One Key to Persuasion<\/h2>\n

Some years ago I met with leaders of a financial services firm.\u00a0 They\u00a0wanted to hire me to improve the persuasive presentations that their client-facing team developed and delivered to prospects.<\/p>\n

We sat across a polished mahogany table and had a conversation about what I could do for them and how I would do it.<\/p>\n

He asked how much it would cost, and I told him.\u00a0 “That’s too much,” he said.\u00a0 Luckily, I was armed\u00a0 with a response.<\/p>\n

I said, “Look, if even one of your presenters persuades a new client to invest with you this year, you will have paid my fee ten, maybe one-hundred times over.”<\/p>\n

He looked at me and said, “Well, I can’t argue with that!\u00a0 When can we start?”<\/p>\n

Obviously, this doesn’t happen all the time.\u00a0 But it happened then because I had done my homework.\u00a0 I knew who I was talking to.\u00a0 They\u00a0had\u00a0 billions of assets under management, they were growing in leaps and bounds, and my fees would be considered a rounding error.<\/p>\n

So, the first thing to know about persuasion is the oldest thing in the book.\u00a0 If you’re going to give a persuasive presentation, start where they are, not where you are.<\/p>\n

In order to start where an audience is, your persuasive presentations should demonstrate that you know something about them:\u00a0 their familiarity with the subject, their current attitudes toward it, past views on similar subjects, what makes them anxious, what keeps them up at night, what are their values and beliefs, and their personal and corporate goals, what are their problems, and what pisses them off.<\/p>\n

Call all of that their “position.”<\/p>\n

So, the more precisely you demonstrate your grasp of their position, the more likely your success.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That’s one key to persuasion.\u00a0 Contact Sims Wyeth & Co. to learn more about group workshops and one-on-one coaching.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One Key to Persuasion Some years ago I met with leaders of a financial services firm.\u00a0 They\u00a0wanted to hire me to improve the persuasive presentations that their client-facing team developed and delivered to prospects. We sat across a polished mahogany table and had a conversation about what I could do for them and how I… Read More »One Key to Persuasion<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_ti_tpc_template_sync":false,"_ti_tpc_template_id":""},"categories":[336,967],"tags":[145,146,203,975,337],"yoast_head":"\n