Persuasion is the act of convincing someone to do something you want them to do. It’s one of the most powerful tools in business, used to convince clients or employees to take some course of action or change their minds about something that they previously agreed with. Understanding how persuasion works and how it’s applied in the business world can be incredibly beneficial to your career and your ability to get things done.
Do you find it hard to convince people of your way of thinking? Are people not interested in listening to what you have to say? It’s because you don't know how to persuade people. Convincing people to agree with your point of view or follow through on your plans is called persuasion. Even though many individuals are aware of it, not everyone can make use of its full potential.
Persuasion is critical in everyday business because it increases revenue and builds customer confidence. However, many individuals are still unaware of the importance of persuasion in a professional's career path.
The most powerful individuals in the world have long been able to influence their audiences to think and behave in a specific manner.
Founder of Apple and corporate storyteller of no equal, Steve Jobs, for example, has frequently been labeled a corporate storyteller. Apple benefited greatly from its prior leader's commitment and zeal, as proven by his 2007 iPhone launch.
In addition to Steve Jobs, another well-known name is Microsoft's Bill Gates, who is generally regarded as a world-changing person.
A hallmark of his work is the clarity with which he explains complicated problems. His remarks on the importance of humanitarian work are both heartfelt and powerful.
This is why the ability to persuade people is so critical for business and career professionals.
Here are five ways in which you can improve your ability to persuade people:
Best Ways to Persuade People
- Trust yourself
You must start by believing in yourself and what you want to accomplish. Believe that your ideas are valuable and that your goals are possible. You need to trust that, as long as you believe in yourself, anything is possible. Whether or not people may or may not agree with your point of view or even see the validity in what you're trying to accomplish, it's up to you how you approach this.
You know better than anyone else what your true intentions are for whatever reasons prompted this decision in the first place, so take a deep breath and speak from the heart. Most importantly, be open-minded about others' points of view without being dismissive and allow them to express their thoughts without jumping in before they can finish talking. If you find yourself losing focus on your goal because someone has challenged you, just come back to the one thing that matters most: Your belief in yourself and what you want to accomplish.
Maintaining and exuding confidence is the first stage toward a successful appeal. How strong you seem and how compelling your arguments sound depends on how confident you are. Don't be worried if you don't feel confident—just appear confident, and that will usually be enough. Confidence quietly suggests that you're already certain that you'll obtain what you want, which pushes the other person to give it to you. To avoid seeming arrogant, be cautious not to exaggerate your display of confidence.
- Don’t be pushy
Without being aggressive or overbearing, persuasive individuals promote their opinions with confidence and assertiveness.
People that are too assertive turn others off.
Using a direct, confrontational style backfires, and the receiver runs for the hills.
Since subtlety is the key to winning others over, persuasive individuals aren't asking for much and aren't arguing ferociously for their
perspective.
Persuasiveness may be learned by being calm and confident at the same time.
Don't become impatient or excessively resolute in your pursuit of a goal.
Give folks time to warm up to your concept if it's a good one. They won't pick up on it if you don't.
- Use “WIIFM” AKA "what's in it for me"
Every time you say something, other people think – What's in it for me?
One of the best ways to persuade someone to do something is to make your request appear useful to them. It's not always easy, but if the conditions are ideal, it may be a wonderful match.
Suppose you're attempting to persuade a buddy to assist you with your relocation.
Relocating requires a lot of time and effort, and your buddy may not be too enthusiastic about it.
Forget about how much furniture you have to move and instead focus on the pleasure you'll have going through your belongings, the pizza that will be served, or how you'll be giving away some of your old possessions in the process.
- Use confident and attractive body language
Making sure your gestures, mannerisms, and tone of voice are positive can help you connect with others and get them to listen to your points.
In addition to using an enthusiastic tone and uncrossing your arms, persuasive individuals often employ positive body language such as keeping eye contact and leaning in the direction of the speaker.
Engaging your audience with positive body language is an effective way to persuade them that what you're saying is true. Persuasion is all about how you say something, not what you say.
- Smile, because it's contagious
Most people unintentionally mimic the body language of the person they are conversing with, whether they are aware of it or not.
