3 Steps to Being More Persuasive

Whether in person or on the phone, you play a major role in how clients and prospects perceive you. The more persuasive you are, the more success you experience. Follow these steps provided by Art Sobczak, author of How to Sell More, In Less Time, With No Rejection,  for a persuasion tune-up:

Step 1: Get rid of the non-words

I find some people have this nasty habit to a very severe degree. When a listener is counting "uh"s and "um"s instead of focusing on the message, you know there's a problem. The persuasive speakers, on the other hand, don't use these filler sounds, or at least their use is minimal. How many times do you unconsciously depend on these words to fill a void?

• Action item: Voice-over pro Susan Berkley, creator of Voice Shaping program, suggests that the first step to the cure is identifying the enemy. Record yourself and count how many fillers you use. Once you're aware of your most common non-words, consciously replace them with pauses.

Step 2: Enunciate!

A guest on a recent show mumbled so much that I had to turn up the volume and watch his lips so I could try to make out what he said. If I didn't care about what he was saying, I certainly wouldn't have worked so hard. And your listeners might not work that hard for you.

• Action item: Read this several times: "If, I, place, an, invisible, comma, after, each, word, and, an, invisible, semicolon; after, some, words, my, speech, has, presence." This forces you to enunciate.

Step 3: Get up to speed

During interviews, the more persuasive talking heads make their points quickly and don't mince words. We can all learn from that.After all, why use 100 words when 50 could make the same point? And don't speak at 33rpm when your listeners are at 45. (You won't get that reference if you don't know what record players are.) In the book Smart Speaking, Laurie Schloff and Marcia Yudkin say that when you speak too slowly, you could be perceived as boring, tired, or less intelligent than you actually are.

• Action item: Practice getting to your point more quickly. Pose yourself a question you frequently get during calls. Use a stopwatch and give yourself 45 seconds to answer it. Then cut it to 30, then 20. Tape your response and analyze it to refine your answer content and delivery.

Read Art's full article (free membership required) to fine even more tips for being persuasive with clients and prospects.

Subscribe to our FREE referrals newsletter.