Persuasion is everywhere in human interactions. From the caring efforts of a mother to convince her feisty five-year-old to eat his vegetables to the overt attempts of advertisers to sell us a new car, people and businesses seek to influence others. The situations vary, but eventually there comes a time when you are after just one thing: compliance. You need to direct another person's behavior toward a specific course of action or a point of view. You want them to do what you want.

    This skill is critical in presenting to decision makers. Whether your goal is to sell, inform, motivate, train, entertain, or build goodwill, it's your ability to persuade an audience that ultimately determines your degree of success or failure. When you finish speaking, you want the decision maker to say "yes" to your point of view.

    To be successful at affecting the beliefs and actions of others, you must understand not only what motivates people to act but also how to use that knowledge to your advantage. As Aristotle wrote, "The fool tells me his reasons; the wise man persuades me with my own."

THE NATURE OF PERSUASION

    Persuasion is not data dumping, in which we haul a truckload of information from one place to another and unload it on an audience. People get buried under the weight of too much information. Good data is important, but good demeanor is crucial. While facts, figures, statistics, charts, and graphs do lend support to your message, they do not sell the message. Remember, people buy from people they like.

    Persuasion is the ability to convince another person to adopt the idea, attitude, or action you are recommending-to make the decision you want them to make. As Aristotle pointed out, it involves using the listener's reasoning and understanding, not necessarily your own. The wisest presenters use the logic and reasons that are important to the audience to reach a mutual agreement.

THE FOUR Ps OF PERSUASION

    As a general rule, people are motivated to act based on four reasons, or four key payoffs. Think of them as the “Four Ps of Persuasion”:

    Profit. Profits are to a business what oil is to an engine, the driving force behind successful operation. In the end, this is the measure of every decision maker. Does your proposal or product help a decision maker gain income, earnings, revenue, efficiencies, return on investment, or productivity? Does it reduce costs and expenses? If so, repeatedly reinforce this payoff throughout your presentation or conversation.

    Pleasure. Is there anything about your proposal, product, or service that can help the decision maker achieve a desired outcome with less effort involved? Simply put, most decision makers want to "work smarter, not harder." They want you to help them achieve their goals in the fastest way possible. In your presentation or conversation, be sure to tell your audience how your product or service will save time for them and improve their lives.

    Power. Your message will be more persuasive when you appeal to a decision maker's need to feel powerful. How does your solution help your audience dominate the industry, increase market share, or conquer the competition?

    Prestige. Prestige is the level of distinction and prominence at which a person or company is regarded by key stakeholders. It involves one's reputation and implies status, recognition, and even exclusivity. How does your product or message help a decision maker improve his standing among others or his company's reputation among customers, prospects, and partners? MW

Richard S. Gallagher is a popular trainer and public speaker. Excerpted, with permission of the publisher, from How to Tell Anyone Anything: Breakthrough Techniques for Handling Difficult Conversations at Work by Richard S. Gallagher. Copyright 2009, Richard S. Gallagher. Published by AMACOM.

MWORLD SPRING 2014 American Management Association