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[#1] Posted: Apr 03 2006 - 7:02:35 PM |  |  |
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by Matt Michel
We start practicing the art of persuasion before we can utter a single word. Infants can be very persuasive.
Persuasion can be used to convince someone to buy goods and services. It can also be used to convince someone change behaviors, to adopt a belief system, and so on. Persuasion can be used for good or ill, depending on the morality of persuader. Following are 15 persuasion techniques. Practice them for good and beware of their ill-use on you.
1. Seek Another’s Perspective
When I was persuading Janet to join the Service Roundtable, she mentioned she was tired of her commute. The Service Roundtable World Headquarters was about the same distance, but we telecommute three days a week. This became a major factor in her decision. People act for their reasons, not yours. Try to get inside the buyer’s head. Try to understand how he sees the world and what motivates him.
Implicit in understanding is listening. Ask questions and listen. LISTEN! People will tell you what motivates them.
2. Find Points of Agreement
If you are selling air conditioners and a homeowner makes a comment about the price of electricity, you should jump on it. Say, “Boy, I agree. Electric rates are out of sight.” As you listen, you will inevitably find places where you agree with the person you want to persuade. Call attention to those. When you agree with someone and several points, it becomes easier for the person to agree with you later. Conversely, avoid creating points of disagreement. If you are trying to sell a product, keep your political views to yourself. If it appears that the other person shares similar views as yours, agree with him, but do not elaborate.
3. Seek Common Ground
“I see you’ve got teenagers. Are they inhabited by aliens like mine are?” Finding points of agreement is an aspect of seeking common ground. Others are shared interests. These could be clubs, hobbies, church, alma maters, sports teams, and kids. When you share interests you relate. People are more likely to agree with people they relate with.
4. Set an Example
While at Decision Analyst, a client needed me to do the impossible. I bent over backwards to meet the client’s demands. Everyone on my team saw it. This was the way we responded to our clients. One of the subtlest and most effective means of persuasion is setting a good example. If you expect people to behave in a certain manner, you must display that behavior. This also works in reverse too. It drives me crazy, for example, that my kids pick up on my bad habits.
5. Tell Parables
All through this list, you will find small examples of stories, or parables. In fact, you find them spun throughout much of my writing. There is a reason Christ taught with parables. They work. One of the greatest persuasion tools is the story. People listen more attentively to stories. They remember stories. Storytelling is entertainment, but it is also a means of teaching. Teaching is persuasion.
6. Draw Analogies
“If someone was selling thousand dollar bills for $50, would you buy one? Would you rent a million dollar mansion for $50 a month? This is what it is like to join the Service Roundtable.” Analogies are another effective teaching tool. Find something to help people understand. Analogies can help make the abstract concrete.
7. Admit Your Own Potential For Error
Ben Franklin advised people to persuade others by saying, “I might be wrong, but it seems to me that…” Franklin was one of the most persuasive people in history. By admitting that you may be wrong, you appear less dogmatic, more agreeable. By making a concession, others are more likely to make concessions in return. Besides, you might be wrong.
8. Offer Praise & Rewards
I was trying to teach the soccer team I coach how to play defense. When I caught them doing something right, I shouted, “Stop the play. Did you see the way that Andrea and Julia covered and boxed me in? They didn’t commit too early and I had nowhere to go. Now that’s the way to play defense.”
Business professor and author, Michael LeBoeuf proclaims the greatest management principle is, “what gets rewarded, gets done.” Finding ways to reward and/or praise people is one of the most powerful means of persuasion. Catch them doing something right. This works in sales as well as other human interactions. “That’s a smart decision,” the salesperson might say when the homeowner expresses interest in he more expensive option, making the buyer feel smart and increasing the odds that he will express interest in other expensive options.
9. Paint a Visual Picture
“Can you imagine flying down the open road in this convertible with the sun shining and the wind blowing though your hair?” asks the car salesperson. The visual picture is compelling. When we see things in our mind, we feel them. The picture becomes more compelling. And no picture is more powerful than the one our imagination creates.
10. Use Logic
“Hire an agency to create any of the content we provide with the Service Roundtable and you will pay hundreds to thousands of dollars a piece. Use just one piece of content and you will pay for the cost of your membership.” Some people are left brained. They are logical, rational, and analytical. They are the people attorneys do not trust as jurors. They are accountants and engineers. Ugh. However, if you want to persuade us, you must use logic. It
has to make *sense.*
11. Be Reasonable
“Sure, I’ll throw in floor mats,” said the car saleperson. Making concessions, especially over the unimportant is an essential part of persuasion. Keep the big picture in mind. Be reasonable. If you appear to be a reasonable person, you will be far more persuasive.
12. See Objections As Questions
“Shar-Pei’s are ugly dogs,” said the pet shop customer flatly. “But that’s their charm,” replied the pet retailer, “They’re so ugly that many people consider them adorable. Why just last week…” See all objections as requests for more information. Then, provide it.
13. Give Credit Freely
“Oh, don’t give me the credit. We could never have gotten anything done if it wasn’t for Bill. Thank him!” There is no limit to what you can accomplish if you do not mind who gets the credit. Give credit freely.
14. Use Humor
I was nervous. The room was a little tense. The committee members I faced were tired. This was one of my biggest sales presentations, I had ever made. I quoted the organization’s founder. One of the committee members said, “Don’t you know that he doesn’t get a vote?”
“You mean I sucked up for nothing?”
The committee members all got a chuckle out of my comeback. You could feel a shift as the committee members warmed to me and the tension evaporated. Humor, used effectively can be persuasive. It is especially persuasive if you use a degree of self-depreciating humor. Generally, I prefer using self-depreciating humor. After all, when I make fun of myself I’ve got more material than Seinfeld.
Oh, and the sales presentation? One of the committee members told me I was higher priced than the competition, less thorough in my presentation, and less prepared. Yet, I got the six figure order. Go figure.
15. Be Honest
The salesperson lied to me. No two ways about it, he flat out lied. I bought; once. I never bought from this company again and directly steered at least five sales away from the company.
Always be honest. If you are caught in a lie, you will successfully persuade someone you cannot be trusted. Not only that, you will persuade the friends of the deceived.
Copyright © 2004 Matt Michel - The Comanche Marketer
Source: Comanche Marketing. Reprinted by permission.
THE COMANCHE MARKETER
They were a tribe of warriors. They were masters of the horse and masters of war. Through their tactical brilliance, they overcame the inferiority of their numbers to drive the Apache out of Texas and beat back the Spanish. The Utes called them "one who fights me all the time." The Utes called them Comanches. The Comanche warrior was one who fought all of the time.
The Comanche marketer is one who markets as fiercely, as brilliantly, and as relentlessly as the Comanche fought. The Comanche marketer is "one who markets all of the time."
Free subscriptions to The Comanche Marketer are available at: http://www.serviceroundtable.com -- click on the Comanche Marketing tab.
Editor's Note:You might ask why TIJ features marketing articles written by an HVAC sales guru like Matt Michel. The answer is simple. Matt's stories are lessons learned over decades of overcoming obstacles to sales and can be applied to any profession. Home inspectors, as a breed, are uncomfortable marketing and are their own worst enemy when it comes to selling their services. Michel's lessons can help each of us defeat that enemy. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!
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Everyone Sells:- Part V - 15 Persuasion Techniques
