Transcripts

Ruth Sherman:
The idea that you can persuade people is rooted, I believe, in a lot of small but significant behaviors that have done well to differentiate you from the rest of the people out there.

Ruth Sherman author of the book Get Them to See it Your Way, Right Away.

Things like getting peoples' names right, being polite, persisting - those kind of things.

And being a good listener is an important part of being persuasive.

A good listener focuses on the person who's doing the speaking and doesn't allow him or herself to be distracted. So, I'm sure you've been in situations (I know I have) where I'm talking to somebody and they're glancing around the room or they're picking up the phone - they're distracted very easily, they just don't seem to be focused on me. And it makes me feel not very important to them. So I'm going to go look for someone else to talk to. What good listeners do is they are very focused on the person at hand and they make them feel important and that is a very persuasive thing.

And an often neglected and very important part of being persuasive is being persistent

I have a saying called "persistence persuades". People give up much too easily. If you think you've got something and you think you've got the right idea, keep at it, don't give up.

For transcripts visit our website somethingyoushouldknow.net - I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.