Persuasion Equation

“Persuasion Fundamentals”

Success often comes down to your persuasion skills. You can’t persuade people every time on every issue, but you can build the skills to bring people around to saying “yes” more often. Persuasion is “ethically winning the heart and mind of your target.” Ethical persuading means not using tricks. Winning means securing agreement to do – or not do – what you wish. When you win someone’s heart, you gain “emotional buy-in”; when you win that person’s mind, you gain “logical buy-in.” In both, manipulation has no place in professional persuasion. Be straight with people. As business writer Daniel Pink says, “Treat everyone as you would your grandmother.”

The greater your credibility, the more persuasive you’ll be. Persuasion has two goals: winning a yes or convincing someone not to take a particular action. To be effective in business, you must be able to do both. Persuading people isn’t easy. You need to know enough about them to understand what matters to them and to cut through their resistance. You must demonstrate your offer’s value by painting a compelling word picture. You must be astute about your offer’s timing. If you raise the wrong subject...