PERSUADING OTHERS: STEPS & TIPS

Steps

Steps for defining a unique value proposition

1. Brainstorm your proposition's benefits.

Think about all the possible benefits of your proposition. Ask yourself what your audience would gain and what it would avoid losing by accepting your proposition. Research suggests that the fear of loss is a more powerful motivator than the prospect of gain.

1. Prioritize the benefits based on your audience's interests.

Review your responses to Step 1. Of the benefits you've identified, which do you think your audience values most? Prioritize audience members' interests based on what you know about them—that is, your understanding of their current problems, concerns, and values.

1. Gather evidence showing that the high-priority benefits are real.

Collect compelling testimonials from credible sources showing that the benefits that matter most to your audience are within their reach if they accept your proposition. In addition, gather examples, statistics, and graphic representations that speak to the benefits of your proposition.

For instance, suppose you want to persuade your sales team to use a new process for contacting customers. You might cite successful results that seasoned sales teams have obtained by using the new process, and show an example of how one salesperson used the process to acquire new customers. You could also use a chart or other graphic to depict the rise in sales that other companies have achieved by using the process.

1. Decide what makes your proposal unique.

Compare your idea against potential alternative propositions. Ask yourself what's different, unusual, and superior about your idea. Why should your audience accept your proposal and not others'?

Be ready to explain in succinct, compelling terms what makes your proposal better than others.

Steps for introducing a new organizing metaphor

• Observe your audience member.

Meet several times with the person you want to persuade, and talk about your idea or proposal. Jot down the common phrases and images he or she uses when speaking about the subject.

For example, suppose you're a customer service manager and you need to persuade Frank, your direct report, to use a new technology for processing orders. You suspect that Frank is resistant to the idea. While you could mandate that Frank learn the new technology, you know that he'll perform better with it if he truly embraces the idea.

You meet with Frank several times to discuss technology in general. During the conversations, Frank comments, "Those fancy gadgets have no soul," "You can't take the human touch out of business," and "Someday, none of us will have jobs anymore."

• Translate the person's comments into a one-sentence metaphorical statement.

Ask yourself what the person's language highlights. What does it emphasize? What does it conceal? How would you capture the comments you recorded in a one-sentence metaphorical statement?

Returning to the example about Frank, you might translate his comments about technology into the following metaphor: "Technology is a heartless machine."

• Create a new metaphor to act as a frame for the changes you're proposing.

Think about various metaphors that might help the other person view the topic at hand through a different lens.

For instance, in Frank's case, you might come up with this new metaphor for technology: "Technology is a tool that frees staff up to provide even higher levels of customer service."

• Work to replace the person's current metaphor with your new one.

Think about how you might present your new metaphor to the person in a way that helps him or her to adopt it. Your goal is to encourage the other person to make a "mindshift" without consciously realizing it. In short, you want to offer a new way of thinking that has clear advantages over the old way.

How might you get Frank to view technology as a tool rather than a machine? Here are some ideas:

• Share stories about how specific technologies have helped people become even more proficient at their jobs and master new skills that their companies value highly.
• Present Frank with examples of how technologies have helped people solve customers' problems more easily and quickly—something that reinforces the "human touch" that Frank values.
• Use specific language that helps Frank envision technology as a helpful tool that he can control to improve his own and others' lives. For instance, "We're using technology in the service of our customers" and "We're leveraging technology to sharpen our skills and stay on the cutting edge of business."

Changing someone's mind-set isn't easy, so you will probably have to apply these kinds of techniques during multiple occasions to replace Frank's organizing metaphor with your new one.

Steps for reading your audience quickly

1. Scan the surrounding environment.

Browse the audience; look for general patterns in people's appearance and behavior. What is the overall mood of the gathering? What's going on in the background that may be influencing your audience members?

For example, are there many distractions?

1. Identify key traits you want to read.

Focus on the person or individuals you want to read. Mentally draw up a list of several key traits you want to observe in those audience members.

For example, do you want to gain a sense of your listeners' energy levels, ability to focus on your message, and openness to new ideas? Do you want to gauge their emotional state and confidence levels?

