Everyone lives by selling something.
So how do you persuade people to buy from you?
This famous quote by Robert Louis Stevenson makes it clear that however we get through life we all have to sell a product, a service, or an idea. The internet is full of tips and techniques for how to persuade and influence people, but what is the science behind the claims? What makes people tick.
How can we tempt people to buy what we offer?
In their book Persuasion in Advertising, John and Nicholas Jackson O'Shaughnessy suggest that "In a competitive situation those who persuade best are most likely to win".
It is likely that most of you will find yourself in careers regardless of organisational context where you will have to compete for customers, budgets, funding, discretionary income, time or some other valuable resource.
Furthermore you will continuously find yourselves persuading people with organisational power and authority that you and your ideas are worth investing in and trusting you to do the tasks you have been allocated. You will have to persuade customers, clients and consumers of products and services of the value of your offer. In other words you will be in the business of providing compelling propositions to convince the people you need to influence about the significance and value of your ideas.
You will have to navigate a social world full of different opinions and attitudes. To do this successfully you will have to show a deep understanding of yourself and others.
The business of persuading others is not necessarily straightforward and Howard Gardner offers the following insight.
"if I could dispense just one morsel of advice to
Mind changers, it is to spend less time trying to convince
individuals of a new perspective and more time trying
to understand and thereby to neutralise the resistances"
Howard Gardner 2006:xii - Changing Minds
How to persuade people to buy from you
Swiss Tony super salesman
Persuasion Stuff on Amazon
Persuasion Posts from Google
- The Power Of Persuasion | Laws Daily
- Again, people resist attempts to sell them, but will not resist if they have no idea they are being persuaded. If you are interested in learning more about the power of persuasion please check out http://www. ...
- SEOmoz | Persuasion 101: Ask Yes/Yes Questions
- Speaking of persuasion, this is where I try to persuade you to check out SEOmoz's 6-DVD Advanced SEO Training series. The introductory price (20% off + free shipping) has been extended until December 12. ...
- Part 1-How to Persuade Someone to Do Something For You
- Persuasion is the act of persuading (or attempting to persuade) to induce belief or action. It is the process of guiding someone towards the adoption of an idea, attitude, or action by rational and symbolic means. ...
- Why Do People Say Yes? | Business Blogs
- Most people will probably associate the words 'influence' or 'persuasion' with the sales process. However, influencing, in other words, getting another person to accede to your requests is at the core of most soft skills. ... So, if you are hiring or developing staff that need influencing and persuading ability (sales persons, outbound call centre operators, leaders, managers, marketers etc) it's important to ensure they have the innate personality characteristics to ...
Persuasion Link List
- How to Persuade People with Subconscious Techniques
- Persuasiveness is one of the most important skills anyone can learn because it is useful in countless situations
- The Talent of Persuading Social Tribes is more effective than pure SEO
- The Talent of Persuading Social Tribes is more effective than pure SEO
Posted: January 26th, 2007 SEO is persuasion.
We live in a world of persuasion. - When People Feel Powerful, They Ignore New Opinions, Study Finds (2/18/2008)
- Don't bother trying to persuade your boss of a new idea while he's feeling the power of his position - new research suggests he's not listening to you.
- Top Persuasion Techniques for Geeks | Geekpreneur
- Geeks might be masters of code or wizards of design but few also happen to be wonderful salespeople. Usually, they leave the selling stuff to the marketing department.
- IQ Matrix Blog » Blog Archive » The Psychology of Persuasion | Mind Map
- Whether we realize it or not, we are being persuaded by our friends, family, colleagues, strangers, the government and the media on a daily basis. Most of this persuasion is very subtle and naturally stimulates our hidden needs, desires and motivations for a better and more fulfilling existence.
- The Power of Persuasion: Eight Ways to Get Exactly What You Want
- Tips on persuasion
- Is it Unethical to Persuade, Convince, or Influence Someone?
- Author A J Kumar writes about his site: "I refer to Persuasive.net as the fastest way to learn persuasive communication because I provide compelling articles without the fluff usually surrounded with the content you receive from the trainers in personal development industry. Almost everyday, I provide 'easy to digest' articles, that can help you excel in your career, personal business, or overall life. What you see are philosophies, beliefs, techniques, strategies, and conscious ways of living which were all inspired from being behind the scenes in the self-help industry."
Social Influence
Social influence occurs when an individual's thoughts or actions are affected by other people. Social influence takes many forms and can be seen in conformity, socialization, peer pressure, obedience, leadership, persuasion, sales, and marketing. Harvard psychologist, Herbert Kelman identified three broad varieties of social influence.Kelman, H. (1958). Compliance, identification, and internalization: Three processes of attitude change. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 1, 51-60.
#Compliance is when people appear to agree with others, but actually keep their dissenting opinions private.
