Persuasion is often the tool that makes the difference in selling an idea, in conducting a project or simply the conviction which movie your class will see in the movies.

The book Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive (my translation totally free: Yes 50 scientifically proven ways to be persuasive), written by Dr. Noah Goldstein, Steve Martin and Robert Cialdini shows how to be more efficient in this art.

On a flight to London, Steve shared with Guy Kawasaki the five best ways to be persuasive. Read below:

1. Be the first to give. Studies show that we are more easily persuaded when someone offers us something before. We are more open to help a colleague at work when he helped us in something before. We are kinder smiled when the other person.
2. Do not offer many alternatives. Is the number of products or options of projects, many possibilities in the thwart. Many end up confusing options and decrease the willingness to make or adhere to any idea.
3. Argue against his own interest. Trust is a fundamental fact in persuasion. The surest way to be understood as an honest person to admit is a little weakness in his argument, product or business before reporting the strongest point.
4. Losses are more persuasive than the gains. Instead of telling your audience what they will gain from your product or service, research shows that people are more strongly persuaded if you show them what they lose in not adopting the his idea. In 2003, Oldsmbile increased sales even with the company investing less in advertising and design of new improvements. How? General Motors decided to stop manufacturing it due to low sales. As a result, people began searching the car even more, because the news that he would no longer be available. Customers do not want to lose the model.
5. Make people feel they are already taking to achieve the goal. A car wash has doubled the number of customers to change their offer of "buy and earn an 8 washes" to "buy 10 washes, a win and we will credit you two ".

In the book, the authors show that persuasion is a science and that can be learned. It is not a skill that few are born. The research generated a series of rules where you can learn to be a more ethical and efficient in persuasion.

Discover how persuasive you are doing research for 5 min in www.myyesscore.com .

I'm sure you'll learn a lot about yourself and more consciously use this skill.

Source: American Express Open Forum .