1. Interpret behaviors.

Bring the key traits you identified in Step 2 into sharper focus. Examine the behaviors associated with those traits in minute detail.

For instance, to detect readiness to hear your message, observe whether your audience members are making eye contact with you, showing lively facial expressions, and nodding in agreement. To detect boredom or indifference, watch for blank stares, heads held in the palm of the hand, finger or foot tapping, and doodling. To detect openness, look for unfolded arms, warm smiles, leaning forward, and open palms.

1. Test your assumptions.

Look for ways to test your assumptions about the traits you observed in Step 3.

For example, don't assume too quickly that leaning forward always signifies openness. For some individuals, that particular posture may mean they're having trouble hearing you. In this case, you might test your assumptions by asking, "Can everyone hear me okay?" And whereas drooping eyes or limited eye contact may indicate boredom in some people, those same behaviors may reveal fatigue in others—especially if you're presenting your case after lunch or first thing in the morning.

The key is to think about a range of possible meanings behind the behaviors you're observing and test your conclusions to ensure that you're reading your audience as accurately as possible.

Tips

Tips for keeping your message simple

• Use concrete language that is clear and to the point. As much as possible, avoid abstract, ambiguous, and wordy language. For example, it is more effective to say, "Sales dropped 10% this year" rather than "At certain points in the year, sales numbers were up, then they were down, causing an overall negative impact on forecasted numbers."
• Avoid technical jargon. People who use complicated terms as a means to impress others often come across as pretentious. Jargon also has a tendency to confuse audiences. Use simple, commonly understood words instead.
• Make every word count. Avoid redundancy; for example, "Our company has been very successful and profitable this year" (profitable is successful) or "The new office building is showy and ostentatious" (ostentatious means showy).
• Draw conclusions. Don't make your audience members guess your message. Help them arrive at the correct conclusions.

Tips for speaking with confidence

• Vary your speaking pace to suit your purpose. Speaking fast helps you excite and energize your audience, while a slow pace creates a mood of anticipation. For most of your presentation, the best pace would be slow enough for listeners to follow but quick enough to sustain their interest.
• Use a low pitch to project authority. Many people interpret a low-pitched voice as authoritative and influential. Likewise, completing a sentence with a downward inflection (a lowering of pitch) communicates confidence and certainty.
• Control loudness. Speak loudly enough to be heard but not so loudly as to irritate or offend listeners. To dramatize a moment, try lowering the volume of your voice. Stress important words and phrases with a bit more loudness.
• Sharpen your articulation. Clear, crisply articulated words and phrases convey confidence and competence. Such language is also easy to follow.
• Use pauses for impact. A correctly timed pause can help you emphasize information and create a desired mood in your audience. It can also alert your audience to pay attention to a special point. The key is to pause just before the point you want to emphasize—for example, "Our sales increased . . . twenty-five percent this year." Count "one, two, three" to yourself while pausing, and maintain eye contact with your listeners during the pause.

Tips for using body language

• Face your audience squarely. Show interest by looking directly at your audience. Stay relaxed, and be expressive. Tilt your head slightly to one side, arch your eyebrows, and nod intermittently to show you understand or agree. Smile to project warmth and confidence and to establish rapport.
• Assume an open posture. Convey openness and receptivity by unbuttoning your jacket, sitting forward in your chair, and moving closer to your audience. Ensure that your hands are visible and unclenched. When standing or walking before an audience, adopt an upright stance with relaxed arm movements. Move around any barriers that stand between you and your audience, such as desks or lecterns.
• Match body language to message. Ensure that your facial expressions, gestures, and posture match your message. For example, to if you are trying to convey openness to others' ideas, avoid crossing your arms and leaning away from your audience.
• Maintain eye contact. Communicate interest and empathy by looking your listeners in the eye. Blink normally and adopt an open gaze rather than a narrow-eyed stare.
• Touch. In many business and social settings, a handshake is the safest and most positive way to convey friendliness and warmth. Keep your handshake firm and brief. As much as possible, ensure that your hand is dry and warm before shaking hands with others.
• Relax. Adopt a comfortable, relaxed, yet attentive pose to let your audience know you're ready to listen. But don't be so relaxed that you slouch—you'll appear bored. And avoid fidgeting and other random movements; they communicate impatience, boredom, and nervousness.

