A creative ad by Mini Cooper placed at the Zurich , Switzerland train station, shows people climbing into or out of the car, when they are actually entering or exiting stairs. That’s persuasion at its best! More examples below.

I just listened to an mp3 interview with Paul Endress, persuasion extraordinaire and found some of his persuasion techniques insightful. He is also the man behind the persuasion article written for The Toastmaster (May 2008 edition). If you want to listen to the full version of the tutorial, click here. If you are in a hurry, you can first check out my notes below.

While research shows that most people believe they can’t be sold, the fact is those same people can indeed be persuaded if they don’t recognize that a sales tecnique is being used.

The trick lies in the different persuasive strategies used then and now. Lets use a car salesman this time since they top the list as the people you absolutely cannot trust in a poll.

Then: They go on downloading information in you, telling you EVERYTHING you need to know AND don’t need to know.
Basically, its like taking a shotgun with pellets in it, hoping that one of them will hit the target. This doesn’t work anymore!

Now: Being subtle.

The following are strategies for you to adopt as you attempt to persuade your audience, be it one or many.

1. Aiming at the Target

Have you been in a situation where a salesman or saleswoman was trying to sell you something by giving you the 4-1-1 of what he or she is selling while you absolutely couldn’t wait to get away from the guy? That he or she was boring you nuts with all the information?

You felt like running away as soon as he turns his head because he never found out what was IMPORTANT to YOU.

Ask a simple question : “What’s most important to you when you buy a car? ”

“What’s most important to you when you enroll your kids to a programme? ”

“What most important to you when you look for a life partn…( ok you get it by now don’t you? ) ”

This simple question is what gets you the most answers. So for example, if I’m going to go buy a car, what’s important to me is the price.

So if you’re going to sell me a car, you should immediately address my pricing concerns and not go rambling on how energy-efficient and how many awards the car has won. This saves your breath and of course, time spent.

2. Never start your questions with ” WHY? “

Not only is it annoying but you get only excuses.

Lets use an example: If your kid comes back from school with his report card dominated with D’s and E’s and (God Forbid, F’s ), You’ll probably be in a rage and ask ..”WHY did you get D’s and E’s ?? ”

And the answer (or rather, excuse) that you’re going to get is:

“My teacher ate my test paper.”
“My teacher doesn’t really like me.”
“The kids bully me if I get A’s.”

So how can you ask the same question but get solutions instead?

Start your questions with “What” or “How”

These 2 words empowers action in people. You’re still asking the same question, but you shift its mode and then you start to get changes!

3. Use STORIES to convey your message.

Its important to highlight before I continue with how we can use stories that people tend to be too obvious when they use their stories. As a result, they shift back into a sales mode.

Most people cannot come up with a story on the fly. Even Paul suggested practice and fine-tuning our stories to ensure an impactful message and one that really sinks into the human psyche. Remember? Stories, like humour is a process. Your stories are not going to come out fantastic the first time you tell them. Hence, you must be willing to let your stories develop over time.

I suspect, if I let my enthusiasm and excitement get the better of me, you’ll never reach the end of this entry…awake.

That’s why I’m leaving you wanting for more (which happens to be another strategy in persuasion that I shall cover in my next entry)

Promise that my next entry will be shorter..by a bit at least *grins*

Eric Feng is the go-to guy if you want to learn how to impress your investors and customers through public speaking. For more tips and tactics that you can use immediately in your next presentation, visit The Public Speaking Blog.

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