Persuasion & Influence For Dummies®

Introduction

How would you like to change people’s beliefs and behaviours so they say ‘Yes!’ to your requests, proposals and propositions? How would you like to convince and motivate others in an ethical way to do as you’d like them to do? How would you like to win the admiration, trust and confidence of other people, in order that they follow your lead while thinking the idea was theirs all along? If you want to accomplish any or all of the above, read on.

Getting people to say ‘Yes’ to your requests is the focus of this book. In the chapters that follow, you discover the triggers that gain people’s acceptance and win their buy-in to your ideas, suggestions and recommendations. You find out how to engage with others so they trust you and believe in your credibility. And you uncover ways of thinking, speaking and behaving that ensure that others perceive you as honest, reliable, sincere and likeable.

Persuasion and influence are poles apart from manipulation, although people who don’t understand these words’ subtle differences often use the terms interchangeably. In a nutshell, manipulation is about using any means necessary to get people to do what you want them to do in order to fulfil your needs or desires, regardless of whether what you want is in the other people’s best interests. Persuasion and influence are about guiding people to make decisions based on reliable information and a sound relationship with you, in order for them to do what’s best for them. (I explore the ...