Persuasion skills are some of the most useful skills at work. They’re critical for enabling you to get work completed, lead others, negotiate effectively, get your voice heard, manage upwards, and suggest ideas.
If you work in business development or sales, especially, then persuasion skills are the way you will earn your paycheck!
They might be important, but persuasion skills are challenging to develop. They require knowledge of separate abilities, and the technique to apply these to challenging conversations and situations. They also require innate knowledge of people and an understanding of contexts.
This article takes you over all you need to know about persuasion skills, including the skills you need to develop and tips on how to improve them.
What are persuasion skills?
Persuasion skills are the measure of someone’s ability to influence other people’s attitudes, behaviors and opinions through effective communication or inspiration.
There are plenty of ways to demonstrate persuasive skills, such as understanding your audience’s needs, debating effectively, asking questions, and listening. The aim of persuasion is to achieve your desired outcome and inspire action.
Types of persuasion skills
There is a whole suite of skills that can be used to form persuasive ability. Here are 10 examples of persuasion skills to be aware of and focus on developing:
1. Active listening
Active listening is the behavior of consciously listening to others through the words and body language you use.
By actively listening, you’ll be able to effectively persuade others by demonstrating that you care about what they say. It will also help you stay attuned to what people are saying. This means that you’ll learn about your audience and be able to use your knowledge to influence them to a greater degree.
2. Building rapport
One of the best ways to persuade others is by building rapport with them. This is one of the most important skills for a salesperson to have, as effective interpersonal skills can soften people up and make them more amenable to your ideas and suggestions.
Building rapport doesn't mean that you need “the gift of gab” or be a natural people person. It simply means that you should make conversation and take an interest in what others have to say.
3. Confidence
Confidence goes a long way in helping your persuasion skills. Indeed, confident people are perceived to be more credible, easier to engage with, and more assured of their ideas. These traits help you in persuading people because you’ll be easier to listen to, or at least harder to ignore
Confidence isn’t just a form of communication — it’s a mindset, instilling in you extra belief and determination to persuade others.
4. Diplomacy
Diplomacy skills aren’t just the remit of the politician. They’re useful for anyone to become more persuasive in the workplace because they enable you to master the art of negotiating, having difficult conversations, and balancing different people’s needs and wants — thus establishing credibility and inspiring people to believe in your vision or suggestion.
Diplomacy isn’t just about keeping everyone happy. It’s about knowing how to manage conflict and different personalities to collaborate and find win–win solutions.
5. Emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence skills go hand in hand with persuasion because it’s about reading people and understanding situations from their point of view.
Using emotional intelligence to persuade others involves empathizing with their needs. By doing this, you can create tailored recommendations that are closely aligned with their expectations. You’ll also be able to use emotional intelligence to effectively build rapport.
6. Logical reasoning
Persuading others involves careful planning and analysis of options. This information is worked into a strategy, based on facts and data, to coherently explain things to the people you are attempting to persuade.
This is where logical reasoning skills come into play. By being able to think logically, you can develop persuasion strategies and also map out the best approach to influence someone. This will yield better results than trying your luck to see what will happen.
7. Mirroring
Mirroring is when you match your body language, words and tone of voice to that of the person you’re trying to persuade. The rationale behind it is that you’re cultivating familiarity and providing a level playing field, which subconsciously helps people listen to you.
Mirroring can also help you defuse situations. For example, by calmly replying to someone who is angry at you, they’re more likely to calm down, helping you to work on a solution.
8. Reframing
Reframing is when you change the way a situation or challenge is perceived. This can be done by offering different viewpoints, an alternative opinion, various contexts, or emphasizing the benefits of different ways forward.
It’s great for presenting sides to a story that haven’t yet been explored and, therefore, a powerful driver of persuasion.
9. Reliability
By being reliable and dependable (for example, being punctual and meeting deadlines), you’re developing trust, which is gold dust for persuasion. You’re demonstrating to others that what you’re persuading them on is a good idea because it’s your track record speaking, as well as you. People will buy into this and your credibility.
Be aware, though, that because it’s built on trust, reliability is hard to restore once it’s broken.
10. Storytelling
By storytelling, you’re giving context and meaning to what you’re trying to persuade others on. Not only this, but you can add personal meaning and different dimensions to otherwise banal topics.
You’ll be able to engage your listeners and captivate an audience. This, ultimately, increases your credibility and likability, making it more likely for them to buy into your idea.
