Going Deeper Into Persuasion

For thousands of years, people have tried to figure out the best way to persuade other people to do things. We know that persuasion has been the subject of serious study since the days of classical Greece. Plato worried about the rhapsodes' ability to appeal to citizens' emotions and persuade them to do things that were not in the best interest of the city or themselves. And Aristotle wrote one of the great treatises on persuasion. Among the Romans the ability to persuade was considered a hallmark of responsible citizenship.

The message and The receiver

Since world war ii, researchers have worked particularly hard to identify the elements of persuasion. Why? They  have some practical motives: improving advertising and marketing campaigns, motivating audiences, influencing the electorate, girding consumers and voters against propaganda, understanding the dynamics of brainwashing, and -yes-writing better proposals. From all this speculation and research, four elements have consistently been a vital part of nearly every theory of persuasion: the message, the receiver, the channel, and the source. Giving them some consideration will give us a deeper understanding of the process of persuasion.

Prove you can do it

• The last step in Persuasion is to provide the evidence necessary to prove you can do the job on time and on budget. Typical kinds of evidence that you might put in a proposal include references, testimonials, case studies, resumes team members, project plans, guarantees, third-party validation such as awards, details about management philosophy, your company history, and so on. Note that I am not saying your proposal should  contain every one of  these type of substantiation. Include only what the decision  maker needs to see to feel confident about choosing you. That will be determined largely  by the criteria that matter to this decision maker and by the specific requirements of the RFP, if there is one. Also, in a situation where you're responding to an RFP, your actual anwsers will be part of the evidence you provide -basically, evidence of your ability to comply with the customer's requirements and meet their objectives.

Recommend a solution

This is the third step of the most effective pattern for persuasion. Most proposals don't recommend anything. They lapse into informative writing and merely describe products and services you are recommending must be linked to the customer's specific problem. "One of the problems you are facing is declining transaction value in your e-commerce transactions. The aspect of our recommendation that will help increase transaction value is..." Also, when you recommend a solution, sound like you believe in it. Say the words: "We recommend the immediate installation of LeadPoint asset management software." "We urge you"..." "We are confident..." Don't be wishy-washy. Don't depend on telepathy to get your point across.

The Persuasive Paradigm step 2

• Second: Outcomes. Next, focus on the outcomes or results the customer wants to achieve. How will he or she measure success? What must the organization see in terms of results to make their investment in your products and services worthwhile? This part of the persuasive paradigm is probably a bit counterintuitive. After all, wouldn't it be more logical to state the problem and then give the solution? The thing to remember is that our goal is motivation. If we don't create a sense of urgency in the decision maker to go forward with our recommendation, we have not been successful in our persuasion effort. However, motivation does not come from problems and needs, most of which will never get solved. Why? Because in the mind of the decision maker, "it's just not worth it." In other words, the return to be gained from fixing the problem doesn't outweight its cost. You don't want your solution to fall into the category of "not worth it."you create a sense of motivation in your customer by showing that the problem you are addressing is one that really should be fixed. The potential outcome, the return on investment or improvement in productivity or whatever, is so big that the customer can't afford to wait. Focus on customers' pain to get their attention; focus on their gain to get their commitment.

The Persuasive Paradigm

First: The customer's needs. The initial step in persuading is to demonstrate you understand the customer's needs, issues, or problems. Your first job is to summarize the business situation briefly, focusing on the gap to be closed or the competency to be acquired. "The vice president of sales for a large HVAC firm once asked me" said Tom Sant "Why should I tell the customer what their problem is? They already know that. If they didn't think they had a problem, they wouldn't have called us." The answer, of course, is that we are not telling the customers something they don't already know. We're reducing their anxiety. They're worried that the solution we propose won't work because it's the right solution to the wrong problem. By showing customers that we "get" it, that we listened to them and understood what they told us, we raise their level of confidence. We help them feel confident that what we propose will be appropriate for them. Don't forget to leave a comment.

The most effective patern for persuasion,don't miss it

Persuasion combines element of information and evaluation. It should present facts accurately, and it should offer intelligent, informed opinions. But to be successful as persuasion, what we write or say should influence what the audience thinks,how they feel, or what they do. Fortunately, the most effective pattern for persuasion, which Tom Sant calls"the persuasive paradigm" is simple to understand and use. It consists of four steps.