What is the essence of a person’s belief in something? What are we doing to convey our point of view to others? Most often, people rely more on their own authority and the weight of their words or try to be more flexible and resort to a variety of methods of persuasion. Of course, the second option most often gives greater effectiveness and using it is right.
At least because each person is individual and has the most diverse life values, worldview, level of upbringing, education and culture. The power of persuasion and the art of influencing people are questions to which a lot of research has been devoted.
What is needed to convince a person of something?
We will analyze this question based on the statements of Jay Conger. He says that in order to convince a person, one must be based on four elements:
- the trust;
- attraction;
- living evidence;
- emotional connection.
Only in tandem do these properties give an effective result. And it is absolutely worth noting that the power of persuasion is an art.
What is persuasion?
Many are firmly convinced that this concept is based on the ability to sell something or convince other people to accept your point of view. However, this is not entirely true, first of all, it is about finding mutual understanding. Only if it is possible to achieve this will the work be mutually beneficial for both parties. This is especially true for leaders and managers, since the essence of their work is to achieve their goals with the help of others.
Often we are faced with the fact that they can be very rude in their methods, even aggressive, thereby forcing others to obey. But in the long run, this technique does not work. It turns out that convincing the team that achieving goals is their conscious choice is a real art. As practice shows, if employees in a team are properly motivated, then they can turn mountains.
So, we will understand the power of persuasion and influence on people, what and how to do?
Building trust
All people are different and no one is like the other, therefore, each person needs his own approach and his own power of persuading people. The task is simplified if your persuasion object works in the same field as you and has the same level of education. That is, finding common ground will be much easier.
The situation is different if it is a complete stranger to you who has a different view of the world, belongs to a different culture. It still depends on the character: some people quickly rub into trust, but for others it is a very complicated process. The fact is that it is impossible to convince a person of anything if he does not trust you. It remains only to be patient and act. Trust is based on a good reputation, helping people, honor and honesty.
We attract people to our side
The first thing to do if your goal is to draw the attention of the audience to yourself in a positive way - to determine what interests it has, what benefits these people are looking for. One of the easiest and most effective ways to analyze a situation is to analyze past experience of similar situations. Your task is to answer the question, but what attracted the audience before?
To do this, analyze the following points:
- determine what is interesting to your potential audience;
- try to build an open dialogue, discuss problems, encourage initiative and listen to the ideas of your audience;
- Take the time to discuss your own ideas and assumptions with people you trust the most.
These three aspects are basic, without them it is virtually impossible to figure out what your audience really wants.
But what if living evidence is presented?
When the previous stage is completed, it's time to move on to providing the audience with evidence that she will get what she wants and this benefit will be no less than yours. To convince the other side of their innocence, one should bother to prove that your idea is working and no one will be left with nothing. The following tips will help in this matter:
- To make your idea fit into a realistic picture of the world, use strong metaphors.
- It is not enough to talk about your beliefs, you also need to supplement the information with real examples, preferably from personal experience.
- Also for the sake of persuasion, analogies work great.
Using such simple techniques is a great opportunity, first of all, for your audience to look at what is happening from different angles and smooth out the contradictions.
We complete the process
Convincing a person from a logical point of view is one thing, but the process does not end there. Think about creating an emotional connection. Often you can find the opinion that this aspect in the process of persuasion does not make any sense, but this is not so. You can create an emotional connection at least if you use your own feelings. If you show that you are burning with the idea that you are working with enthusiasm, then your audience will have no chance of doubting your ideas.
Do not forget to dispel fears, distrust of other people. You will have to learn to feel the mood of your audience in order to harmonize with it. No matter how we would like to rely on logic, but emotions are the primary factor in the decision-making process, as well as in motivation. Therefore, if you try to behave as objectively as possible, it will be extremely difficult to create an emotional connection with the audience. Therefore, be sure to use emotions to convince.
What is not worth doing?
There are many myths that not only do not help in the process of persuasion, but also interfere. We will analyze the most common of them:
- Do not rely only on strong arguments. As practice shows, not all people adhere to logic and facts. Naturally, there is nowhere without arguments, and let there be as many as possible, but in this case, remember that most people listen first of all to their emotions.
- Do not try to sell your idea. Few people love obsession, and the feeling that they are using it is unpleasant for anyone.
- Forget about ultimatums, be flexible.
Do not demand much here and now. If you can’t work on a person the first time, don’t be upset, be patient, analyze your mistakes. Nobody canceled the second chance.