Sam Horn's Top Three Tips on Ethical Persuasion

1 - Ask yourself, "Why will people say, "No way?!" Say it. Perhaps you're proposing an expensive program and anticipate your boss will sit there with his mental arms crossed thinking, "We don't have any money in our budget for this. "Start with, "You may be thinking we don't have any money in our budget for this. If I can have your attention for the next three minutes, I'll point out where we can find that money, how we'll make it back in the first three months, and turn it into profits from then on."

2 - Bridge with the word AND (not BUT).The little three-letter word BUT creates an adversarial "me against you" conflict. "I hear what you're saying, BUT I don't agree." "I understand this isn’t in our budget, BUT it's important."

See what happens when you replace the word BUT with the word AND. "I hear what you're saying, AND there's a different way to look at this." I understand this isn't in the budget, AND I've identified innovative ways to fund this."

3 - Ask for and take LESS time than expected. Do you know how the word "anxiety" is defined? "Not knowing." If people don't know how long we're going to talk, they're in a state of anxiety. They may even resent us for pulling them away from a priority project or for taking up their valuable time.

The quickest way to counteract that is to acknowledge that they're busy and ask for a specific amount of time that's shorter than they imagined. They'll be a lot more likely to give us their valuable attention when they know it will only be for 3 minutes.

Want more ways to ethically persuade your customers, coworkers and colleagues? Attend our webinar on January 18, 2022 at 12PM EST. Please feel free to share the flyer to our Complimentary Webinar with your HR network. All are welcome to attend!