How to develop your persuasion skills
Developing your persuasion skills takes time, patience and plenty of practice. Here are 10 great ways to develop your persuasion skills, growing them over time to become an incredible influencer of people:
1. Build trust
As mentioned before, building trust is central to increasing your persuasion skills. You can effectively build trust not only by being reliable, but also through getting to know your audience, researching them before meeting them, or through building rapport.
Cultivate longer-lasting relationships, and don’t just view any transaction as singular. Do your best to look after others, and be honest with them so they will lean on you for trusted advice.
2. Find common interests
Finding common interests is central to building rapport, another critical component of persuasion skills. You can find common interests by asking people questions to get to know them.
Have a little mental script to make small talk with people, such as asking about their work history, where they grew up, hobbies, or even working style to learn about them and find connections. You can also use LinkedIn to research basic information about people before you meet them.
3. Improve your communication skills
Effective communication goes hand in hand with persuasion. To influence people, you need to develop a broad suite of communication abilities. This includes active listening, using the right body language, verbal and vocal skills, and presentation ability.
Remember that communication skills can never be perfect, so routinely practice this skill and adapt it to your audience; for example, being more formal with professional audiences to mirror them and further increase your persuasion skills.
4. Know your audience
Not taking the time to get to know the very people you’re trying to convince means that you may be perceived as not caring about them, trying to rush dialogue or transactions, and it is a sign of poor stakeholder management.
Know your audience by asking them questions, sending a “getting to know you” questionnaire before you meet them, and by doing thorough research, tailoring your message accordingly.
5. Learn how to manage conflict
Conflict management is an essential component of persuading others. Like it or not, conflict is inevitable, and managing it effectively will break down barriers to persuasion, increase trust, and build lasting relationships.
Figure out your natural approach to conflict management, such as accommodating, competing or collaborating, and develop your own response strategies to managing conflict that aim to de-escalate and result in win–win outcomes.
6. Practice public speaking
Of all the communication skills you can learn, public speaking is the one that can most impact persuasion, owing to the confidence you can inspire and the large audience you can influence.
When rehearsing your public speaking, practice elements such as knowing your audience, pace and tone of voice, structuring your argument, and your body language. Practice for each conversation you will have.
7. Prepare yourself
When getting ready for any challenging conversation, it’s good practice to spend at least three times as long preparing for it than the time you anticipate spending on the delivery of the message.
Preparing yourself means that you can take into account many of the things covered so far in this article, such as researching your audience and crafting a message. This ensures that when the time comes to persuade others, you're confident and in control, giving you the best chance of success.
8. Study human behavior
Humans are complex creatures, and studying the way they act and think is essential for persuading them. You can learn about human behavior by studying motivations, emotional triggers and thought processes.
You can also consider external factors that shape behaviors, such as cognitive biases, social influences and different ways of communicating. Doing this helps the creation of compelling dialogue and arguments that can drive your powers of persuasion forward.
9. Use both facts and feelings
Using a balance of facts and feelings is a great persuasion technique. Facts and emotions are both very important when influencing people, and while using them together is challenging, it will help you create a story for your listeners — one that is spoken from the heart but also leans on reality and the appropriate context.
Spend time structuring your persuasion argument to incorporate both facts and feelings, and you will have an irresistible script that grabs people’s attention.
10. Use data effectively
Data can take your facts to the next level. When persuading others, there is one certainty: no one can argue with accurate data. Indeed, using data to present your case can provide strong support for your argument and can swing opinions in your favor.
Take care not to overuse data, though, as this can cause confusion or create barriers to understanding. Balance it with context and your own thoughts, essentially using data to tell a story that profoundly supports your argument.
Key takeaways
Persuasion skills are hugely useful for many different settings, whether you’re trying to influence effectively at work or simply looking to be more inspirational and driven in day-to-day activities.
Here are some key points to keep in mind if you’re looking to develop your persuasion skills:
- Persuasion isn’t a singular skill to learn — it’s a suite of different abilities that work together to enhance your powers of persuasion.
- There are different groups of persuasion skills, including focusing on relationships and improving your communication.
- Persuasion skills rely on the use of soft emotions and hard facts.
- Being patient, using diplomacy and practicing are the keys to success when developing your persuasion skills.
By knowing the right persuasion skills to focus on and how to develop them, you’ll be able to influence others, drive your organization forward, empower others and be well-equipped for personal success.
Got any questions? Let us know in the comments section below.
This article is a complete update of an earlier version originally published on April 2, 2019.