#Identification is when people are influenced by someone who is liked and respected, such as a famous celebrity or a favorite uncle.
#Internalization is when people accept a belief or behavior and agree both publicly and privately.
Morton Deutsch and Harold Gerard described two psychological needs that lead humans to conform to the expectations of others. These include our need to be right (informational social influence), and our need to be liked (normative social influence).Deutsch, M. & Gerard, H. B. (1955). A study of normative and informational social influences upon individual judgment. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 51, 629-636. Informational influence is an influence to accept information from another as evidence about reality. Informational influence comes into play when people are uncertain, either because stimuli are intrinsically ambiguous or because there is social disagreement. Normative influence is an influence to conform to the positive expectations of others. In terms of Kelman's typology, normative influence leads to public compliance, whereas informational influence leads to private acceptance.
Social Influence on Amazon
Influence Blog Posts
- Influencing Business Strategy Through Design | Programming Blog
- In fact, that process?which spanned almost two years?gave us a lot of insight into how we could influence strategy using design. We used many of the experiences we had to help develop our design strategy training classes. ...
- Why Do People Say Yes? | Business Blogs
- Most people will probably associate the words 'influence' or 'persuasion' with the sales process. However, influencing, in other words, getting another person to accede to your requests is at the core of most soft skills.
- Melanie Sloan: Ex-Bush Staffers Still Influencing Debate on ...
- According to a new CREW report, Smoke Screen: How Bush Insiders Distorted - And Still Influence - America's Debate Over Climate Change, many of these lobbyists are former Bush administration staffers and political appointees. ...
- The Art of Influence
- But what do the onlookers think about the situation? And how to influence them? The A-side people cast aspersions on the intelligence and the intentions of of the B-siders. Is this effective in influencing the opinion of onlookers? ...
Social Influence Link List
- Social Psychological Dimensions of Electronic Communication
- The emergence of the information society has created some exciting theoretical and empirical challenges for social scientists. There is a need to understand the nature and form of the interaction patterns that are peculiar to its definition and to determine their consequences for the development of self conceptualization and social structure.
- Social Prejudice and Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
- Prejudice in any form, racial or social, is destructive and costly to society. Social prejudice kills motivation and increases overhead cost in business. It forces students to drop out of school with a failure label that prevents them from discovering their natural talent.
- Presentations
- The science of persuasion, compliance, marketing & propaganda from a psychological perspective.
- Influencing Teachers
- Influencing teachers: classroom success
- MBA Toolbox : Chapter 2. Influencing / Persuading
- MBA Toolbox Influencing / PersuadingChapter
- What makes a successful business blog? @ Better Business Blogging
- Everything you need to set up, develop and promote a successful Corporate Blog or Business Blog. Free eCourse and consulting to use blogs for marketing your business.
Selling
Selling is trying to make sales by persuading someone to buy one's product or service. From a management viewpoint it is thought of as a part of marketing,Philip Kotler, Principles of Marketing, Prentice -Hall, 1980 although the skills required are different. Sales often forms a separate grouping in a corporate structure, employing separate specialist operatives known as salesmen (singular: salesman). Selling is considered by many to be a sort of persuading "art". Contrary to popular belief, the methodological approach of selling refers to a systematic process of repetitive and measurable milestones, by which a salesman relates his or her offering of a product or service in return enabling the buyer to achieve their goal in an economic way. Page image[http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN1560243260&id=O8y4P3tGcEIC&pg=PA23&lpg=PA23&ots=FBSfQrSxig&dq=methodical+sales+approach&sig=gYaUSDYLWTuMBe_KFzfFOoEYdEY] While the sales process refers to a systematic process of repetitive and measurable milestones, the definition of the selling is somewhat ambiguous due to the close nature of advertising, promotion, public relations, and direct marketing.
Selling Recommendations
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Sellng Blog Posts
- You Can't Bring a Horse to Water - O2 - Selling, Sales Management ...
- Paul explains the aims of sales using a story about a man who, although worked extensively on a proposal, did not land it.
- Cross-Selling Tips to Maximize Online Sales & Conversion ...
- The art of effective cross-selling (offering related items) and up-selling (suggesting more expensive alternatives) on your product pages can make a significant difference in the overall sales volume and conversion ratio of your ...
- Selling to Purchasing Departments | THE SALES HUNTER'S SALES ...
- Selling to purchasing departments can suck the sales motivation out of nearly anyone. Purchasing departments are trained to be tough and aggressive in terms of how they deal with salespeople.
- C-Level, Relationship Selling Blog: Selling to C-Level Executives ...
- A committees or a subordinate has been delegated the power of awarding the contract. This C-level selling tip will help you handle this tough selling obstacle.
