The art of persuasion – featuring Communication Skills Coach and Author Michelle Bowden
What comes to mind when you think of persuasion?
No matter how much you might steer away from “sales”, persuasion is ultimately part of everything we do to succeed and grow in business.
In episode 5 of the ‘WNA Trailblazers’ podcast we hear from speaker, communication skills coach and author Michelle Bowden.
The art of sales and persuasion starts by acknowledging that people have a problem they need solved. Michelle shares techniques to help presenters feel comfortable in how they present, talk and solve a problem that exists – whether that be for a consumer, a buyer or just someone we are talking to in everyday conversations.
The “four bird’’ model
Michelle’s “four bird’’ model helps us to understand different personality types and the persuasion styles that are most effective for each.
There’s the wise owl, the commanding eagle, the friendly budgie, and the captivating peacock.
As Michelle explains all of those four types may be present in all of us, however we tend to prefer one over another. So, you won’t just be a budgie or just be an eagle. You are likely to be a combination of a variety of the different birds.
Storytelling with the four bird model
We know that storytelling is powerful and can effectively trigger emotions in your audience, but did you know the story needs to be adapted to the needs of whoever you are persuading?
For example, eagles need the story to be about you and your achievements and your credibility. Your runs on the board.
Whereas, budgies love stories that make everyone feel good; where there’s a positive outcome.
And peacocks need the story to be emotionally evocative, full of emotional highs and lows – a roller coaster.
Knowing your audience helps you to shape your story in the most impactful way.
Persuasive presenting
Michelle believes that presenting and persuasion are actually the same thing – whether you’re presenting a eulogy, a 21st speech, a bridesmaid speech or a work pitch to get $400,000 worth of endorsement for an idea you’ve got.
“It’s all about persuading the audience to change their behaviour or their thinking in some way,” says Michelle.
The four steps of persuasion
- Know Yourself
Step one to becoming more persuasive is to know yourself! How are you best persuaded? What approach comes naturally to you when you are trying to persuade all the people around you?
With a team of statisticians and psychologists in the UK, Michelle has created a psychometric assessment tool, called the Persuasion Smart Profile. This tool effectively helps to assess where you are strong and where you are weak when it comes to the four approaches.
2. Recognise what is required by the other person
Step two involves uncovering a deep sense of what the other person requires and then being able to flex or adapt your approach to meet their need. What do they need? Give it to them!
3. Build your persuasive muscles
Build your persuasive muscles so that you are strong in all four of the bird types.
“Much of the time that we are persuading, we are actually just going through life and not even realising that what we just did was persuade’’, says Michelle.
4. Give them what they need
Adapt and flex your persuasion style to give the other person, or the other people, what they need. And most of the time we’re not persuading one person at a time; we’ve got 10 people in the meeting and they’ll be all a variety of different combinations of “birds in the bird cage.’’
Persuasive language 101
Did you know that “because’’ is the number one persuasive word in the world?
Steer away from using the word “but” when communicating with people as this activates the mammalian brain and puts them into a fight-flight response, causing them to argue with us.
Put numbers, not bullet points down when you’re sending an email or putting slides up, because owls care about the logic of an argument.
Learn more terrific tips in Michelle’s book How to Persuade: The Skills You Need to Get What You Want.
To hear more insights into how to use persuasion for good, connect with WNA Trailblazers. LISTEN TO EPISODE 6 AND SUBSCRIBE TODAY!
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