Persuasion Skills

“I would rather try to persuade a man to go along, because once I have persuaded him, he will stick. If I scare him, he will stay just as long as he is scared, and then he is gone.”

Dwight Eisenhower

In just about any interaction with others, you may find the need to persuade them of your ideas, your products or services. The ability to persuade successfully seems to be a fundamental quality of successful people. Take leaders, scientists, artists, politicians, authors, or any successful celebrity. They have got where they are by being able to convince people of their abilities, vision, knowhow and mastery of what they do, and those who are good at it do it on a massive scale.

Persuasion is all about having the right attitude. You cannot imagine a good persuader who is shy and constantly looks down. On the other hand, persuasion is not about hard selling something to someone at any cost, even at the cost of significantly annoying them just for a one-off sale. Good persuasion happens when you are totally convinced and happily accept the view of the persuader. Sometimes you may not even realise you have been persuaded, you just know the correct course of action. Of course, this action could have been suggested by the persuader who have influenced you unconsciously.

In short, persuasion is about having the right attitude as well as knowing a number of useful techniques that can be employed when interacting with others.

Help delegates learn established methods to convince others of their cause in any conversation

This course covers many areas related to persuasion such as understanding human psychology, how people make decisions, telling good stories, boosting confidence, emotional persuasion and so on. Each technique is presented with numerous examples in different settings. A variety of areas are explored such as one-to-one conversations, writing a pitch, giving a speech and writing and delivering a persuasive story.

Since persuasion is a general skill that touches on many areas of human behaviour, the best way to become better at is to address each area separately and practice it using isolated exercises. This is indeed the approach taken in this course as delegates get to focus on various areas in isolation until they become better in each of them. At the end, delegates are placed in realistic scenarios using a number of general persuasion exercises and are encouraged to use all their skills in synchrony.

In this highly practical course delegates will learn:

Persuasive Behaviour

• How does persuasion work?
• What is the ideal attitude when persuading others?
• How do humans decide?
• How can you reduce people's anxiety when they are making a decision?
• Why people get stuck in their decisions and how can you persuade them towards a direction of your choice?
• Is there an ideal target for the number of options you can give to people?

How to Tell Great Stories

• What are the qualities of a good persuasive story?
• How should you structure your story?
• How can you inspire people and make them curious so they want to know more about your world and ideas?

Persuade with Confidence

• How to establish rapport
• How to use a simple 3-step technique to make people feel more comfortable in accepting your ideas
• What is cognitive dissonance and how does it affect persuasion?
• What is the ideal body language when convincing others of your cause?
• How to make people feel more confident about their decision so they are more likely to make that decision

Emotional Persuasion

• How to inspire others
• How to connect with people on an emotional level
• How to make it easier for others to change their opinion to what you desire

Systematic Persuasion

• How to use the 10-step persuasion technique to systematically prepare for an event where you expect to persuade others
• How to write a persuasive article or report
• What is the most efficient and creative way to capture the data while you prepare your case?
• What areas to consider when preparing for the delivery of your pitch?
• What verbal techniques you should be aware of to improve your chances of success?