Tips for using statistics

• Use credible sources. Make your statistics credible by citing reputable, authoritative, unbiased sources.
• Interpret statistics accurately. For example, many people use "mean," "median," and "mode" to convey "average." But the three words actually signify different things. The mean, for example, should be used to convey the arithmetical average; at a company that has 10 employees and a total payroll of $1,000,000, the mean, or average, salary is $100,000 ($1,000,000 divided by 10). Mode and median have different mathematical meanings and are calculated differently.
• Round off numbers. Most people find it much easier to visualize and remember "3 million" than "3,168,758," or "about 30%" than "31.69%."
• Use comparisons. Compare one statistic with another to heighten its impact. For example, "The speed of the supersonic jet is 2,000 miles per hour; a snail moves at .005 miles per hour. The jet's velocity is 400,000 times that of the snail."
• Avoid loaded words. Most audiences become suspicious when persuaders use "loaded" words—such as "an incredible two-thirds"—to interpret statistics. Use more subtle language to emphasize numbers; for example, "more than two-thirds," "nearly seven out of ten," and "more than two out of three."

Tips for using visual aids

• Match the visual aid to your message. The purpose of using graphics is to communicate information about your proposal, not to dazzle your audience. For example, if you're pitching a no-frills product to a prospective client, use a simple, straightforward graphic instead of a fancy slide show. Or, if you want to involve your audience in seeing a calculation unfold, consider using a flipchart or chalkboard.
• Convey one idea per visual aid. If you cram too many concepts onto one slide or diagram, you'll overwhelm your audience.
• Keep the number of visual aids to a minimum. Don't present more than one slide or overhead every two minutes. A 20-minute presentation should therefore contain no more than 10 slides.
• Keep text to a minimum. Graphic depictions of information are much more memorable than blocks of text or bulleted lists. Keep any text brief and straightforward. Use short, uncomplicated words. Use no more than six lines per visual and six words per line.
• Check text readability. Make sure visual aids are readable at a distance and in a darkened room. Avoid using many different typefaces on one graphic.
• Don't talk to your visual aids. Look at your audience while explaining a chart, diagram, or graphic.
• Use colors thoughtfully. Use just two different colors of text, with one consistent background color that shows up in all your visual aids. Select colors that create positive feelings for different audiences. For example, while red may have negative associations for accountants because it represents losses, the color may have positive associations for health-care professionals who interpret red as a sign of vitality.
• Create persuasive charts. Whether you're using pie, line, bar, or scatter charts, make the chart's message the title of the visual aid—for example, "Number of New Hires" or "ABC Has Smallest Market Share." Select the appropriate type of chart for your purpose. For instance, use pie charts to show percentages, bar charts to compare the sizes of items in a particular group (e.g., sales for six different textile companies), and line charts (or graphs) to depict trends over time.

Source Notes

Robert B. Cialdini. "Harnessing the Science of Persuasion." Harvard Business Review OnPoint Enhanced Edition. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2001.

Jay A. Conger. "The Necessary Art of Persuasion." Harvard Business Review OnPoint Enhanced Edition. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2001.

Harvard Business School Publishing. "Handling Q&A: The Five Kinds of Listening." Harvard Management Communication Letter, February 1999.

Betty A. Marton. "Mastering the Art of Persuasion." Harvard Management Communication Letter, July 2000.

Harry Mills. Artful Persuasion: How to Command Attention, Change Minds, and Influence People. New York: AMACOM, 2000.

Liz Simpson. "Get Around Resistance and Win Over the Other Side." Harvard Management Communication Letter, April 2003.

Gary A. Williams and Robert B. Miller. "Change the Way You Persuade." Harvard Business Review OnPoint Enhanced Edition. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2002.