The Art of Persuation Essay Example

they pay. Kaveh listens to the customers paying very much attention and agrees with them that the Cricket company has very low rates. Once they are finished talking about Cricket, Kaveh starts introducing Sprint. he is very confident and optimistic. ) Strangely, before he explains the gains they would get from switching to sprint, he takes the risk to enlist the cons of Cricket; next, he explains that they wouldn't have to worry about these, if they had Sprint. The now “prospect customers” seem skeptical, but are following Kaveh very closely, specially the guy. (The wife has now started walking around the kiosk looking at the phones, she seems specially interested in a blackberry. ) As Kaveh moves onto explaining the plans and the rates, the guy's look changes. He seems a little confused, but very interested.

Kaveh now suggests him to hand him his driver's license so they can run a credit check, and so he does. Kaveh has some good news for him; he has been approved for 2 lines without a security deposit. The guy seems thrilled and ready to move onto the next step, the contract. Kaveh now smiles and helps them choose the “right” phones for them, and closes the deal. According to Lieberman, it is vital to be enthusiastic when explaining something, because “enthusiasm is contagious” (65). Kaveh is very enthusiastic when explaining the services he is offering, which in fact, make his costumers be more interested in what he has to say.

In his book Get anyone to do Anything, also points out that it is important to be confident without coming across as someone who thinks he knows it

all; therefore, you must give credit to the other person's opinion. (As Kaveh does when agreeing with the costumer about Cricket's advantages. ) By using the right psychological tactics, Kaveh gained control over the situation and got these people, that were simply walking by, to take his advice and switch to Sprint. So, how do we influence the attitudes, beliefs, and minds?.

First of all, we must understand that when dealing with people, we are dealing with creatures of emotion rather than with creatures of logic; therefore, we “must appeal to a person's emotions in [our] attempt to persuade” (Lieberman 62). According to Mills, there are four patterns of influence: The Persuation Effect,The Negotiation effect, The Fixation Effect, The Polarization Effect, which he must avoid the second and fourth one; being that they mean that either none of the two sides are willing to give in, or as the argument goes on, the gap between each other's thinking grows, respectively.

In the Persuasion Effect, Negotiation Effect, persuader does whatever it takes to convince the other person, whether this means to provide the other person with more information that will get him more willing to change his mind, or give in a little so the other person gives in a little, and their opinions meet.

According to Lieberman “a little psychology goes a long way” (XV), and the key to controlling someone's way of acting towards us or their opinion on a given subject, is in our hands regardless of how stubborn this person might be. First, we must enthusiastically supply this person with enough information about the matter, for him to even consider changing his mind.

The next step

towards achieving our goal of convincing him, and without forgetting that “it doesn't matter how clever [we are] at employing psychology, [we] must be credible” (Mills 14), is to not forget to listen to the other person and explain to them how our propositioncould help them prevent an unpleasant consequence, if we are trying to get them to take an advice, or explain to them the difference between his and our opinion, if we are trying to influence his thinking. And last, in order to keep this person convinced, we must highlight the “pros” of our idea, advise, or proposition.

This does not involve continuously repeating our point of view several times, it simply involves summarizing it, and mentioning the most important facts about it. In conclusion, convincing someone to think in the way you want them to think, to do you a favor, to take an advice, or simply to allow you to gain control of a given situation, only involves understanding how persuasion works and using the right psychological strategies to win a person over, because “[i]f you want to be successful in life, you often need to get cooperation from other people. (Lieberman 1).

Works Cited

1. Mills, Harry. Artful Persuasion: How to Command Attention, Change minds, and influence people.
2. New York, N. Y. : AMACOM books, 2000.
3.  Lieberman , David J. Get Anyone to Do Anything: Never Feel Powerless Again With Psychological Secrets to Control and Influence Every Situation.
4. New York, N. Y. : St. Martin, 2000.