Friday, October 15, 2010

Persuasion Tips To Help You Reach Your Goals

This article is all about goals and persuasion. I think the best kind of persuasion is to manage to persuade and motivate yourself to achieve your goals and dreams.

Having exceptional persuasion skills is one of the most essential abilities to possess in today's fast-paced society. We need the support and cooperation of other people to help us in our goal setting efforts. The saying "No man is an island" is an undeniable truth.

Here are some hot tips to effectively influence and persuade anyone you desire.

1) Be Nice and Friendly.

Smile to brighten up the day. Make a sincere compliment to encourage and raise their spirits. Simple little things like these count a lot.

Make them feel that whenever they need support or just someone who can give them guidance, you'll always be there to lend a hand. They would tend to be more receptive to people that they trust and respect.

If you want to ask your boss a favor, do everything you can to please him. Over-deliver and exceed his expectations. Soon, he will notice your efforts and can easily be receptive to your persuasion efforts.

2) Enter their world.

You must understand the situation according to their point of view. Set aside your personal interests and focus on them.

Just pretend that if you are them, what would you do? What would be your suggestion? Then take the appropriate action that would be beneficial to them.

Copy them. Observe how they act, how they speak, and how they think. If they rub their hands while they talk to you, act like them. If they speak at a clear and slow pace, try to do the same thing. This is called mirroring.

In due time, the people you're mirroring will subconsciously feel more comfortable with you. It's as if they see themselves in you.

However, you must proceed with caution. Mirroring is different from mimicry. Do not let them be aware that you are copying them. They might interpret it as mockery and you'll just get into hot water.

3) Provide them with undeniable proof or evidence.

Explain to them how your ideas or opinions could be the most effective methods to implement. Show them undeniable proof that you have the best product by way of testimonials, before and after scenarios, and detailed comparisons against your competitors. Just make sure that all your claims are true and verifiable. Always maintain a good reputation.

4) Satisfy their existing needs and wants.

People are self-centered. They are initially concerned with their own well-being before others. If you can prove that your proposal will provide more advantages to them than to your own, then they will probably accept it.

If you could concentrate more on their interests, desires, needs, and expectations, then you would satisfy their cravings for attention. Moreover, it would show that you really care about them. Mutual trust and respect would be established.

This is the most important thing to remember when persuading anyone. No matter how close you are to becoming like them or how compelling your evidence is, if it does not satisfy the "What's In It For Me?" test, your persuasion endeavors will not produce satisfactory results. Always bear in mind how they will benefit from your actions.

If you liked this article, you'll love how Michael Lee's "How To Be An Expert Persuader In 20 Days Or Less" can make you a better person. See for yourself.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Using Persuasion and Influence to Lead

Here's another article by Michael Lee and I think you're going to like it. It's about leading your life and others using persuasion and influence.

There is a direct link between persuasion and influence, yet they are not exactly the same thing. Persuasion happens with a person purposely or subliminally trying to get somebody else to agree with him or her. That is, there is obvious and deliberate effort.

On the other hand, influence happens when another person agrees with you, not because you deliberately took the effort but because he or she has confidence in you and believes your opinions and suggestions are of importance. You hold a great influence in the way other people think, probably because of your status or your reputation.

Leaders use both persuasion and influence to manage the people under them. It doesn't matter if this 'leader' is at the near bottom or the top part of the organizational hierarchy. As long as there are people whose job is to follow, there are people who lead—and the people being led expect to be given a plan toward success. This can be more effectively done using persuasive leadership strategies. For the person who has the influence, it is his or her game plan or program for success that is being sought and heeded.

It is a common misconception that only those who belong to the senior management team can come up with a vision for the company. In truth, studies show that rank and file members often turn to their immediate bosses to gain a sense of direction. Thus, even the small bosses can have influence over their staff.

When we really think about it, influence and power to lead are not exclusive to bosses. Anybody, even the office janitor, has the capacity to affect how the people around him or her think, feel, and act. If others view your opinion as valuable and are willing to stop for a while to listen to what you have to say, then you have influence over them.

For instance, toddlers are able to influence their parents to buy them new toys just by being cute and charming, and just by being kids. But if they attempt to get what they want by throwing tantrums, that's another story. It's called coercion and, well, just plain brattiness.

When you ask other people to do something for you, regardless how politely you ask, they will always ask "why". More often than not, they will also be wondering how they will benefit from following you, though most wouldn't say that out loud.

In order for you to influence people or persuade them to give their agreement, you have to be ready to justify the reason why what you want to happen should happen. After this, you should be prepared to negotiate and be open to compromise.

Some people confuse influence with bribery because both involve the offering of something to gain favor. However, it should be made clear that bribery always involves a payback or an offer, while influence can happen even without anything on the table. Influence can be based on good faith alone.

To be an effective leader, not only will you need to be good at persuading people, you must, at least, have enough charisma to influence them without much effort. The key to good management is to have people who will willingly listen to you and follow (sometimes without question or hesitation). You want to lead without having to coerce others to follow. If you have influence, order in the ranks will not be a problem.

If you liked this article, you'll love how Michael Lee's "How To Be An Expert Persuader In 20 Days Or Less" can make you a better person. See for yourself.

Monday, October 11, 2010

How To Win Friends And Influence People

My friend Michael Lee wrote this article today and I think you're going to like it because it's all about how to win friends and influence people.

People who know how to influence friends are usually the leaders of the pack. They're the ones who walk ahead of the group, the ones who aren't afraid to speak up first. However, there are also times when the person you least expect to be the leader is the one who manipulates all the strings.

Both types may be poles apart and yet their strategies have the same end goal. If you want to know their strategies on how to influence friends, read on!

Influence Technique # 1: Make Sound Suggestions.

A great way to exert your influence over your friends is by being the one who comes up with the best suggestions.

For example, when deciding where to eat for dinner, you can either be the first to say, "Let's have dinner at X restaurant and then dessert over at Y café," or you can wait until your friends throw a bunch of half-baked suggestions before swooping in with your own.

Once they see how decisive you can be (without being too controlling), they'll end up turning to you whenever a decision needs to be made.

Influence Technique # 2: Know What Makes Them Tick.

One effective way on how to influence friends is by paying them a lot of attention. Know what they like and what they don't like. Know their needs and their wants. Once you have all this information, you can use it to persuade them to do anything.

For example, if you know that Friend A likes dogs, you can use it to convince him or her to go to the annual country fair with you by saying that there would be an animal show there. Just make sure you're telling the truth, or you could lose your friend faster than you could say "sorry".

Influence Technique # 3: Be the One Who Listens.

Being a good listener gives you automatic influential points. When people feel like they can trust you (and that's what usually happens when you give them the chance to confide in you), they're also more likely to trust your judgment. After all, they've already poured their heart and soul out to you.

So the next time your friend feels the need to talk about her lousy family life, listen. It just might pay off in
the long run.

Learning how to influence friends can come quite in handy in the future. I'm not just talking about you having a say on this summer's road trip. I'm talking about being able to use your persuasion skills in a more professional setting. The influence you have over your friends can transcend over to a meeting with your client or with your boss.

If you liked this article, you'll love how Michael Lee's "How To Be An Expert Persuader In 20 Days Or Less" can make you a better person. See for yourself.