Persuasive Communication

A Key Skill in the Manager’s Toolkit

What is Persuasion?

 A persuasive message is one that intends to

influence an audience to voluntarily change their
beliefs, attitudes or behaviors.
 Persuasion is INFLUENCE without force or
authority!
Difference between Argument and
Persuasion
 An argument explains what someone believes, while persuasion
attempts to change someone else’s opinion.
 Many magazine articles are arguments because they choose one
point of view and back it up with examples.
 In contrast, debates and advertisements are forms of persuasion
because they want to change the views of the person they are
directed at .
 Arguments usually look at both sides of an issue and then form a
final opinion based on the evidence.
 Persuasion is more one-sided because you want others to believe
that your idea is the best.
The Goal of Persuasion in Business
Communication
 To change behaviour
What will you do in these situations? How
will you persuade?
 You want a team member to change his approach to his work.

 You want a team member to adopt your values, like, respect

and tolerance for colleagues belonging to different
religious/ethnic/cultural background.

 You want your boss to extend the deadline for a project.

 You want your team to work extra hours for a project, but for
free.
 Remember!

 Persuasion is a voluntary change of behaviour!

 Let’s first reverse engineer what lead us to behave in

the way that we do.
How does persuasion happen?
Developing Persuasive Messages

 Strategies for Persuasive Messages

 Effective persuasion involves four essential strategies:

1. Framing your argument
2. Balancing emotional and logical appeals
3. Reinforcing your position
4. Anticipating objections
 Framing your Argument

 There are models to craft one or more messages to

move recipient through stages. Following are the
two models used for persuasion
1. AIDA model
2. Theory of Planned Behaviour
 AIDA Model
 Attention encourage your audience to want to hear
about your problem, idea, or new product. Be sure
you build some common ground on which to build
your case.
i. open with agreeable comment or assertion
ii. open with sincere comment
iii. open with direct request
iv. open with a question

 chapter page no. 250-251

AIDA Model ... continued

 Interest provide additional details that prompt

audience to imagine how the solution might
benefit them
 For example, Disney boosts interest in
upcoming tours by announcing stars who will
be performing on the tours.
 AIDA Model ... continued

 Desire help audience to embrace your idea by

explaining the benefits and answering potential
objections.
 For example, if the Disney stars for the
upcoming tour communicate to the target
audience about how great the show is going to
be, the audience is more likely to want to go.
For example, let’s assume you own a watch brand.
The consumers have shown interest in a specific
model of watch. The consumer drops into your
showroom to check if the model he/she is interested
is really worth buying. In this case, you must drive
desire in the mind of the consumer by showcasing
the extra features of the specific watch model and
how it could be used in several creative situations –
like – the option to make a phone call via Bluetooth,
track calorie burnt while working, in-built blood
sugar checker and other smart facilities, etc.
 AIDA Model ... continued
 Action suggest the specific action you want your
audience to take.
Therefore, the AIDA model says that Awareness leads
to Interest, which leads to Desire, and finally, Action.
Theory of Planned Behaviour
According to the Theory of Planned
Behaviour
 Your behaviour is a result of your attitudes/subjective
norms/behvioural control and these are products of your
beliefs of various kinds.
 So, to persuade someone to adopt a different behaviour,
we need to change their attitudes which requires altering
the underlying BELIEFS.
Beliefs

 A belief is what we hold to be true about something; it

is our perception about something
 We also evaluate our beliefs and form views about
them. Thus, we may consider something to be GOOD
or BAD.
 These evaluation may not always be absolute in
nature.
Attitudes

 An attitude is a predisposition to respond favourably or

unfavourably towards something.
 Attitudes are a result of our beliefs and evaluations of
those beliefs.
 However, an attitude may sometimes be a result of a
single belief and its evaluation or multiple beliefs and
their evaluation.
So, develop an argument to persuade an employee
to change his/her behaviour in the following two
contexts.

1. An employee never goes for any professional

development activity, like, seminars, courses, free
training sessions.
2. An employee never listens to other team members.
NOTE: Work out why they have this attitude and what
belief(s) lead to this attitude. How can you change this
behaviour?
Normative Beliefs and Subjective
Norms
 Another influence on behaviour comes from our
normative beliefs and subjective norms.
 Other people's expectations influence our behavior. So
subjective norms in this model refer to the perception
that important others engage in the desired behavior or
expect us to do so. So oftentimes we looked to others as
an example for what to do in a situation.
Normative Beliefs and Subjective
Norms
 So these represent social pressure or influences on
behavior. And persuasive messages can often target at
increasing the salience that doing a certain thing would
be respected, or valued, or supported by people whose
opinion you value.
Now, target the normative beliefs
of the employees to persuade them
 To focus on professional development
 Listen to others

Develop another argument targeting normative

beliefs
 Behavioral Control Beliefs

 Our perceived control over the behavior of choice--

perceived behavioral control, sort of the third piece of
this model. And it refers to a person's perception of their
ability to perform a given behavior. So in perceived
behavioral control, we're interested in knowing the
things that could enable or facilitator or even function as
barriers to my engaging.
 Behavioral Control Beliefs

 Even if I want to do something, and even if there's

social support for doing, that is, normative
encouragement for engaging that behavior, maybe it's
not under my control. I can only do this. I only know
how to do this. I only have access to this. What is my
perception of my control?
Now imagine that