Selling Link List
- Sales Training 101
- Successful people need to sell. They need to sell ideas, visions, products, themselves, and the list goes on. They just need to learn how to get other people to buy into what they're trying to do so they can do it
- Sales Loudmouth: A Selling Dilemna
- Sales Loudmouth
A Community for Professional Sellers Back to Main PageTim J. M. RohrerA recognized leader in sales, sales management and sales training. Available for speaking engagements and consulting. - 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness from the Little Red Book of Selling | Zoomstart
- 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness from the Little Red Book of Selling
SPIN Selling
Neil Rackhams method for consultatitive selling

Forget devious sales tricks, closing techniques, and superficial rapport building. Rackhams behaviorally researched approach relies on finding out what the issues facing the customer are. Crucially effective sales people avoid 'situation' questions which gather factual but useless about the customer and their business. By paying attention to customer problems the implications for not solving them SPIN selling is a powerful methodology for securing sales.
SPIN selling
Huthwaite Sales Training
Changing Minds review
Neil Rackham
Miller Heiman Strategic selling method
A research based approach to prospecting and account management

A structured method of prospecting and account profiling that improves your ability to find and sell into customers who are most likely to buy from you.
The New Strategic Selling
Miller Heimann
Selling Value
Whenever you sell something you are proposing that it has a value for the other person

One of the most common mistakes that people make when they sell anything is that they don't have a grasp of its value. Pick up any of the better marketing texts (not those airport lounge skim readers) and you will learn that deeply understanding the notion of value is crucial to the reasons why people buy and use anything
Coming up with a persuasive and compelling Value Proposition isn't as simple as you might first think. Frequently people simply list the features of a product or service as if the reason for their 'value' is self evident. Often it isn't and often the features tend to be a list of what the seller likes about their product or assumes is important to the buyer. Value is a perception of the buyer. It is relates to the perceived benefits minus the total costs of acqusition which is not just the financial cost but the hassle factors too.
Understanding benefits is the path to articulating value. Benefits are what something does for someone, the solution to a need they have. It is not what the product or service is. An example of this line of thinking is the cosmetic company CEO who once said "In the Factory we make cosmetics in the store we sell hope. One of the first people to come up with a model of explaining value was Ted Levitt He explained that we can think of a value proposition in terms of 'levels'. i) the core product - its basic features, ii) the expected product - what you would expect as a bare minimum to put on the shopping list and the iii) augmented product. This last 'zone' is where differences that make a difference are found. This is where added value can be found. This is where sales are won and lost.
There is also a distinction to be made between 'advantages' and 'benefits', the former is aspects of the product and service that the seller 'assumes' is going to be good for the customer, the latter are true values that the buyer is really seeking. Benefits can only be found out by probing the customer about the challenges they have and what the implications are for not solving them.
On a personal level, imagine you are in a job interview. You have to do a presentation. The un-thinking approach would be to perhaps list qualifications and exprience (core / features), slightly better you might explain your transferable skills, such as team work, IT skills etc (expected / advantages), ideally you will have been able to talk with the prospective employer and uncover the reasons for creating the post, it is against these that you could present some benefits (additional safe pair of hands, track record for winning business, specialised knowledge that speeds up the company getting into a technology or market)
There is a great story about a man whose central heating was on the blink so he called plumber. The plumber arrived and after the customer explained where the boiler was he went to it and hit it with a hammer. In an instant the heating problem was sorted. The customer was delighted an the plumber left after spending 10 minutes on the premises. Send me your invoice called the exstatic customer.
The invoice arrived for $1000. The customer was astonished and called the plumber in a rage. "You were only here 10 mins and you simply hit the boiler with a hammer! send me a new invoice that reflects this!"
The new invoice duly arrived. It said - 'For attending premises and hitting boiler with a hammer $1...for knowing where to hit and how hard $999'
I rest my case.
Advertising
Category: File - :Cocacola-5cents-1900 edit1.jpg|thumb|250px|A Coca-Cola ad from the 1890s
Advertising is a form of communication used to influence individuals to purchase products or services or support political candidates or ideas. Frequently it communicates a message that includes the name of the product or service and how that product or service could potentially benefit the consumer. Advertising often attempts to persuade potential customers to purchase or to consume a particular brand of product or service. Modern advertising developed with the rise of mass production in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Commercial advertisers often seek to generate increased consumption of their products or services through branding, which involves the repetition of an image or product name in an effort to associate related qualities with the brand in the minds of consumers. Different types of media can be used to deliver these messages, including traditional media such as newspapers, magazines, television, radio, billboards or direct mail. Advertising may be placed by an advertising agency on behalf of a company or other organization.
Organizations that spend money on advertising promoting items other than a consumer product or service include political parties, interest groups, religious organizations and governmental agencies. Non-profit organizations may rely on free modes of persuasion, such as a public service announcement.
Money spent on advertising has increased in recent years. In 2007, spending on advertising was estimated at more than $150 billion in the United States and $385 billion worldwide, and the latter to exceed $450 billion by 2010.
