Being Persuasive Is All About Proof

Be Your Audience To Be Their Convincer

 

I’ve presented enough to know when it’s working and when it doesn’t.

 

I’m the first to admit I don’t always hit the mark.

 

And I know when I don’t, it’s down to one thing: I didn’t really know the audience.

 

Whether it is one person or one thousand, if either of you don’t know why either of you are there you going to have a tough time connecting.

 

Think about the last time you ‘presented’. Were you selling a message, entertaining a crowd, giving feedback or performance managing a new recruit? Whatever the time ask yourself – how well did I know my audience? Did I assume I knew them? Did I allow my confidence with the content blind me to its relevance to them?

 

If so, I daresay you struggled to connect.

 

If you want your audience to be convinced by you then you need to be able to think and feel like your audience.

 

If that’s important for your success here are some thoughts as to how to.

 

In my book Learning Dangerously, article #15 titled, “Keeping The Crowd On Your Side”, I describe specifically the experience of presenting to a crowd and 3 ways you can keep the crowd on your side.

 

In particular I stress the importance of finding a connection: “caring for the audience by first demonstrating your understanding of the audience.” Often presenters use stories and metaphors to enable the audience to relate to the content.

 

While this may be effective to build rapport, is it enough to be persuasive? The psychology of people suggests otherwise. Given humans are inherently risk and change averse, our ability to influence and convince people to take a new course of action will take more than trust.

 

In his article, Loran Nordgren identifies 3 factors that will increase your ability to convince people to accept the brilliance of your product, service, thinking or advice. These may just be the most important factors for your success and their focus in on proof.

 

Let audiences know what they are missing: don’t just focus on the benefits, describe the outcomes of not changing. “Loss aversion” is a powerful motivator for some people and realising an opportunity lost as a result of not taking action can evoke action.

 

Give people points of comparison: a significant convincer for many people is rationalising an action by comparing it to previous experiences. By giving people an easy point of comparison or reference in terms they can comprehend and value then you may just help them convince themselves of the merit of your offering.

 

Let people experience you: there’s no easier way for people to understand you than by getting to know you. Be generous and make it easy for people to understand your offering and the experience of you by providing simple opportunities: videos, podcasts, webinars, posting, tweets. Show who you are by being prepared to be public.

 

Every moment spent with the people who matter for our success, is an opportunity to enhance your persuasive ability. But it all starts with them and ends in proof.

 

When are seeking to influence others we are usually an interruption to their status quo, so you better have something worthy of their attention and able to satisfy their convincers.

 

 

Craig Stephens is the author of Learning Dangerously. Craig mentors and coaches people to build more effective relationships to  realise their greatest success. If you want to build more influence, then contact Craig and realise the benefits of Learning Dangerously.

 

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