Demystifying the Art of Persuasion

To persuade is to attempt to influence a person’s opinions or feelings, either to change their mind or increase their conviction on the subject matter or point of view. Undoubtedly, persuasion is important in business, and mastery of this skill will often make the difference between winning contracts or securing job positions. Hence, it is essential to grasp persuasion to form a well-rounded communication strategy fully. There are certain concepts one must properly understand to improve one’s persuasiveness. These concepts include audience involvement, audience bias, credibility, and context, which all affect the recipient’s response to the message.
Audience involvement refers to how deeply engaged listeners are with the topic of discussion. Highly involved audiences are interested in the subject matter and respond very differently to less involved audiences. For example, highly involved audiences care less about the speakers’ credibility and tend to focus more on the central issues. Hence, a persuasive speaker will prioritize logic when communicating with a deeply engaged group but will attempt to establish credibility while trying to win over a group on the other end of the spectrum. Additionally, less involved audiences tend to change their stances more readily, but the change will often last only for short periods. The opposite is true for highly involved audiences. Hence, a persuasive speaker must understand this and use the knowledge to design strategies to communicate with the listeners.
Audiences often have some bias about a subject matter, which invariably affects how they perceive and respond to the idea being sold to them. A negatively biased audience holds an opinion that antagonizes the persuader, so they are better addressed using a two-sided argument that appeals to their position while also providing solid arguments for the alternate option. A positively biased might only require a one-sided argument to be fully persuaded, and the same often applies to neutrals. However, it is best to provide positively biased or neutral audiences with two-sided arguments to reduce the chances of them switching their opinions when confronted with a contrary viewpoint by other parties.
Credibility also plays a significant role in the success or failure of attempts to persuade an individual or group. Credibility can be built – or destroyed – before or during communication. Rank, expertise, and ease of identification all help an audience decide on a speaker’s credibility before engagement, while perceived fairness affects credibility during interactions. In order to convince audiences unfamiliar with the persuader, citation of credentials or demonstration of knowledge should quickly boost credibility. However, changes in attitude based on credibility only last for a short while, so a master persuader will ensure his targets take definitive action quickly.
Organizational context also weighs heavily in human interactions, and skilled communicators must learn when and how to adjust their strategy to the prevailing circumstances. For starters, one must realize that humans generally respond well to reciprocity. So, if you need someone to do you a favour, do them a favour, and they will likely reciprocate. Similarly, it is beneficial to understand the bandwagon effect, which refers to how people are influenced by the actions of others around them. While most people will claim to be resistant to the bandwagon effect, a persuasive communicator may still be able to harness the effect of this tactic to convince people to make a change. For example, an expert salesman can close a sale by reminding the target of his pitch that some of his immediate family and friends already use the product and enjoy the benefits.
Lastly, one must learn to find common ground with the target audience before presenting points in an argument and also reinforce change by repeating the persuasive techniques that brought about the change in the first place. While real-world applications may not be as clear-cut as summarised in this paper, understanding these basic techniques will improve one’s ability to influence opinions, beliefs, and actions in one favour and bring such a person one step closer to mastering the fine art of persuasion.

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