Becoming a Master of Persuasion

June 27, 2009

Becoming A Master of Persuasion
By: Brian Tracy

Persuasion power can help you get more of the things you want faster than anything else you do. It can mean the difference between success and failure. It can guarantee your progress and enable you to use all of your other skills and abilities at the very highest level. Your persuasion power will earn you the support of others.

You Have Two Choices
There are always two choices: either you can persuade others to help you or you can be persuaded to help them. It is one or the other. Most people are not aware that every human interaction involves a complex process of persuasion and influence. And being unaware, they are usually the ones being persuaded to help others rather than the ones who are doing the persuading.

The Key to Persuasion
The key to persuasion is motivation. Every human action is motivated by something. Your job is to find out what motivates other people and then to provide that motivation.

People have two major motivations: the desire for gain and the fear of loss. The desire for gain motivates people to want more of the things they value in life. They want more money, more success, more health, more influence, more respect, more love and more happiness.

Human wants are limited only by individual imagination. No matter how much a person has, he or she still wants more and more. When you can show a person how he or she can get more of the things he or she wants by helping you achieve your goals, you can motivate them to act in your behalf.

"Learn how to influence others -- Simply by using your words" Your ability to communicate with others will account for fully 85% of your success in your business and in your life. Would you like to be able to influence people you speak with, and get them to agree with your point of view? How well you communicate, influence, persuade, and negotiate will ultimately determine the quality of your life. How to Talk: Secrets of the Great Communicators + Bonuses! In my fast-paced DVD, How to Talk: Secrets of the Great Communicators, you will learn the invaluable secrets of the most effective communicators of our time. You will learn to become a powerful communicator and you will learn the secrets of influencing others with your words.

A Presidential Insight
President Eisenhower once said that, "Persuasion is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do, and to like it." You need always to be thinking about how you can get people to want to do the things that you need them to do to attain your objectives.

The Fear of Loss
People are also motivated to act by the fear of loss. This fear, in all its various forms, is often stronger than the desire for gain. People fear financial loss, loss of health, anger or disapproval of others, loss of the love of someone and the loss of anything they have worked hard to accomplish. They fear change, risk and uncertainty because these threaten them with potential losses.

Use Dual Motivation
Whenever you can show a person that, by doing what you want them to do, they can avoid a loss of some kind, you can influence them to take a particular action. The very best appeals are those where you offer an opportunity to gain and an opportunity to avoid loss at the same time.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, before trying to convince someone of something, take a little time to think and ask questions to find out what it is he really wants. Then, motivate him to act by showing him how you can help him get it.

Remember, people are motivated for their reasons, not yours.