Persuasion in Business

If you are one of the lone wolves who walk this world traveling down the path of being your own boss and a business owner, persuasion is something that you will have to master to the T.

If you are new to this world, do not worry, you will have this under your belt in no time, but I am sure that you are thinking to yourself, why is this so important?

Let me take a moment to explain, everything that involves in a company has to do with a product of some kind, this product needs to be traded around between different people through the trading of money or other products to keep your business running smoothly and ensuring that you have a constant source of income, but in order to make your product get into the hands of someone else in this world you are going to have to persuade them into buying it, then give them an extra push to use it and tell other people about it.

More than likely at some point or another in your life, you have ran into a sales man, what is the first thing that you noticed about them?

It was probably the way they looked. You see, the first step to persuasion is gaining trust, strangers are more likely to listen to what you have to say if you dress and take care of yourself like you are important.

The second step is to always carry a positive attitude, act like what you are doing and your product are the best thing in the entire world and everyone is missing out if they do not have your product, really throw in all the juice when it comes to this one, try to make them smile and laugh, if you can do that, you are already half way to sealing the deal.

Make sure that you talk fast, and yet clearly, to get everything you need to say in before they have a chance to walk away.

This is a form of marketing, which in reality is only the art of transferring the excitement of a product from the seller to the buyer, urging them to buy their product right this second.

In fact, the perfect example of putting all of these techniques to good use is not just a simple business owner, but rather a car salesman, which we all have probably dealt with at some time or another.

Car salesmen dress well, talk fast, and use their personalities to get you to trust them the longer you stick around. Plus they have many other secret tactics that they use to “seal the deal”, all of which are great forms of persuasion (albeit specific examples related to car sales).

Suffice to say, when your livelihood is on the line and you need to sell something to someone right then and there, persuasion is an absolute necessity!

And keep in mind that all of these concepts when it comes to face-to-face persuasion in business also apply to the online world as well.

So many businesses nowadays are run online, so as the business owner of such an online business, you must always look for ways to excite your customer enough to have them buy your product.

But one key point to remember in online businesses, where you can “talk” as long as you want to, is to keep things straightforward and to the point.

The internet has shortened our attention spans significantly, so it is so important that you persuade them right from the get go is key before they lose interest and leave. And a big part of this is knowing your audience and the kind of questions they need answered by you, the online seller.

My wife actually brought up a great example of this the other day when she showed me a website discussing WHY women should own sex toys.

The key word being “why”.

Rather than going on and on about the history of sex toys or why their particular sex toys are better than everyone else’s, this company focused on why women should own sex toys, since they know that women looking into sex toys online aren’t typically looking to find which sex toys are the best, but simply to determine if sex toys are right for them.

With this focus in mind from the get go, their message resonates much better with the women reading their article, and these women ultimately stick around long enough to be persuaded into buying from the sex toy company (which was their end goal all along). In my wife’s particular case, she was convinced fairly easily and bought some of their products without hesitation!

Although it takes some getting used to, once you master how to market and sell your products online, you can make just about any online business a success!

Regardless of whether you are an old-fashioned brick and mortar shop, or own your very own online store, or even if you are a car salesman trying to make a living selling one car at a time, the rules of persuasion are for the most part the same – but context is key. Keeping in mind the subtle nuances of persuasion in business are what will take you from a mediocre business to a highly successful one!