How can you persuade people

Letting people talk about themselves and feel involved in making a decision is a great way to subtly persuade them to advocate for your ideas without asking directly. Listen to their perspective and ask questions that guide them to your ideal conclusion. For example, if you wanted to persuade the office manager to start stocking energy drinks in the office, initiate a conversation by asking them about their day and what they brought for lunch.

Inquire if they drink coffee, and if they've noticed how many people take long lunches to buy energy drinks from the corner store.

Listen to their opinions and use casual conversation to have them identify the benefits of stocking energy drinks on their own. As you persuade someone in conversation, show your confidence and control over the situation by using thoughtful pauses.

Being uncomfortable with silence is a common trait, and people may be overly talkative to fill any pauses. When you make a pause and simply wait, the other person may instinctively reveal additional information about themselves or try to eliminate discomfort by being more agreeable to your ideas.

Silence also helps you listen, process information and consider your next response to connect with the other person strategically. Instead of providing someone with a yes or no scenario, offer them multiple options that both benefit you. Start with an idea or request that you suspect they'll reject, then follow up with a more practical suggestion.

By initiating the conversation with a bold, extravagant idea, you can make your true goal seem reasonable in comparison. This method also gives the other party a sense of agency by offering them multiple options and turning your request into a mutually beneficial compromise.

A typical example of this technique is negotiating your pay rate. Start with a salary request much higher than you actually want to help employers feel like they're getting a deal when you lower that number to your true target wage.

Use multiple persuasion tactics and pay attention to how others respond to customize your argument to the listener. Some people may respond best to an emotional appeal, while others appreciate logical perspectives. By implementing several methods, you can target different aspects of their decision-making process in one conversation. Notice their engagement level with each method and emphasize the tactics that generate the most positive response. After making your suggestion, activate their imagination by envisioning the positive outcomes of the choice.

Use positive imagery and vocabulary as you describe how their life could improve by supporting your ideas. Storytelling is a powerful persuasion technique and developing a narrative that involves the other person may flatter them and introduce them to a future they hadn't considered while also providing a convincing argument. Find jobs. Company reviews. Find salaries. Upload your resume. Sign in. Career Development. Why is persuasion useful? Finishing projects faster Updating new best practices Creating career advancement opportunities Aligning team goals Decreasing unproductive disagreements Gaining social capital among colleagues Improving self-esteem.

How to persuade people. In other words, talk about benefits instead of features. Here is a screengrab from the landing page of Keen. Here are a few specific examples that Zeltin cites that deal directly with how you speak to others:. Michael Hyatt nails these elements of persuasive speech in his communication with email subscribers.

Here is an email that includes both a big thank you and some praise. The idea comes from Roger Dooley of the blog Neuromarketing who uses the variables of a person on a slide to show how different factors affect the outcome of influence. Additional motivation that you provide the angle of the slide can serve to enhance the gravity. If a customer has low internal motivation, it will take a steeper angle to get him or her down the slide. Friction , seen here as the difficulty real and perceived in converting, causes the slide to slow down to varying degrees.

The nudge could be most anything persuasive, for example a couple of psychological theories that we outlined above. Amplification could mean that the customer is further cementing his values and attitudes as he propels down the slide. Social proof could be a stronger push down the slide, resulting in a faster conversion. In the book, Cialdini outlines six principles of persuasion, most of which will likely sound a bit familiar based on our previous discussion on psychology.

The principles of liking, authority, and social proof all deal with relationships with others: We are persuaded by those we like, by those whom we deem to be authority figures, and by the general population.

Here are a few unique applications of these, as told by Cialdini and Parrish :. One way people exploit this is to find ways to make themselves like you.

Do you like golf? Me too. Do you like football? Liking is similar enough to consistency that it bears pointing out the difference here. Something as simple as informing your audience of your credentials before you speak, for example, increases the odds you will persuade the audience.

Noah Kagan does this for the each guest post he publishes at OK Dork. He writes a quick intro on how he made the connection with the guest writer and all the amazing credentials the guest writer has.

People will more likely say yes when they see other people doing it too. Social poof is not all bad. Basecamp has a great example of social proof on their website, showing the wide variety of respected clients that use the product—and doing so in a fun, approachable way. As for scarcity, Visual Website Optimizer wrote an extensive post on all the different ways you can use scarcity to increase e-commerce sales.

Have you noticed that Amazon tells people there are only a certain number of products left? Bushra Azhar, a persuasion strategist and founder of The Persuasion Revolution, wrote down several of her techniques that she has used to great effect in creating persuasive copy. Instead of standard names for their pricing tiers, TeuxDeux went with a disruption technique with the copy and then reframed the pitch with the pricing info below.

