4 Steps For Successful Persuasive Speaking | Overcome Public ...

Back in time? thousands of years ago? people of those times talking to each other and, guess what?, trying to convince each other of something! Persuasive speaking is nothing new under the sun! Influencing, persuasion and gaining compliance go along with human being ever since humanity has discovered the articulated language.

Nowadays, persuasive speaking is better known as public relations and it plays an important role in communication strategies.

Through persuasion, communicators attempt to win both the hearts and the minds of their target audience. Thus, it becomes obvious that it deals with two major aspects: rational and emotional. The aim is to obtain attitude change, which induces emotion based change.

So, when you want a person or a group to: adopt your viewpoint, trust in your ideas, choose your idea/offer over others, perform specific actions? you have to follow well established and verified steps to properly convey your message for changing the attitude and the behavior.

Step 1. The message has to be clear, leaving no room for interpretation. It has to be tailored to the person?s or the group?s needs, beliefs and values.

Focus on your audience, not on yourself; think about your audience as you create the message to ensure that every word is there for a reason. The message must carry the ?What?s in it for me?? thing that triggers audience?s attention and acceptance. When crafting persuasive arguments, your audience should always be at the center. Many people make the mistake of focusing only on the offer and how good it is. It is especially important when you are dealing with reluctant persons.

Repetition of the message is important; persuasion experts call it ?frequency?.

The more credible and trusted the deliverer of the message, the more easily the message will be accepted.

Step 2. Now, the message has to be processed and internalized by the audience. Persuasion workability is based on the fact that people think. Actually, people weigh your ideas based on what they already know.

Your arguments have to be compelling so people cannot afford to ignore them. With compelling arguments, your audience will linger on your ideas and your chance of persuasion increases significantly.

Step 3. Feedback: It?s time now to zero in on the reaction and response of your audience to your persuasive statements. Here, the ?What?s in it for me?? component of the message plays a key role. The audience has to imagine their life after they accept your proposal. Will their life improve in some way if they buy into your ideas? If so, how? When you create a definite contrast in your message and make it message stand out from the crowd, your audience believes that your proposal is unique and it?s worth their time.

Step 4: A positive mental response to your persuasive statements is an achievement in itself, but you shouldn?t stop here. The fruits of your efforts will be seen in the way your audience acts upon the ideas and messages that you?ve introduced. The change that you?ve been waiting for will manifest in the fourth step, behavioral modification.

Persuasion acts like a catalyst to create new mindsets and new behaviors. If your argument is not persuasive, old mindsets and old behaviors will be maintained ? there will be no change and the desired outcome may not manifest.

How can you make sure that your audience will do exactly what you want them to do? The key is explicitness. Don?t make your audience guess. Don?t make them wonder ? tell them exactly what you want them to do! You can trigger a direct behavioral response through ?call to action? statements. Calls to action must be precise and should encourage immediate action, at the exact moment when you express them.

There are many ways to influence public opinion and perception: in writing, in speaking or by using incentives or even fear. Even non PR-people can be successful at conveying persuasive messages by learning the skills and practicing on a daily basis.

It takes four steps before you can elicit an actual behavioral response from the person or group you?re trying to persuade. They must first receive the message properly, process it correctly, respond to your verbal and non-verbal message, and act based on what you?ve just stated.

The four steps described above are associated with a Domino model, in which, by making the first piece fall, the whole process follows smoothly.

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