Persuasion: The Art of Selling

Becoming a master of persuasion is a skill that can be very valuable in every aspect of daily life. It can most effectively be used at work where it can help you get things done faster and do things that you want done.

Most successful managers usually enjoy success by developing their persuasive skill. First, it is important  to understand the element of persuasion and how it works.

Knowing and understanding the art of persuasion can help you in being able to get what you want. Knowing how to persuade others is a skill that can be learned in time.

Persuasion after all is a process of guiding people towards the adoption of a certain idea, action or attitude through rational or symbolic means. It is one strategy used to solve problems where appeal is being used rather than force.

With persuasion, there are always two choices being considered;

• A person can choose to persuade others to achieve something
• or, that person can be persuaded by others.

Almost every situation in life involves the process of persuasion in one way or another. To master the art of persuasion, you should know if you are the one doing the persuasion in these situations of the one being persuaded.

The key to mastering the art of persuasion involves the right motivation. Every action that a person does is being motivated by something. In order to persuade people effectively, it is important to know what motivates people and then work on that motivation to persuade them.

In general, there are two kinds of major motivations that most people look into:

• There is the desire for gain
• There is the fear of loss

The desire for gain motivates people to have more of what they value in life. People may desire to gain money, health, success, respect, love, happiness etc. Knowing what a person’s desire, help you to motivate them.

People are also motivated by the fear of loss. This can sometimes even be stronger than the desire for gain. People may fear the loss of health, financial loss  or loss of achievement. This is the reason why most people fear change. People can feel threatened by fear of potential loss.

The art of persuasion is about bringing a change in behavior and moving people to action. By communicating actions clearly, you will help reduce their fear.