Everyone uses persuasion. Of the top 10 persuasion tips you will find promoted, you will see variances applied in every persuasion situation. From infancy to adult hood, we use or at least try to use persuasion.

Persuasion: Definition = Giving reasons, cause or grounds to someone to think or do something, usually as the result of an effort to convince using arguments and sound reasoning.

The art of persuasion usually comes down to 10 key factors, the factors you will find in the top ten persuasion tips.

Thought for Food

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”
― Maya Angelou

Top 10 Persuasion Tips

1) Create Equilateral Understanding

The better you understand others you are trying to persuade, the easier time you will have helping to see the conclusion you want them to come to.

Babies have an innate ability to know how to communicate numerous wants and needs by the way they cry. Babies and especially mothers have an understanding with each other. Children also have an understanding of their parents. They use that understanding to persuade their parents to do what they want. Good parents put limitations on what they allow. In business, persuasion is essential to success.

To get to know others, their world and their situation requires the skillful use of questions. Not prying and invasive questions, rather questions to discover their wants, needs and desires related to your ability to fill their needs. Once the discovery process is complete, consider their viewpoint. This is not about you, it is about them. If you were them, what would you do (not need to do)? What would you feel? What would you think.

At this point an ethical challenge faces you. When you let go of the outcome and focus on what is in the best interest of the person you are trying to persuade, you will succeed beyond your expectations.

Make it your purpose of every encounter to understand.

In addition to understanding, the second top 10 Persuasion Tips involves you.

2) Set the Mood to Positive

You can control the moment and the situation if you choose to.

Start by giving a smile to the people you are trying to persuade. Give a sincere and honest compliment. Make the other person feel comfortable and be there as a friend and neighbor first. Create a caring atmosphere.

Make the mood a positive one. Learn how to master the mood of your encounters.

Creating a positive mood will help others to enjoy a positive experience. Now, to add to their experience, the third of the top 10 persuasion tips.

3) Mirror The Person Your Trying to Persuade

Mirroring is a form of imitation. Imitate their speech, their posture and their manners.

Mirror Their Speech

People usually speak with in their dominant sense. Consider the ways someone could answer you....

I hear what your saying, I see what you mean, I understand where your coming from, it left me with a bitter taste, it feels wrong.

When responding to the above, use the same sense. This is mirroring. So when someone says I see what you mean you would not respond with thanks for taking the time to listen to me. Rather, you would say, thanks for letting me show you.

Mirror Their Posture

Try to mirror their actions. If they are standing and you notice they cross their legs as you stand in front of them, within a few body shifts, cross your legs. At this point, stop telling or trying to persuade and return to asking questions.

If their arms are crossed, cross yours. When they uncross, you uncross shortly after.

Once you have built rapport, discovered what they are thinking and somewhat know them, it is time for the fourth of the top ten persuasion tips.

4) Appeal to Wants Over Needs

The traditional approach is to find a need and fill it. Studies show that people will buy wants before they will buy needs. When a want overlaps or supersedes a need, the chances of increasing the persuasions effectiveness.

Take for instance the art of selling. A salesman will need to constantly maintain and even improve the ability to sell. A salesman may or may not want to be the top salesman and get the benefits that go with that position.

So when I present my Social Selling Secrets program and tell him that it has produced a 37% closure rate, although too good to be true, once he sees the evidence and confirms the testimonials, he will be inclined to shell out the $5000 for my course.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I have only been able to get a 22% closure rate at the best (using old and dead leads).

Mirroring others is followed by the fifth of the top 10 persuasion tips.

5) Give Convincingly Irresistible Evidence with a Twist

Provide the proof that the object of your persuasion will work for them.

This can be in the form of testimonials. The testimonials need to follow the format of before and after benefits, highly dimensionalized results, objection overcomes comments.

The key to irresistible evidence is sharing benefits and not features. It is the benefits that will have the power to persuade.

In addition to evidence, change mid stream and establish your credentials, the sixth of the top 10 persuasion tips.

6) Be the Expert

After you have done the above, establish your expertise. Why later in the persuasion? Because it disconnects them from the persuasion. They change their thoughts and refocus on you. When they come back, they have a chance to make the persuasion their own.

As to expertise, anybody can be an expert on anything, even with out a college degree.

People prefer to follow rather than lead. They prefer to follow those who are in the know, those who are expert. The difference between anybody and an expert is dedication. Studies show that the difference between those naturally gifted and everyone else is concentration, dedication and the desire to get better.

