The 6 Principles of Persuasive Presenting:Part 5

If you have been following the earlier posts in this series and putting the suggestions into action then I know that you’ll already be seeing a difference in your results.

Just to summarize quickly the Principles we’ve covered so far are:

Principle 1: Reciprocity

Principle 2 : Scarcity

Principle 3 : Authority

Principle 4: Consistency and Commitment

(For access to these posts see the links at the bottom of the page).

and you can see how easy it is to apply them.

So now lets move on to

Principle No. 5 – Liking

We prefer to say “yes” to people we like.

Just think about it for a moment….. how often do you go out of your way to be really helpful or to do something extra for someone you really don’t like?

Probably not a lot!

We tend to offer our assistance and be more willing to do things when asked by someone we like.

But what cause one person to like another?

It seems that there are three important factors.

a) We like people who are like us.

b) We like people who pay us compliments.

c) We like people who co-operate with us towards achieving mutual goals.

So how can you apply this in your presentations?

1. Be like your audience

Take some time to research your audience and find out what you can about them.

Find some common ground. Look for areas of similarity and then share them.

2. Pay your audience a genuine compliment

Find something that you value about them and tell them.

It could just be that you thank them for their attention or show your appreciation of them as an audience.

But make sure that it is “genuine” because if it’s not you’ll just come across as being cheesy.

3. Show your audience how you can help them

Tell them explicitly how you can assist them to achieve their goals.

Outline the process you will go through together to solve their problem.

When your audience like you then they are much more open to your suggestions and when you follow these pronciples

in all of your presentations you’ll quickly notice a difference in the way people respond to you.

Next time we’ll be looking at the final Principle No.6

Until next time,

With best wishes for your success,

Cath

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Cath Daley Ltd.

Cath is a Find the Edge Expert Panellist