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.

Checkout Persuasion

From the previous post:- usually this part is a combination of text containing anecdotal information about their testing and a table or matrix in which every brand or model is presented. Finally, they conclude the article by indicating which model is the "best buy" in their opinion. Do they care if you buy a DVD player or an ice maker or snow tires? No.It doesn't matter to them if you never buy anything. Their sole purpose is to take a look at what's available and offer an expert opinion about the various choices. Now PERSUASION; With persuasion we care very much about whether the reader is motivated to buy.

Good examples of evaluative writing

Informative writing does not need a conclusion and its really does not require any setting of the stage or introductory content.Good examples of evaluative writing can be found in consumer Reports.If you were thinking about buying a DVD player or a refrigerator or snow tires,you could find articles there that would evaluate the various models available. first, they define what they are discussing, why you as a reader might care about this kind of products, and what criteria are being  used to evaluate the options.Next,they evaluate every model or brand point by point according to the criteria they listed.

evaluation

1. Sometimes people aren't trying to communicate facts alone. Instead, they're offering an opinion about the significance of a certain group of facts, what those facts imply. For example,consider what happens in a court case when one side calls in an expert witness. Such a withness isn't asked to establish facts about the case-"where was the defendant on the night of july 15?" Instead, the expert witness is asked to offer an opinion about  what a certain body of facts shows. "On the basis of these facts, do you think the defendant is mentally competent?" "Given this sequence of events, did the defendant act in accordance with the profession's current standard of conduct?" In the business world, each time you write a performance appraisal or do a competitive analysis,you're  writing an evaluation. If you merely recite the facts but don't offer your opinion,you aren't doing the whole job.

What did you think about the previous posts?

This is the continuation of the information;now wait a minute,you might be thinking.In the previous posts I talked about decision heuristics and putting the kind of stuff up front that matters the most to the decision maker. Isn't that the same as the informative parttern? It's similar, and none of the structural parterns we'll be looking at can afford to start with content that the reader doesn't care about.But remember that the goal of persuasion is to motivate the decision maker to take action. Simply listing facts in a descending order of priority doesn't create any momentum toward action.

INFORMATION

The best way to communicate informatively is to use the pattern taught in journalism classes.Start with the fact or set of facts that is more important to the reader.In journalism,there is often who, what, when, where, why, and how? Then go to the next most important fact. Then the third level of importance. The fourth, the fifth, and so on, until there is nothing left to say. The challenge in writing informatively is to figure out which fact is most important to the reader. The most common mistakes are writing chronologically,usually leads to wordiness, or starting with facts that matter to the writer but not to the reader ,which usually leads to confusion of false emphasis.

Move out of the Comfort Zone to Persuade Effectively

we have to move away from the kind of writing that's easy for us(factual, technical) and into the style that's effective(persuasive,clear), as Figure 4-1 shows. So let's distinguish among the primary reasons people write in a business setting and look at how those different purposes require different approaches. When people present facts that other people need to do their jobs, they're to inform. The goal of informative writing is to be concise and accurate. The focus should be on transferring the information quickly and easily. The communication fails if the reader does not undastand the facts or, worse yet, misunderstands them. When people present facts that other people need to do their jobs, they're to inform. The goal of informative writing is to be concise and accurate. The focus should be on transferring the information quickly and easily. The communication fails if the reader does not undastand the facts or, worse yet, misunderstands them.

The Structure of Persuasion

Most people are comfortable providing information. That's a writing or speaking task you probably feel good about. Evaluations are a little tougher for most of us, and if they involve touchy material, as a performance appraisal might, we may actually dread doing them. However, for the majority of people, persuasive writing is by far the most difficult communication task. It involves a step-level increase in complexity and difficulty over what the other types of communication require. Most people are comfortable providing information. That's a writing or speaking task you probably feel good about. Evaluations are a little tougher for most of us, and if they involve touchy material, as a performance appraisal might, we may actually dread doing them. However, for the majority of people, persuasive writing is by far the most difficult communication task. It involves a step-level increase in complexity and difficulty over what the other types of communication require. Unfortunately, when we're short of time or feel uncertain about our readiness to proceed, we're likely to revert to the type of writing we find easiest. For most writers, that's presenting information, usually to an audience that's about as knowledgeable on the subject as we are. For prposals, that's a lethal combination. Factual information presented at a high level of technical expertise not only doesn't persuade, but may actually alienate the reader.

Emphasize your differentiators and explain how they add value for the customer

You have to read the previous post to follow suit. Third, find out what kind of outcome the key decision maker thinks is most important for his or her company. Is it increased revenue? Regulatory compliance? Elimination of downtime? Whatever the customer thinks is important defines the value proposition. If we provide the right information in the right way, one that corresponds to the processes our customers use to make decisions, our chances of winning business will soar. And, after all, winning business is what writing proposals is all about.