Azhar points out that a step beyond storytelling is making sure that you are telling the right story. She references the book Made to Stick, which talks about the three stickiest and most memorable story plots. The Challenge Plot: A story of the underdog, rags to riches or sheer willpower triumphing over adversity. The Connection Plot: A story about people who develop a relationship that bridges a gap, whether racial, class, ethnic, religious, demographic or otherwise; think of the film The Blind Side.

The Creativity Plot: A story that involves someone making a mental breakthrough, solving a long-standing puzzle or attacking a problem in an innovative way.

The Groove HQ blog regularly starts blog posts with a storytelling element, often using variations on The Creativity Plot to hook readers and give that nudge down the persuasion slide. By extension, you can also see psychology in the social media messages and marketing tactics of some influential brands. When it comes to applying the principles of persuasive psychology, here are a few places you can start:.

Implanting an idea in someone's head is one of the hardest things to do when it comes to persuasion, but it is also one of the most effective. Instead of outright saying what you want, you just dance around it for a while. In time, with the right dance, they'll come up with the idea themselves. Let's use the same example: you want to get some money from your coworkers for your daughter's fundraiser, but you don't want to outright ask.

Instead, you start a conversation about charity and how great it is to help people. You mention that you gave part of your tax return to your favorite one last year.

Then, you slip in how your daughter is working a fundraiser right now. If done right, your colleagues may even offer. Method 6. People are more persuadable when they're confronted with loss, rather than gain.

Think about it: say someone comes up to you and says you're going to lose your favorite shirt. You'd be a little taken aback. On the other hand, they could say you're going to get your new favorite shirt. Not as convincing, huh? We become attached to what we already have, even if the gain is the same. This idea has been well-researched. In fact, there was a recent study in which a group of businessmen was presented with a proposal for an IT project. Method 7. People feel the need to remain consistent with their past actions.

If they believe they're a good person and have examples in their memory of that, they will continue to strive to be a good person. Therefore, people are easier to persuade to behave in certain ways if they have acted that way before.

Know your audience — who has done what you're looking for someone to do? The more you know your audience, the better off you'll be.

Let's say you're back to helping out your daughter with her fundraiser. You know that your friend Nguyen donated to Henry's son's fundraiser in the spring. Won't he donate to your daughter's, too, perhaps? Method 8. Have you heard of the Asch conformity study? A group of people were in a room, where only one didn't know what was going on. They were shown a series of lines, some super short, some quite long. The group in on the study all agreed that the short lines were the longest — and the dumbfounded one nearly always agreed.

If everyone else is doing it, they'll want to do it, too. Tell whomever you're talking to you that a ton of people are already doing it — including people they know, like, and respect. That's the kicker — if they respect the people doing it, they'll be less likely to question their judgment. Method 9. The use of "we" immediately conveys a sense of commonality and support. If someone said to you, "You need this product to be better looking.

You need this product to succeed in life and to get people to like you," you'd be a little skeptical and maybe even a little offended. Using "you" makes a person feel singled out, which is the last thing you want to do.

Instead, imagine someone trying to persuade you to do something saying, "We all need this product to be better looking. If everyone used this product, we would all be succeeding in life and everyone would love us. Method Try to think back to the days when you would pester your mom or dad for the biggest, grandest Christmas present you could get your hands on.

You didn't get it, but maybe you got the next best thing. Now imagine if that was the gift you actually wanted! They had no idea it wasn't a compromise. Say you just really want to go out to dinner and movie with your boyfriend or girlfriend, but they're always busy. You start out by asking and asking about taking a vacation, a whole weekend off. After a series of no's, you say, " Though it may seem counterintuitive, your argument will be more persuasive if you talk about the opposing side, too.

It shows you know what you're talking about, have weighed the pros and cons, and still believe what you're saying. Saying, "It tastes so good and the can is beautiful! Aristotle said there were three ways to persuade your audience: through ethos, pathos, and logos.

Let's explore them: Ethos. This is credibility. For example, Hanes uses Michael Jordan. If Hanes are good enough for MJ, they're good enough for you. Pathos is all about emotions. Do you know those commercials full of images of sad puppies and kittens? That's to pull at your heartstrings so you wind up adopting one. This is about logic and reason. This is social skills get people laughing and they'll like you better. They'll be happy, they'll associate you with happiness, and they'll be that much more easily persuaded.

Humans love being happy — if you can give them that, they may give you what you want, too. Get them talking about something they really enjoy, too. On top of this topic making them happy, if you seem interested in the same topic, you'll be that much more relate-able as well.

Recent research has shown that "yeah" is a very powerful, persuasive word. Get them saying "yeah," and they'll want to continue saying "yeah. Keep talking in the affirmative. Talk about things they love, topics you agree on, and everything that has them saying "yes" and never saying "no.