Tuesday 21 December 2010

Become more influential!



Below are some ideas and tips that can help you become more influential and persuasive.  Before starting out, realise that if someone is in complete disagreement without, you can't automatically persuade them straight away.  After your initial discussion, they may only slightly move towards agreeing with you.  So it may take a few discussions before they are in the right frame of mind to start buying into your ideas (and eventually your products).


BE HUMAN: Treat the other person as a person, not a ‘customer’ or someone who is just there to line your pocket with cash.


FREE STUFF: Remember the law of reciprocity: people love to get things for free.  If you give someone something free (a pen, a bit of advice, a contact of someone else who can help) they will feel more obligated to you.

CHARM: People like to deal with people that they like.  Nothing gives you a greater advantage than being nice and pleasant to be around.

BODY LANGUAGE: Be aware of the emotional signals that people are always sending you.  By paying attention to their physical cues and clues you can demonstrate powerful listening skills.  Also, if they are bored or want to speak, you will be able to adjust your behaviour accordingly.

CONSISTENT: Do you do what you say you are going to do?  Do you fail to follow up on a promise.  It is important to under-promise and over deliver to your clients.  If you fail to call them back when promised or ‘forget’ to send through that information you mentioned, good luck ever getting them to buy your services.

VALUES: What you find most important, the other party may find completely boring.  If you value success and they value friendship, be sure to highlight how client relationships are important to you.  Make sure you have a good understanding of your values and those of the people/company you are aiming to build a relationship with.  Many influencers fail because they aim to persuade using their own values and not the values of the other party.

STYLE MATTERS: Do you push?  Should you pull?  If you are too forceful, you may put people off by being too intimidating.  Pullers tend to be more successful because they appear to be more sensitive to their client’s needs.  Develop an awareness of when you are pushing too hard, when you could pull a bit more information from the other party and when it may be best to withdraw (one of the least commonly used styles but often the most effective).

SCARCITY: ‘Oops, sorry that item is no longer available.’  This is the last thing a client wants to hear but suddenly, for some unknown reason, that client wants that item even more.  And they are now willing to pay more for it.  Research has shown time and again, that the scarcer a product/service is, the more in demand it will become.  As long as there is a demand, then the supply should be heavily regulated.  Be very clear about how long something is available for or about the difficulty of getting something to the client straight away…and then see their faces light up when you deliver it sooner than expected!

EVIDENCE: People like proof.  If your neighbour bought something and it worked wonderfully, then you are likely to buy that product.  9 out of 10 dentist can’t be wrong, so get some evidence together that people love what you and your company do, and they will be happy to try it for themselves.

BE YOURSELF:  Believe it or not, you are probably quite a nice person.  There is nothing wrong with you.  You may even have a few friends to prove that you are not a complete loser.  People buy from people.  The more natural you are, the more likely that people will trust you and the products you represent.

And finally...LISTEN!  Rarely do people listen to us.  So when we meet someone who is prepared to listen to our problems, it can be something special.  So listen to the other person and make them feel like you truly care.

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