Persuasion

Persuasion
Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persuasion, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conformity_(psychology), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asch_conformity_experiments, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance.
Persuasion is either the power for convincing people, the act of doing it or a set of beliefs, e.g.: The Catholic Persuasion, The Modernist Persuasion, etc. Anyway, as you can see, in the end it’s all about convincing other people that what you do or think is more appropriate to them. In other words, it is to “sell your mind” to another person or to many people. The price they pay is often respect, obedience, manpower and even money.
Now, persuasion is probably in our instincts and has attestedly been used ever since we keep record of History. The fine art of persuasion is called Rhetoric, which will be more properly addressed in a future article. In this one, we’ll take a look at certain tools that help us convince people. A finer analysis of such tools and some portions of History will come in the aforementioned article. Consider this one an introit.
Firstly, we need to know that we basically have two ‘fields’ in which persuasion takes place: reason and emotion. We also have the subconscious persuasion, which we will deal with later.
To be more straightforward about persuasion, let’s imagine you’re selling a product. Here you have two areas in which you can exert your persuasion: pragmatism and style. The first has to do with reason; the latter with emotions. If your product is both very usable and fashionable, your arguments should focus on whatever makes you listener more interested. Example: a car. If you’re selling a car which is both beautiful and economic, but your prospect client only ask questions regarding its engine, durability, fuel consumption, etc, forget the beauty and give him what he wants – it’s as simple as that.
Now, let’s imagine that your client opposes one or two things you say about the product. Here you have three options in two scenarios:
1) If your client doesn’t seem to trust or like you:
a. Agree with him/her openly but, as soon as you have a chance, say you will “present another perspective, which is very intelligent and surely will satisfy his level of intellectual sophistication”. Here you’re inflating the client’s ego. Remember this: the higher the ego, the lower the guard. However, never fawn. That doesn’t seem to work under such circumstances.
b. Back up your opinion with testimonials or insights from people whom your client probably likes. For example: the car dealer could convince you by making you imagine a weekend drive with all your beloved family members in this new comfortable car you’re about to buy or even by saying he had a talk with your manager (assuming he knows him), who highly praised the car’s “dependable stability”.
c. Give him a bonus which will make him feel special. For example: say he’s entitled to an extended test-drive. This will appease his discomfort and inflate his ego. And you remember the dynamics of ego: the higher it goes… Plus, you’re giving the client a tangible experience. People like this, especially Brazilians. Let him feel as if the car was his already. Let him choose the way, but always stay near, so that he associates this future pleasure with a couple of papers he has to sign.

2) If you client seems to trust you:
a. Put up an I-know-it-all face. People respect knowledge and expertise. If you don’t know much about the product or simply drew a blank, get a hold on whatever positive aspect which can impress your client in your opinion and apply the disguised redundancy technique: repeat it till exhaustion, but each time with a new facet exposed. For example: If the car is economic, say it clearly first, then the exact number of liters per kilometer it runs, then how much your uncle saved on a trip to the Northeast, then how much money will be left for different investments, then say it loud as if surprised, like: “My God, I think I’m gonna buy this car myself. It’s so economic!” Just remember to put some nice interval between the insertions to make sure it sounds natural.
b. Similarly to step number two in the previous scenario, use some testimonials or insights from people your client admires. People tend to rely on any external direction when in acute doubt.
c. Explore your client’s senses, namely, touch, taste, hearing, vision, smelling and intuition/imagination. In other words, have him start the car engine just to hear the roar, tell him to sit in the driver’s seat and feel the comfort of the wheel, let him smell the interior and, as soon as you have a chance, ask him whether he thinks he will be happier with the car (intuition) and to imagine a weekend drive with the family (imagination). The more senses you have working, the better.
Captatio Benevolentiae
Captatio Belevolentiae or, in English, “seizing of benevolence” is a rhetorical tool to ease you convincing. It consists of gaining the sympathy of your listening by using some psychological tools. Naturally, this tool is a complex one and would need a whole article to bring it to light more properly. However, it is possible to underline some techniques it supplies us with:
• Humor: Tell a joke or try to make the person laugh. Do it naturally and the person’s guard is guaranteed to lower.
• Pity: Tell him/her something sad about your life. Do it naturally and the person’s guard is guaranteed to lower.
• Be the friend: approach the person with warm informal language and a believe-me-I-am-your-friend look. Do it naturally and the person’s guard is guaranteed to lower.
• Swell his ego: before you do anything tell him how intelligent and sophisticated the people who have bought the product before were and extol the profile in which he will unconsciously fit himself in. Do it naturally and the person’s guard is guaranteed to lower.
These were just some outlines of the dense and complex topic persuasion is. In the future we’ll be developing parts of this article more thoroughly.

Fight the Good Fight.