The Power of Persuasion: Eight Strategies for Getting Exactly What You Want

Whether you’re a salesman, a supervisor, a computer programmer, or a stay at home mom, the art of persuasion can be a key element to your success at work, and, indeed, in many aspects of your life.

“Persuasion is a key element of all human interaction, from politics to marketing to everyday dealings with friends, family and colleagues. “Persuasion is a basic form of social interaction,” says Eric Knowles, emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. “It is the way we build consensus and a common purpose.”

The New Scientist recently compiled a comprehensive collection of scientific studies designed to determine the best persuasive techniques for getting exactly what you want. These were the top eight.

1) Be a Mimic.

Good salesmen have always known it, but recently a number of studies have shown conclusively that subtly mimicking someone’s mannerisms - such as head and arm movements, and posture - can be a very persuasive technique.

Just don’t get caught! It’s also infuriating to the receiver, should they figure out what you’re doing.

“The crucial factors are: be subtle, leave a delay and, whatever you do, if you think there’s even the slightest chance you’ve been rumbled, stop.”

2) Practice framing.

A favorite technique of spin doctors, “framing is about leading people to think about an issue or opinion in a way that is advantageous to you,” explains George Bizer of Union College in Schenectady, New York. “For example, opponents of inheritance taxes prefer to frame them as ‘death taxes’.”

Negative images have a more powerful influence than positive ones. If you want someone to vote for McCain, show Obama in a negative light. That’s why, as much as politicians deny they want to do negative campaigning

3) Sometimes less is more.

Contrary to what you would think, studies suggest that if you want someone to agree with you, ask them to think of no more than three good reasons why they also support your idea. But don’t ask them to think up more than that.

Studies show that the easier it is for people to come up with ideas supporting you, the more positive they will feel about it. And it is easier to think up three ideas rather than ten ideas.
So, instead of saying, “give me all the reasons you can think of,”say “give me one good reason you can think of that this idea will work.

4) Wear them down.

People will give in more easily when they are tired, hungry, or mentally exhausted, and you’ll have a better chance of getting what you want.

Conversely, don’t go buying a new car on an empty stomach, or after a long week of work, when you’re exhausted.

5) Use the best communication medium for the situation.

It was found that during same-sex interactions, women tend to be more easily influenced during face-to-face communication than by e-mail.

For men who have previously met in person to debate the point, it is the opposite. Men who have never met will negotiate about the same whether by e-mail or face-to-face.

Researchers theorize that this is because, in general, women tend to be more communal, while men are more competitive and independent. If they have met once for negotiations, they will be even more competitive at their next face-to-face .
Studies have not yet been done on opposite-sex interactions.

6) Style over substance.

Often, unconsciously, people listen to tone and body language more than actual words.

So, at its best,acting confident and comfortable about your subject can win you supporters, regardless of what you say.

At its worst, this is the con man’s game. During college many years ago, I had a part time job at a self service gas station. One customer had me so confused that, by the time he left the station, not only hadhe gotten a free tank of gas, I had given him an extra eight dollars in change!

7) Use Anger.

Different types of emotion, such as fear or guilt, are often used as tools of persuasion. But these don’t always work, because people start to feel manipulated, and they become tired of being judged.

But anger is different. It’s empowering. The emotion is focused on someone or something else instead of internally. A good example of this is with groups, such as GreenPeace or The Human Rights Campaign. The leaders of these groups use anger as a way to unite people for a good cause.

Dealing with resistance.

If someone feels like they’re being manipulated or pushed in a certain direction, they’ll increase their resistance to being pursuaded. Often they’ll become even more entrenched in their old beliefs. Also, ” if people resist good arguments presented by an expert, they conclude their own arguments must be even stronger.”

This can create a difficult situation. The best way to deal with this is to “take smaller steps to your final goal, when presenting your argument, so that you are more aligned with the person’s own beliefs.” Also boost the other person’s self esteem. When people feel good about themselves, they are more open to change.

Have any thoughts on this?

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• Micro Persuasion Image via CrunchBase Steve Rubel at Edelman Digital -Best Links Available Steve Rubel is a public relations executive and blogger. While with the firm CooperKatz...