The Art Of Persuasion.
Have you ever felt as if no one agrees with you? Or your Point of view is always Neglected? Or a board meeting, discussion with friends, debates with colleagues, and many such scenes where you felt your opinions didn't matter as if you had to forfeit your thoughts and ideas in front of others?
Worry no more, in this article; we shall discuss 5 important points as to how one can be assertive and confident to put forward their opinion or views and have the skill to persuade them to accept them.
1. Trust yourself!
" Believe in yourself, even when no one else does"- Harvey Mackay.
The first step to learn the art of persuasion, in fact, any skill for that matter is, to trust yourself.
Trusting yourself doesn't mean that you begin to think that you can never be wrong about anything and become arrogant. Rather it means to know that you are as much capable of being right or wrong as any other person, also that you have the capacity to learn from your mistakes and become better.
Therefore, it's not important that to put a point forward; you always need to be correct, absolutely not.
You have to trust yourself that you can put forward meaningful and productive ideas and opinions that will be beneficial to them as much as their views and opinions might be beneficial to you.
2. Listen and Understand Others!
This might seem to be counter-intuitive, right? Listening to others isn't that what an assertive person should never do,
Well, contrary to this common belief, an assertive person can make others accept their opinion not because he is more superior to them, rather because he can understand what other person actually wants and then putting forward a view/opinion that is not condescending to them but gives a direction to the discussion towards a plausible solution or conclusion.
Art of persuasion is not about being dominant; it's about understanding why others are saying what they are saying and then helping them understand what you think about it.
3. Learn and Be Aware!
It's quite simple to understand that no one will hear or accept your views if you have no idea of what you are talking about.
So before you get eager to apply these principles and end up arguing to save yourself from embarrassment, learn.
Read, Research, and Review the topic of discussion. If you want to persuade anyone to accept what you are saying, it should make sense. And then have enough confidence in yourself that you know what you are speaking about.
4. Say what you want, Say as if they want it!
We need to understand that no one ever wants to hear NO, Or appear Wrong.
Neither you nor me,, and definitely not the person you are trying to persuade.
So it's never about what you want them to hear; it's always about what it is that they would like to hear. So admit this and use it to make them hear you; how?
This is how. Never say negative words or have arrogant or demeaning behavior; always be calm, polite, and respectful even if the other person is blatantly wrong.
Always try to make your point in a positive approach.
E.g.,, 1 ) Yes, I understand where you are coming from, I was wondering if...
2) I totally get what you are saying; however,, what if...
5. Don't Care!
Yes,, you read it right,
Please don't care about what others will think about you once they hear what goes on in that beautiful, interesting, mysterious mind of yours. If you have followed all the above points, you can be clear that you have understood what others are saying; you know what you are saying and what you say is your opinion, and it matters.
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