How to Persuade

What skill do ALL the most successful people in history possess ? Well it should be obvious that successful people have many highly effective skills but by far the most important is that of, wait for it, "Persuasion" !

The incredible power available to those who are able to persuade others has been know for centuries. As long ago as 400BC Greek philosopher Plato was famous for saying, "Persuasion is the key to power". The ability to persuade, and influence others brings great power to those that possess this ability.

'Wikipedia' the Free Encyclopedia says as follows : "Persuasion is a form of social influence. It is the process of guiding oneself or another toward the adoption of an idea, attitude, or action by rational and symbolic (though not always logical) means."

There are various methods of persuasion to be utilised including "Weapons of Influence"; "Relationship based Persuasion" and "Propoganda" !"

Under the "Weapons of Influence" category we have 6 identified types :

1)'Reciprocity' meaning essentially "one good turn deserves another " or people returning a favour;

2)'Commitment and consistency' meaning that once something has been agreed to in principle then people are more likely to follow through even if the goal posts subsequently change;

3)'Social proof' meaning that people are persuaded by what others are doing;

4)'Authority' meaning that people will follow leaders and authority figures even if asked to do objectionable acts eg in time of war;

5)'Liking'- people are more easily persuaded by people they like and this also pertains to being persuaded by physically attractive people;

6)'Scarcity'- people ae persuaded by lack or scarcity of a product or service.

Whilst the methods of persuasion are important in and of themselves, it is the abilty to personally "master" persuasion techniques and methods that is going to enable any person to achieve great success in their personal and professional lives.

For example it is proven that those who have well developed persuasion skills are able to negotiate a higher salary for themselves and indeed promotions in their job or career.

Having a highly persuasive personality will lead to increased opportunities in the business arena and increased sales. Being persuasive leads to greater success in dating and relationships and as a parent in influencing children to do your bidding. Or in getting people to listen to you and not ignore your ideas and suggestions.

So why is it that some people have highly developed persuasion skills and others can't even persuade themselves to do anything let alone others ? Are persuaders "born" or "made" and do you know "how to persuade" ?

Well it should be obvious from the above that it is possible to learn the skills of persuasion that others possess.The fact is that it has been discovered that those with an heightened abilty to persuade others to do their bidding have certain thinking or psychological "habits". In fact one "expert" who has studied persuasion for over twenty years has he believes identified "seven thinking habits" that highly effective persuaders utilise to their ultimate success.

If you feel that you would like to enhance your persuasion skills and learn how to persuade to ensure massive success in all areas of your life, then I believe that you can learn and apply these skills as taught by a best selling expert in this field. For more information on the 7 thinking habits of highly persuasive people go here.