How to be More Persuasive

Written By Colēgia

Good communication skills are a hallmark of personal success. Learning how to be persuasive is part of this since sometimes we need to convince others to see our point of view. Thankfully there are many ways to help with this. Today we want to talk about how we can be more persuasive and why it's important.

Understand Your Audience

Your audience is a big thing to consider when it comes to being persuasive. A good example of this is how you say something. If we're talking with a friend we can be more casual since we know who they are and are aware of their interests. If our audience is students then we might want to focus on framing things from the perspective of keeping their needs in mind. If it's a teacher we need to be more formal around them and be aware of the student-teacher dynamic. Ideally, we want to be proactive in understanding what it is our audience wants out of a conversation and where they may stand on an issue. Being persuasive involves knowledge just as much as it requires us to be aware of how we're phrasing things.

“Your audience is a big thing to consider when it comes to being persuasive.”

Be Sincere

Sincerity can go a long way in being persuasive since it helps both sides know we're coming from a good place. Honesty is essential for this since it makes others aware of our intentions and doesn't leave anything vague. Being direct can also help with this since it gets to the point faster and is more considerate of people's time and energy. To be persuasive we need to establish trust and to do that we need to be mindful of how someone else would feel if we were on their side. Our body language also plays a large role in this and there are a few ways we can be more effective. Not folding our arms in a disagreement is one way to help with this since it shows we aren't on the defensive. Making eye contact while listening is another element of this since it helps the other side know we're being present. Lastly, we can be more persuasive by listening more than speaking at times since it can help the pacing better.

“Sincerity can go a long way in being persuasive since it helps both sides know we're coming from a good place.”

Aim For Compromise

We can't always get things the way we want them 100% of the time. Sometimes it's better to aim for compromise. This is when both sides make concessions to get some degree of what they want out of a situation. Being aware of what is negotiable is helpful since it trains you to stick with things if an agreement can't be reached. Even when compromising, we need to be okay with walking away from something if we don't feel like it's working out. We can't persuade everyone to see our point of view nor should we expect that. Going into a conversation with the intent to share rather than convince might just be one of the best approaches since it's sincere and persuasive at the same time.

Colēgia

Colēgia

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