How To Persuade People In Work
Let me introduce you to John. He's just walking out of his boss's office having tried to persuade him that Kate should be new project manager. His boss Bob disagreed, he wants to recruit from outside the organisation. The conversation nearly turned into an argument and John feels frustrated. He's sure that Kate is right for the role, but he didn't seem to be able to get that across. Sound familiar? There are so many times when we want or have to influence others at work. But even when our ideas are good, if we don't put them across correctly, it can be difficult to persuade people. So how can we increase the chances of a yes? Using some powerful persuasion techniques, let's see if we can help John persuade Bob about Kate.
Step 1 - Understand your Audience's Point of View
John finds Kate easy to work with and so having her as the project manager will make his life easier, but Bob doesn't care about that. The new project manager will be overseeing a major part of Bob's budget, so he wants to make sure that it's managed well. John identifies three reasons that might sway Bob into wanting Kate for the role:
- Kate managed the office move project last year that came in 20% under budget.
- Kate has just done some management training where she learnt techniques that will increase the likelihood of this project's success.
- By recruiting from within, the rest of the team will see that if they work hard there's the potential for promotion.
Step 2 - Put Together a Pitch
John puts together a brief presentation. He starts with a sentence to grab Bob's attention: "I'm going to outline to you in the next few minutes how we can ensure that the next project runs to budget and how we can increases the productivity of the team at the same time." The main part of the pitch will outline the details of the proposal and the benefits to the audience. John comes up with the following: "Last year we ran a major office move project. The project manager was Kate Smith. It came in 20% under budget. Therefore Kate has experience in running major projects and delivering to beat expectations." He then comes up with similar paragraphs for the other two points from Step 1.
Step 3 - Set up a Time and a Place to do the Presentation.
When John had talked to his boss about this before, it was in Bob's office and Bob had been in the middle of writing an important report. So now he calls Bob to set up a time to discuss the proposal. He doesn't give him the details of his pitch yet; just the outline reason Bob should hear it. "Could we meet up tomorrow morning? I want to discuss with you an idea I've had which will ensure the new project runs to budget and which will increase the morale of our staff at the same time." Bob might say, "Mmh sounds interesting, what's this all about?" John should hold back the details at this point. "Well it's a bit complicated to go over now, if I could just have ten minutes with you tomorrow I'll take you through it" Arranging the talk at someone's desk will usually mean you get interrupted or that you won't have someone's undivided attention. This time John books a meeting room for the talk.
Step 4 - Do the Pitch
The next day they meet. John makes his pitch and ends with the line, "So what do you think?" If he's lucky Bob might say "Yes sounds good, let's go with Kate."
Step 5 - Deal with Objections
However Bob might come back to him with some objections. For example, "I'm sorry John, but I think Kate is just too young for this sort of role." If that happens, don't give up yet, use KLARDOC.
K - Keep calm. Bob hasn't said no, he just wants to discuss the implications of Kate's age.
L - Listen carefully so you really understand their point.
A - Acknowledge what they've said.
D - Define. Make sure that this is the only objection. "Just so I'm clear, if Kate were older there would be no problem?" This question might uncover another doubt. Bob might say, "Well it's not just that, I heard that Kate is going back to New Zealand soon." Once you think you've got all the negatives, list them and say, "If we could deal with all of these could we go ahead?"
O- Overturn. You need to come up with good counter-responses. If you can't, best to admit it. Otherwise you could use the "feel, felt, found" method. "I understand how you feel, I felt the same way about Kate being too young and her moving abroad, but what I found was that she's just got her British Citizenship, so she's staying here now. Regarding her age, you know Ken is younger than her and he's running the whole of the Support Department!"
C- Close. See if they agree. "So given that, can we recruit Kate to the new project manager role?"
Bob smiles and says, "Yes." I can't guarantee it, but using this method will increase your chances of a yes. And if not, at least you'll look the sort of person who is trying to be helpful. Be flexible with the techniques, otherwise they'll look too forced; using "feel, felt, found" to everything will make you look a little strange! This sort of approach will make your points far more coherent to your audience and as a result, they'll be more likely to agree with your better ideas. Good luck.