Dr. K Anders Ericsson, a psychologist studying geniuses, prodigies and superior performers says that.....

For the superior performer the goal isn't just repeating the same thing again and again but achieving higher levels of control over every aspect of their performance. That's why they don't find practice boring. Each practice session they are working on doing something better than they did the last time.

You will need to put in the work to become an expert. Once you are, you will be able to persuade.

Some day you will hear the story of Dumpster Bruce and Blue Christmas. Dumpster Bruce was a homeless man. He is now a leading investment property buyer in my town. He teaches his knowledge for about $3500 for a weekend class.

In addition to evidence, change mid stream and establish your credentials, the seventh of the top 10 persuasion tips.

7) Be Honest, be Trustworthy

Those you are trying to persuade need to feel that you can be trusted, that you are honest.

Once when speaking to a Doctor about my specialty of health care, he retorted that it was not possible that what I proposed would work for everyone. He was surprised when I agreed and provided the statistics that proved him right.

As far as I am concerned, I do believe, as TIME magazine said, the specialty I promote is the Gold Standard of medical and surgical care. However, the doctor needed to know he could trust me. My honesty opened his mind to hear what I had to say.

Another part of being honest is admitting that you cannot help everyone. Some customers you should not persuade.

While interviewing students for one of my classes, it became apparent that there was no way to help two within the group. The class was at a local college and it involved building a successful business as part of the class.

One student wannabe had a business concept that would just not work. I even ran the numbers and there was virtually no way for him to succeed.

The other student, although having a remarkable life story, he could not remember anything for more than a few minutes. The basis for the class was remembering what you have learned and building on that.

Besides having a good feeling for doing what is right, one of the two sent me two additional customers.

Return the focus to them with the eighth of the top 10 persuasion tips.

8) Demonstrate Live WIIFM

The best way to show Whats In It For Me to those you are trying to persuade is to demonstrate it. It is quite simple. Provide them with enough information that they can prove that it will work.

This is a concept that many seasoned persuaders do not get. There is a feeling of why should I give away the store. Anthony Robbins says...

If you want to be successful, find someone who has achieved the results you want and copy what they do and you’ll achieve the same results.

Look at Billionaire Bill Gates.

He gave away the store. Only thing, to use the store you needed his baby, Windows.

This is one of the most powerful persuasive techniques and tips there is. If you give them actual usable information that they can easily implement, they will then continue to consume other information, even if it costs more.

And guess what, like Bill Gates found, it does not need to be great. It only needs to be good enough.

If you give them the information at no risk to them and they can see first hand what is in it for them, they will become raving fans of yours, if you also follow the final of the top 10 persuasion tips.

Now take rapport to a new level using the ninth of the top 10 persuasion tips.

9) Build a Relationship

Relationships are not a part of most lists on persuasion. Studies show that people are more likely to consume from people that they have a relationship with than with someone else. How do you build a relationship?

If you have done your homework, you already know their needs and wants. You know their mind set. You have established yourself as an expert and you know what part of WIIFM their brains are tuned to.

Now all you need to do is to fulfill them. If you see a way to help them get what they want, share it with them.

One accountant that wanted me to market his business. I did not want his business. He kept in touch, informing me of functions, getting me invites and getting me into networks.

As a result of this relationship, he did something that is number 10 of the top 10 persuasion tips.

10) Build Reciprocity

He landed me an $6000 dollar job. Previously I was reluctant to take him on as a client. He got me the lead asking nothing in return. His only interest was my success.

As a result of this relationship and taking a closer look at his business, I decided to take on the marketing of one aspect of his business.

Incidentally, remember number 7 of the top 10 persuasion tips on honesty and truthfulness. Well, I felt it was not possible to help him. Feeling success would be limited at the best, no time was taken to look at his needs. Because of the feeling of reciprocity along with the relationship he had built, a closer look was taken. He is now one of my clients and I am helping him build his business (as of this writing, May 2010).

11) Over Deliver

Over Deliver. Nothing will be more persuasive than giving more than you said you would. You do not need to advertise that you are. Just do it. Instead of giving 10 tips, give 11. Add that this last one was so good, you just could not keep it out of the mix.

Follow these top 12 persuasion tips (the very first, in the yellow box, actually was taught to me by someones father) and you will be successful in what ever you do.

Go to the Persuasive Speech Section

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