. Don’t push your ideas onto your prospect without being interested in their needs and opinions. A key factor in moving others is listening with eager attention to what they have to say.
Showing genuine interest in the other person encourages them to open up to you. This helps you realize how they can benefit from your idea. Ask open-ended questions rather than close-ended ones. By that you will get much more informative answers.
2. Show others how much they matter to you
Making people feel important is one way to get them to like you and trust you. Then you can persuade them more easily.
- Show gratitude and appreciation.
- Be genuinely interested in them.
- Provide value and make their life easier.
3. Be passionate
Passion is important, since emotion is one of the primary influencers of the decisions we make. Most people don’t base their decisions on rational logic. People act on emotion and that is where your passion comes in. Showing your passion will make you more persuasive. Remember, emotions are contagious.
4. Effective positioning
Open up the conversation in a way that makes you more persuasive. Start with the benefits you intend to provide to your prospect, and then prove that your solution can do it. However, the expectations you’re setting must be high, but realistic at the same time.
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