The Art & Skill of Persuasion

Part One

What is Persuasion?

• The basics

• What do we mean by the art of persuasion?

• How is this different from negotiation?

• What makes a successful persuader

• The qualities of a successful persuader

• Influencing and persuading skills

• Avoiding the risks of manipulation

• Defining persuasion and influence

• Principles of effective influencing skills

• Self-belief, confidence & assertiveness

• Push and Pull styles of persuasion – usually a mixture of both

• The psychology of persuasion – the basics

• Persuasion Skills Training Exercise: To be treated as fun and entirely optional. Persuading members of the group to do business with you in just one minute.

Preparing to Persuade

• The importance of planning

• How to build trust

• Mockingbird Theory

• The importance of non-verbal communication, but keeping a sense of proportion

• Having built trust, move on to developing rapport

• Finding out what others want or need

• Active listening

• Intelligent questioning

• Understanding the importance of perception

• Appreciating how you perceive situations may differ from others

• Exercise: Persuade a best friend to lend you their new dream sports car when they secretly think you are a reckless driver.

Explore What Others Want

• How do we do this?

• Setting clear objectives

• Effective questioning techniques

• Realise the values and motivations of others

• Hone your listening skills to become better at persuasion

• Overcome barriers to active listening

• The identification of individual ‘filters’

• Dealing with filters

• The power of positive thought

• Preparing for the persuasion discussion

• Exercise: Getting a car fixed by a lazy and indifferent chief mechanic for a sensible price when your car has broken down and you are desperate to continue an urgent journey.

Communication Style

• The range of styles

• Choosing styles to meet the situation

• Why your natural traits will always reveal themselves eventually

• Learn the art of persuasion to respond, rather than react

• Open, leading and closed questions

• The Funnel questioning technique

• Understanding values and how to persuade around these

• Questioning techniques to understand values and build relationships

• Exercise: Persuading a self-important boss to allocate the pay and bonus pool more fairly than just you and him/her.

Part Two

Overcoming Resistance

• This persuasion skills course explores how to understand resistance

• Why do people resist?

• Overcoming resistance without compromising the values of others

• Apply a practical 6-step Influence and Persuasion Model

• Using FAB to match the needs gathered from customers

• Dealing with conflict: handling difficult situations without emotions

• Presenting your case with impact, taking the values of others into account

• Example: Getting a colleague to lend you a member of staff who you need when they know you have a reputation for over-resourcing your area

State Your Case Persuasively

• Planning and preparation

• Presenting at the right stage

• Adopt strategies that work for you

• State your case assertively and convincingly

• Knowing the audience

• Gathering the content

• The 10/80/10 rule for structuring the presentation

• Delivering a presentation

• Persuasion Skills Training Exercise: Fun session - pick an object at random in the room, and persuade the rest of us to buy it from you in a minute or less

Handling Objections

• The most challenging for most of us

• Identifying frequently encountered objections

• The pre-emption of objections

• Developing appropriate responses

• Realising when to walk away

• Dealing with failure well

Course Conclusion, Summary and Open Forum

Training Objectives

This persuasion skills training course is for professionals in finance and other industries where persuasion skills are critical. It is interactive, engaging, and full of practical exercises to ensure participants learn and apply the core techniques.

Here’s what to expect from Redcliffe’s art of persuasion course:

• Increased confidence in your ability to persuade

• Enhanced personal persuasion skills

• A deep understanding of persuasive techniques and how to apply them

• Insight into what makes a successful persuader, with strategies to practise and develop these skills

• Techniques to build trust and rapport before persuading

• The ability to set clear objectives for persuasion, finding common ground and applying the right communication style for any situation

• Tools to overcome resistance and deal with difficult individuals

• How to present your case and handle common objections

• The acceptance that not every situation can be winnable, including how to handle setbacks with grace

Training Course Summary

Persuasion is a skill we all have, but many of us lack the confidence to use it in business settings. Nerves and self-doubt can interfere, but with practice and experience, anyone can improve this skill.

The essential difference between a good and an improving business persuader is practice and experience; nothing else. We all have the necessary x-factor, but it is tempting at times, out of frustration, to say “No, that’s not me.” But there are two crucial points to remember:

1) We all get our people skills in arrears, and it is only through practice and experience that we improve persuasion skills because we learn from our mistakes.

2) Outside of the work environment, we all use skill and persuasion all the time and without even thinking about it.

Some of us are naturally better than others, but if we had no persuasive skills, none of us would meet partners, raise a family or be able to organise social events in the real world.

Many people regard the “art of persuasion” as a difficult skill to master. But it doesn’t have to be. Practice and experience, followed by practice and experience, are the keys.

This enjoyable persuasion skills course is designed to be fun, interactive, and tailored to meet the needs of professionals who need to build relationships within their organisation. Whether you need to get colleagues on your side, encourage those in a sales or an account management role to be more effective, or to better manage difficult customers or situations, the skills learned in this course will help.

Persuasion skills training will leave you feeling empowered to persuade, reduce resistance to new ideas, and allow you to handle challenging situations with confidence. By practising effective communication skills and persuasion techniques, you’ll be better equipped to deal with difficult people and scenarios.