To gain the trust of others, smile at them throughout a discussion, and they will automatically reciprocate and feel better as a consequence of the positive experience.
To be persuasive, you must be enthusiastic about what you're saying. Everyone you come into contact with will get infected by this.
6. How does it impact you?
One definition of persuasion is the act or power of influencing someone or something by gentle, insistent, or repeated urging. These words can hold a lot of different meanings depending on who you talk to. To some people, the word may imply anything from a psychotherapist urging their patient to eat healthier, to an air conditioner salesman urging potential customers to buy an appliance during a hot summer day. Though this definition can differ from person to person, these are both generally acts that result in a positive outcome for the persuader. Nowadays persuasion has taken on another meaning- it has become associated with propaganda techniques and strategies that can result in negative outcomes for the target audience.
There are many types of persuasion including rational, emotional, cognitive, and authoritarian. All these types depend on how they get the target audience to react- either with reason or emotions. For example: if a climate change scientist wanted to persuade somebody about the topic, they would use logic as opposed to telling them about personal experiences or recounting scary stories like Al Gore does in his documentary An Inconvenient Truth.
7. How can you build your power of persuasion
There are many different methods you can use to build your power of persuasion. Some people adopt a more assertive tone when trying to convince someone. Others might try a more diplomatic route and use humor to lighten the mood and appeal to their companion's interests. The key is that whatever method you choose, it should always be tailored to the specific situation and interaction at hand.
If you're talking with an employee who needs to finish a task, for example, asking them if they need help or providing support will probably work better than demanding they get it done. If you find yourself unable to persuade someone or have backed yourself into a corner during an argument, don't hesitate to take a break and come back with new thoughts or arguments later on. Often, cooling off allows us to reevaluate our position or see things from another perspective so we can understand where our counterpart is coming from.
8. 3 tips on building your power of persuasion
The Best Way to Improve Your Confidence and Smile for Persuasion
So many people have problems with their confidence and smiling contagiously.
So, a simple way you can improve your confidence and beam a contagious smile is to practice Face Yoga.
It's important to note that face yoga doesn't use any of the standard yoga postures, such as Shavasana or Downward Facing Dog.
You might think of "Yoga" as a catchy term for facial workouts that move the muscles on your face into certain postures, much as yoga does for your body.
These workouts are designed to maintain your face toned and youthful-looking while also lifting sagging regions and improving your smile and self-confidence as a result.
Most people's faces are tense because they spend too much time staring at a computer screen. Our facial expressions and the muscles we employ are influenced by our everyday routines.
Yoga for the face incorporates massage and other techniques to improve circulation and tone the muscles and skin. You may use this method to assist decrease stress and anxiety by softening and relaxing your facial muscles.
As a result, you may be able to avoid creating the facial expressions associated with such sentiments.
Face yoga and similar activities, according to research, may help your facial look and boost your self-esteem.
Some yoga exercises you can try to boost confidence and smile more brightly are:
- Anxiety alleviation exercise
Using this acupressure point may alleviate eye fatigue. It may help you relax during the day or just before you go to bed:
- For 30 seconds, apply pressure to the inner corners of your eyes.
- For the next 30 seconds, slowly circle in the same direction.
- Then go the other way and do it again.
- Happy face motions
Your lips should be rolled out as wide as possible when you smile without displaying your teeth.
Try to feel a tiny burn in the corners of your mouth as you grin with your lips slightly apart.
As you push your index fingers into the corners of your lips, glide the fingertips up to your cheekbones.
Your cheekbones should be lifted toward the corners of your eyes when you do this. Hold for 20 seconds at the top of your cheekbones and feel the muscles in your cheeks contract.
While you're doing this, keep your lips pursed and a smile on your face.
Repetition is essential.
Final Words
Not being able to get people to listen to you and follow you can severely halt your career and professional life.
But if you follow this article, you can improve your persuasion skills.
Where we learned:
- Trust yourself as persuasion begins from confidence
- Don’t be pushy
- Use WIIFM (what’s in it for me)
- Use attractive body language
- Use your smile
And one of the best ways to make sure you can apply these tips is to try out Face Yoga.
You can try the Anxiety Alleviation exercise and Happy Face motions exercise to improve your persuasion.
.