In all business, the art of persuasion and influence is extremely important. If you're selling a product you have to make people want to buy it and if you're working in any sort of team you have to use these skills to bring everyone together and perhaps to accept your train of thought. Good ideas get nowhere if you can't explain them and be persuasive in your arguments for why your idea should be used.
In consulting, persuasion is important for the teamwork you will be involved in when on a project and also importantly for presenting your proposals to clients. It can be difficult to deal with anger from a client. Sometimes the results of your research might be damning and as an outside opinion it is easy to be picked on. Your solutions might not suit everyone either and may include job cuts and price reductions. But at the end of the day, positive influence is useful to get any business to achieve its goals and as a consultant trying to help businesses reach such goals, a positive tone and positive persuasive technique will get you far.
Over the next 10 days, take a look at the following articles....and you'll be a master in no time!
The ancients knew the best ways to persuade and influence others - their epic speeches preserved by authors who recorded their impact. Learn Aristotle's three means of persuasion as your persuasion foundation!
A printable guide of 21 ways to persuade people, with emphasis on the workplace.
Professor Caildini from Arizona State University gives a 6 point guide to increase the profitability of a brand through persuasion and influence
A preview of the book 'How to Increase your influence at work' by Perry McIntosh and Richard A. Leucke.
An article on the Practical Art of Persuasion from the Harvard Business Review.
A great blog post listing ways in which to get people in business to do whatever you want!
Harvard Business Review with the four essential steps to take in the 'Necessary art of Persuasion'.
A short blog post but no less useful in explaining ways to get people to do what you want.
Another great blog post, this time focusing on how to build influence in the workplace.