Advertising is communication used to influence individuals to purchase products or services or support political candidates or ideas. Advertising can be displayed on billboards, newspapers, T.V., websites, movies and more.
Advertising Stuff on Amazon
Advertising Blog Posts
- Direct to Consumer (DTC) Advertising in Pharmaceuticals
- Bharatbook.com added a new report on ?Direct to Consumer (DTC) Advertising in Pharmaceuticals ? Current and Future Market Outlook, Regulatory Landscape and Case Studies? into its market report catalogue for reselling. ...
- How to Change the World: LinkedIn as an Advertising Medium
- According to the LinkedIn site, its users are rich, young, educated, and powerful. If you're looking for a medium to reach such people, check out this comparison to publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and BusinessWeek.
- McClatchy Forecasts Improvement in Advertising Revenue for Coming ...
- McClatchy Co., the country's leading newspaper publisher which has 30 dailies under its wing, including the Miami Herald and Kansas City Star, has shared that it is expecting advertising revenues to keep growing through the end of the ...
- Online Advertising: The Great Debate, Part II (12/9, 10am Eastern ...
- The New York Times has a great summary of yesterday's Exploring Privacy workshop at the FTC, where Adam and I made the case that restrictive, preemptive privacy regulations affecting online advertising is likely to harm, not help, ...
Advertising methods
Advertising - What psychological tricks do they use?
Dr. Robert Cialdini discusses sales principles - It`s all about changing your social reality. (Excerpt from a psychology documentary about "Social Reality" with Philip Zimbardo) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cialdini
Runtime: 229
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curated content from YouTube
Elaboration Likelihood
What people pay attention to and how they do it
Whether its a product, or a piece of communication like health advice, a business proposal, a college assignment, a political message, people will on engage of they have their attention grabbed. Nine times out of ten this requires some sort of emotional cue that will get us wanting to enagage more. If the subject is dear to your heart or you have some expertise, then it is more likely that you will respond to in depth expert information.
The elaboration likelihood model (ELM) of persuasion (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986) is a model of how attitudes are formed and changed (see also attitude change). Central to this model is the "elaboration continuum", which ranges from low elaboration (low thought) to high elaboration (high thought). The ELM distinguishes between two routes to persuasion: the central route and the peripheral route.
Elaboration Likelihood Stuff on Amazon
Elaboration Likelihood Links
- ELM video presentation
- Video presentation
- Social Psych Lyrics
- Professorial blog
Rhetoric
Friends Romans Squidooers lend me your ears! Aristotle described the key elements of persuasive oratory as Logos (message content) Pathos (emotion) and Ethos (character of speaker). He also highlighted Atechnoi , the art of pre-persuasion or landscaping which today we call 'spin'.
Rhetoric was taught by the Sophists travelling educators in ancient Greece, who educated people in the arts of persuasion. Plato didn't have much time for them because they lacked an objective concern for the 'truth' of the matter.
If people don't listen to you it might be because your arguements are too clinical and lack emotion, or they simply don't trust you!
Rhetoric normally explains the three arts of using language as a means to persuade (logos, pathos, and ethos). As well as the five canons of Rhetoric: memory, invention, delivery, style, and arrangement. Along with grammar and logic or dialectic, rhetoric is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. From ancient Greece to the late 19th Century, it was a central part of Western education, filling the need to train public speakers and writers to move audiences to action with arguments.The definition of rhetoric is a controversial subject within the field and has given rise to philological battles over its meaning in Ancient Greece. See, for instance, Johnstone, Henry W. Jr. (1995). "On Schiappa versus Poulakos." Rhetoric Review. 14:2. (Spring), 438-440. The very act of defining has itself been a central part of rhetoric, appearing among Aristotle's Topics."...rhetoric is a combination of the science of logic and of the ethical branch of politics..." Aristotle. Rhetoric. (trans. W. Rhys Roberts). I:4:1359. The word is derived from the Greek (rh?torikós), "oratorical",Rhetorikos, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, at Perseus from (rh?t?r), "public speaker",Rhetor, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, at Perseus related to (rhêma), "that which is said or spoken, word, saying",Rhema, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, at Perseus and ultimately derived from the verb (erô), "to speak, say".Ero, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, at Perseus In its broadest sense, rhetoric concerns human discourse. Young, R. E., Becker, A. L., & Pike, K. L. (1970). Rhetoric: discovery and change. New York,: Harcourt Brace & World. p. 1 For more information see Dr. Greg Dickinson of Colorado State University.
Rhetoric Stuff on Amazon
How do you persuade people to buy from you?
The art and science of selling
What is the most effective way of selling? Do use a particular way to persuade people to buy from you?
by reasonablerobinson

I'm really interested in what makes people tick. Hobbies include the piano, water... (more)



