 As a result of your persuasion, the employee agrees that

continued professional development is important for his
career and will win him more respect in his boss’ eyes,
but he says that he still can’t engage in this behavior
since he lacks time and resources.
 How will you now convince?
 Now imagine that

 The employee understands the importance of listening

to others for his own benefits and that this will also
win him people’s support, but he feels he can’t bring
himself to do this?
 How will you change his behvaiour now?
Therefore

 Identify all beliefs, normative influences, and

perceptions of behvioural control and then use
the rhetoric of persuasion to alter attitudes and
then behavior.
2. Balancing Emotional and Logical
Appeals
The Rhetoric of Persuasion
Ethos (rhetorical credibility)
Logos (logical reasons, evidence, proofs)
Pathos (emotional appeals)
 The Rhetoric of Persuasion

 Following is an example of how a salesperson might

announce a discount using rhetorical expressions.
Credibility (ethos): “We stand behind our promise to
deliver the lowest prices, so we are decreasing prices by
10%.”
Emotion (pathos): “This discount will allow you to buy
more of the little luxuries that make life worthwhile.”
Logic (logos): “This discount will save the average person
$100 per year.”
Logical Appeals
 The basic approach with a logical appeal is to make a
claim based on a rational argument, supported by solid
evidence. When appealing to your audience’s logic , you
might use three types of reasoning:

1. Analogy with analogy, you reason from specific evidence

to specific evidence. For instance, to convince
management to add chat room capability to the company’s
groupware system, you could explain that it is like a
neighbourhood community centre, only online.
 Logical Appeals
2.Induction with inductive reasoning, you work from
specific evidence to a general conclusion. To convince your
team to change to a new manufacturing process, for example,
you could point out that every company that has adopted it
has increased profits, so it must be a smart idea.

3. Deduction with deduction reasoning, you work from a

generalization to a specific conclusion. To persuade your boss
to hire additional customer support staff, you might point to
industry surveys that how crucial customer satisfaction is to
corporate profits
 Every method of reasoning is vulnerable to misuse,
both intentionally and unintentionally. To guard
against faulty logic, follow these guidelines:
1. Avoid hasty generalizations. Make sure you have
plenty of evidence before you draw conclusions.
2. Avoid circular reasoning. You try to support by
restating the claim in different words.
3. Avoid attacking an opponent. If persuasion involves
countering a competitive appeal, make sure to attack
the argument, not his or her character or qualification.
4. Avoid oversimplifying a complex issue. Present all
factors and do not reduce choices to a simple
“either/or” scenario.
5.Avoid mistaken assumptions of cause and effect. If you
cant isolate the impact of a specific factor, you cant assume
that it’s the cause of the whatever effect you are discussing.
You lowered prices, and sales went up. There might be other
factors other than low price.
6. Avoid faulty analogies. Be sure that the two objects or
situation being compared are similar enough for the analogy
to hold.
7. Avoid illegal support. Make sure the connection between
your claim and your support is truly logical and not based on
a leap of faith, a missing premise, or irrelevant evidence.
3. Reinforce your Position

1. Check claims if they are well supported by

believable evidence
2. Examine your language. Use vivid language and
abstractions carefully and honestly.
If your company is in serious financial trouble,
talking about fighting for survival is a more
powerful emotional appeal than talking about
ensuring continued operations.
 4. Anticipating objections

 Keep two things in mind when anticipating

objections.
1. You don’t have to explicitly discuss a potential
objection. You could simply mention that the lower
cost materials have been tested and approved by the
quality-control department.
2. Present all sides of the story. As you cover each
option, explain the pros and cons.
Use the model of planned behavior and
develop persuasive messages for the
following scenarios?

 You want your team to think out of the box.

 You want your boss to allow upgrade the technology
your team works with.
 Organization of Persuasive Messages
Direct Method Indirect Method

1. Main Idea (request or 1 Explanation: buffer

question, statement, and opening
reason)
2. Main Idea: the core of
2. Explanation: evidence, request or concern
and details
3. Courtesy Close: polite
3. Courteous close: politely end with last request for
asking for desired action(s) action
Organization of Persuasive Messages
 First Paragraph:
i. Attention:
ii. Open with agreeable comment or assertion
iii. Open with sincere compliment
iv. Open with direct request for a favour
v. Open with a question
 Second & third paragraph
i. Interest and Desire
ii. Physical characteristics and value of the project
iii. Direct and indirect benefit
 Last paragraph
 3. Action
Organization of Persuasive Sales Letters
For Solicited Sales Letters
Opening Paragraph
1.answer the inquirer’s questions favorably
2.indicate that the requested material will be sent
Body
1.Answer the additional questions
2.Provide educational, resale, or sales promotion information
3.Be truthful about negative information
4.Arrangeyour answers so your positive responses are at the beginning and the
end; embed (put in the middle) your weaker or negative comments
Action ending
1.Make the action easy
2.Suggest benefits to readers
3.Focus on the positive
Organization of Persuasive Sales Letters
For Unsolicited Sales Letters

AIDA model
Opening Techniques:
i.Comparison or story
ii.Event in readers life
iii.Rhetorical question
iv.Enclosed gift
v.Product fact
vi.Surprise question
vii.Challenge statement
 Induce Reader Action
i. State clearly the action you desire
ii. Make the action easy
iii. Date the action (when desirable)
iv. Offer inducements to act by a specific time
v. End with one final reader-benefit plug (when
appropriate)