Persuasive techniques of savvy businessmen: What tricks do they use?

What distinguishes proficient leaders from those less successful? The art of getting people on their side. You may have a brilliant idea, service or product, but if you do not convince others of its uniqueness, it will remain unknown. The art of convincing speech lies in well-chosen words. Thanks to the mastered techniques of persuasion, words are able to arouse emotions in the listener and subsequently provoke a favorable reaction – the desire, wish, and shared agreement… Adopt a few tricks to assist you to become a savvy businessman.

Excellent communication and the ability to convey an idea in a few sentences – these are the abilities mastered by the world’s greatest business leaders and politicians. If you understand the psychology of persuasion, you can influence what is happening around you. Do you feel invisible? Don’t despair! The masterful shaping of an opinion through words can be learned. For starters, try to adhere to the following rules.

Be personal in your address

The address is an essential part of a persuasive speech. Talk to a specific person or a narrow target group with whom you wish to communicate. Empathize with your audience; try to estimate its interests, needs, and reactions. Do you know the behavior of the people you wish to convince? What are their personal hobbies and business visions? Take advantage of this. Written and spoken presentations are only effective when targeted directly at the listeners or readers. Attract their attention at the outset with a shared theme.

Fulfill people’s wishes

Do not talk only about yourself; self-aggrandizement never convinced anyone of the positives. Conversely, showcase the benefits of the service, product or information provided to the specific person. Answer the question: “What’s in it for me?” As aptly stated by Vojtěch Untermüller in his article on the 10 rules of Online Copywriting:

When Apple came up with the iPod, it could have advertised it like this (wrongly): “The revolutionary player with incredible 8 GB memory!” Instead, they suggested: “10,000 songs in your pocket.” And that’s exactly what’s in it for us, as customers.

First the bad news

Human memory is short. This makes it easy to drown out the bad news with good news. Judge these sentences for yourself:

“Today the sun is shining, but it will rain tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow it is going to rain, but today will be beautiful.”

Do you feel that in both sentences you perceive more strongly the communication that comes after the conjunction “but”? The meaning of these two sentences is exactly the same, but the first sentence rather leaves a negative feeling about the expected rain, while in the second case we are happy about the sunny today. It is a simple rule in the psychology of persuasion – the conjunction “but” refutes any previous communication and the human brain perceives more clearly the information after the word “but.” Do you need to convince your subordinates to stay at work longer? Try to find the difference in the following instructions:

“Today we must work hard, but the end of the week will be quiet.”

“The end of the week will be quiet, but today we must work hard.”

 The first statement sounds more pleasant, don’t you think? Everyone is happy to learn about the quiet rest of the week…