The Art of Persuasion

Flow of Presentation
What is persuasion?
Preparing the groundwork (Analysis)
Developing a message (Argument)
Call to action
Case Analysis
The pervasiveness of persuasion
What is Persuasion?

Whether it works this way?

What is Persuasion? (contd...)

Whether it works this way?

What is Persuasion? (contd...)

Noit works this way

What is Persuasion? (contd...)
When you set out to persuade someone, you want them to
accept your opinion on an issue: you want to change
that person's mind to your way of thinking.

You make them to accept your position and motivate

them to do what you want.

For this to happen, you need to be very aware of your

audience; you want to be forging a link with them, not
irritating them by completely ignoring their needs.

How is it different from Negotiation? (Class to

Discuss)
Preparing the groundwork (Analysis)
Analyze your Goal (What? )

Define what you really want to achieve (for eg. Increased sale or decreased
Overheads)
Test whether it is ethically sound, is possible, is reasonable etc

Analyze yourself (Why?)

Why do you want to achieve what you want to achieve?
Does it belong to me why me? (i.e. whether I have the wherewithal to take it to
conclusion)

Analyze your audience (Who?)

Who are my audience? What their attitude towards the proposal would be?
Whether the proposal is in their best interests?
Analyzing the Audience (Some
examples)
In an advertisement for Home appliances, who is my
intended audience? Who takes decisions? (Test of who is
the influencer, who is the decision maker)

You discuss a sales plan with your colleagues. Some of

them reject the sales plan not on merits, but because
they perceive you as a threat to them. Its definitely a
good sales plan. What will you do?

(Hint: Accept and incorporate or boss power)

Developing a message (Argument)
Appeal to Reason (Logic & Evidence)
Convincing that action you want your audience to take is in their own interests.
Involves Logic and presenting of evidence (i.e. data to back your claim)
What you give Vs what benefit they will get?
How credible is your data? (weight of the evidence)

Appeal to common ground (Emotion & Understanding)

How do you connect with your audience? What common interest and emotions
you invoke
Which of the shared values you invoke? (for eg. Patriotism)
Is your message making sense (Common sense)
Cite an authority which is accepted by all (CEO or Boss?)

Using memorable imagery

Pictures
Stories
Visual images
Developing a message (match the
statement)
Statement What is the principle
used
Work place safety is very important. Appeal to Reason
Hence, all workers should follow the Health
& Safety policy strictly
Our sales people are promising products
that manufacturing team cannot produce.
We should rethink on the product launch
Our CEO wants us to stick to the plans Appeal to Common
approved last month. He does not want any Ground
deviations
Many of us have faced a conflict between
caring for our kids and doing our job.
Hence, we need to implement day care
facilities
I just came across an young child working Using memorable
in a very arduous task. I could see his mind imagery
crying. We should abolish child labour.
Developing a message (some
examples)
Developing a message (some
examples)

Tiger says, Buy it from Nike!

Developing a message (some
examples)

This could happen to YOU!

Developing a message (some
examples)
Monisha is entrusted with the task of creating a marketing
pamphlet designed to raise money for a charity, to support
impoverished children in Africa.

She developed two pamphlets:

Version 1: It had all relevant data on suffering children in

Africa. It mentioned the low per capita income of the Africans,
the poor hygiene prevalent in Africa, the malnutrition they are
suffering from, the illiteracy rate, rampant corruption and child
labour.

Version 2: Carried a picture of an impoverished African child

already too lean to stand, but working in some quarry with a
request for contribution.

Which one will connect with whom?

Call to action
Credibility
What right you have to take the time of your audience? Are you an authority in the
area?
If audience do not know you, how to establish your reputation?
Tip: Providing the audience the material in advance could help

Content
How much your audience should know to take action?
What do your audience know already? (This influences the first questions answer)
How could they possibly disagree with me? (If they dont disagree there is no need
for persuasion at all!!

Organization
At the start, make things clear. There is no suspense like detective novels
Put the main message at the beginning and end (attention span)
When you end, tell them what the audience have to do. (It could be like the Chef
wanting the chicken to come and sit in the pan!!
Call to action Credibility a Case
Study

As the director of human resources in your company,

youre desperate for some help. You want to keep the
costs of employee benefits under control while
making sure you provide employees with a fair
benefits package. However, you dont have time to
research all the options for health insurance, wellness
programs, retirement plans, family counseling,
educational benefits, and everything else, so you
decide to hire a consultant. You receive the following
message from a consultant interested working with
you.
Call to action - Credibility - a Case
Study
I am considered the countrys foremost authority on
employee health insurance programs. My clients offer
universally positive feedback on the programs Ive
designed for them. They also love how much time I save
them hundreds and hundreds of hours. I am absolutely
confident that I can thoroughly analyze your needs and
create a portfolio that realizes every degree of savings
possible. I invite you to experience the same level of
service that has generated such comments as Best
advice ever! and Saved us an unbelievable amount of
money.
Youd love to get the results the consultant promises, but
these claims dont ring true to you. In fact, the message
contains several instances in which this writers credibility
might be questioned.
Call to action - Credibility - a Case
Study
I am considered the countrys foremost authority on employee
health insurance programs. My clients offer universally positive
feedback on the programs Ive designed for them. They also
love how much time I save them hundreds and hundreds of
hours. I am absolutely confident that I can thoroughly analyze
your needs and create a portfolio that realizes every degree of
savings possible. I invite you to experience the same level of
service that has generated such comments as Best advice
ever! and Saved us an unbelievable amount of money.
The pervasiveness of Persuasion
Where do we see Persuasion in our real life?
....?
Advertisements? (examples ?)
....?
Charity campaign?
...?
Employee promotions/ retention?
...?
No smoking campaign?
...?
Contract Negotiation?