Persuasion & Influence For Dummies®

Chapter 18

Ten Essential Instruments for Your Persuasion Toolkit

In This Chapter

Gathering your techniques

Refining your skills

Polishing and perfecting your approach

Your moment has arrived, your chance is here, your opportunity to influence someone’s thinking and persuade him to follow your suggestions is upon you.

Don’t sweat. This book gives you a bevy of persuasive tools that you use individually or combine to create killer proposals, negotiate compromises and wrap up satisfying deals. So roll up your sleeves, open up your persuasion toolkit and pull out any and all of the essential influencing strategies I highlight in this chapter. With a little practice, your target audience will be trotting alongside you, heading for a happy conclusion.

Rapport

More than 2,000 years ago, Aristotle noted that logic alone is not enough to persuade others to do what you want them to do. Before anything else, he said, you must establish a common set of shared values. While you don’t have to like each other, you do have to trust one another, and you must demonstrate your understanding of the other person’s reality. Aristotle was essentially laying the groundwork for the oh-so-modern concept ...