You clearly see it. You confidently know that what you have to offer is beneficial for your interlocutor, you know first-hand the quality of its mechanisms, and you visualize without any doubt the sum of benefits that it can generate. However, transmitting all those convictions to our partner, client, or colleague is not always easy.
Persuading means knowing how to use your communication skills to transmit a message effectively, knowing how to create the perfect atmosphere for spreading the information, and be successful in changing perspectives.
The ability to gently persuade has become nowadays crucial in the business environment. Living in a full of options and hard competition world, being able to use effective communication techniques to attract attention to our product or value becomes essential. On a day-to-day basis, we need to encourage employees to work toward company goals or to convince colleagues or clients to consider our ideas and suggestions. Find out five basic strategies that will help you to successfully persuade.
IDENTIFY YOUR TARGET: KNOW AND SELECT YOUR AUDIENCE
Knowing your target’s interests and necessities is a key first step. Who is most likely to use your product or share your vision? Who is most likely to be interested in the values your product or service offers? Knowing factors like age, buying power, geographical location, marital status, preferences…will help us determine through data, surveys, research, and market approach the type of people we want to attract. Once you know your audience, you’ll better know how to approach them and get their cooperation. Obtaining the necessary data to better understand the other party is essential.
INDETIFY THE EFFECT YOU WANT TO ACCOMPLISH
Set and decide what you want to achieve, how and why. What is the result you want to obtain from your conversation? Negotiate means putting mutual needs and objectives on the table and finding the best way to achieve them between both
parties. For a negotiation to succeed, you need a clear sense of what you want the outcome to be. Having a clear, focused, and tangible goal will help you out to get the expected effects.
CATCH THE ATTENTION
Be creative. The success of your ideas will depend on the attention you get. We must be able to capture attention in the first 8 minutes of the exposure. Creating a good atmosphere of sense of humor and complicity will make the experience pleasant; a positive environment will make ideas flow better. Let your interlocutors participate, ask them questions, address them by name. Finally, showing them the expected results in a visual and attractive way will definitely engage their resolutions.
EARN YOUR CREDIBILITY WITH FACTS
Being able to demonstrate your credibility is a must. If your customers or associates can’t trust you, they won’t buy your idea. Credibility is founded on transparency, solid values, responsibility and commitment. If you are able to demonstrate that despite not having “the secret formula” you have the skills and resolution to find the way to achieve the objective, you will gain credibility. If your background has solid and successful cooperation experiences, people who are able to recommend you and you count with accurate digital platforms to make you accessible to the public, you will surely see good results in your level of credibility.
SEEK EXCELLENCE IN YOUR ACTIVITY RESULTS
Try your best to always fulfill what you said and, in case of not being able to, find the best alternative to satisfy your partners. Your work must speak for you. Of course, sometimes results cannot be 100% controlled, but constantly following high standards, efficient work strategies, and working smart on seeking gainful and valuable results will make your project a great scheme to get involved in.