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Your
Pre-Persuasion Checklist -
"Before anything else, getting ready is the secret to
success."
Henry Ford
To
be an effective persuader, you cannot use the same tactics for
all people all the time.
You have to customize your message to fit the
demographics, interests, and values of your audience.
This chapter goes through what I call the
Pre-Persuasion Checklist to help you to effectively adapt to
your target audience. The
foundation of the Pre-Persuasion Checklist is rooted in a
solid understanding of human psychology, ways to handle
resistance, and structure a persuasive argument.
This is the knowledge necessary to make the
Pre-Persuasion Checklist work in any persuasive situation.
All
battles are first won in the mind.
You have to be mentally ready to persuade.
Prepare yourself by knowing as much about your audience
as possible. The Persuasion Process can be thought of as
"persuasion engineering."
You have to draw up the blueprint of your persuasive
techniques instead of just winging it.
Master the techniques you learned: the laws of
persuasion, the characteristics of influence and the structure
of power.
It's like reading the roadmap before you drive.
You need to understand where you are going, what route
you should take, what the driving conditions will be, etc.
Pre persuasion is the same.
Just remember the three D's: discover, design, and
deliver.
Discover what they want and need to hear.
Design and structure a winning persuasive argument.
Deliver the message with passion, compassion, and
purpose.
1. What
are the demographics of your prospect or audience?
Age
Gender
Income
Location
Race
Religion
Politics
Lifestyle
Family Status
Education
2. Which
obstacle of persuasion do you need to overcome?
a)
Negative Expectations
b)
Inability to read the prospect i.e. different
wavelength
c)
Lack of sincerity and genuine concern
3.
What are your audience's beliefs?
(Accepted as truth - proven or unproven)
4.
What are your audience's values?
(Deeply and consciously committed to)
5.What
is their current acceptance of your message?
Knowledge: What does my audience know
about the topic I want to talk about?
Interest: How interested is the audience
in my subject?
Background:
What are the common demographics of my audience?
Support: How much support already exists for my views?
Beliefs:
What are the common beliefs in my audience?
6.
What are the biggest obstacles to change for your
audience?
Is it fear?
If so how can you fix it?
Is it lack of
motivation? If so
how can you fix it?
Is it lack of knowledge?
If so how can you fix it?
7. Each
personality direction will dictate how you customize your
message. When you
analyze personality directions, ask yourself the following
questions:
Is your audience
or prospect mostly logical or emotional?
Is your audience or prospect introverted
or extroverted?
Is your audience or prospect motivated
more by inspiration or desperation?
Is your audience/prospect assertive or
amiable?
Is your audience/prospect aggressive or
passive?
Is your audience/prospect cooperative or
competitive?
8. The
structure of your persuasive message should follow the pattern
discussed below.
If you build it, you can persuade
A.
Create Interest
You have to generate an interest about
your chosen topic. Your
audience needs a reason to listen: Why should they care?
What's in it for them?
How can you help them?
A message that starts with a really good reason to
listen will grab the attention of the audience so you can
continue the message. Without
this attention, there is no hope.
B.
State the Problem
You must clearly define the problem you
are trying to solve. The
best pattern for a persuasive speech is to create a problem,
and how it affects the audience.
In this way, you show them a problem they have and why
it relates to them.
C.
Offer Evidence
This is the support you give to your
argument. This
validates your claims and offers proof that your argument is
right. It allows
your audience to rely on other sources beside yourself.
Evidence can include examples, statistics, stories,
testimonies, analogies, and any other supporting material used
to enhance the integrity and congruency of your message.
D.
Present Solution
You have gained their interest and
provided evidence, now you must solve their problem. You
present the argument you want them to believe and satisfy the
need you have identified or created. You have created dissonance and now you are providing the
solution. How can
your product meet their need and wants and help them achieve
their goals?
E.
Call to Action
A persuasive message is not persuasion if
your audience does not know exactly what they need to do.
Be specific and precise.
In order to complete the solution to the problem, they
must take action. This
is the climax and the peak of your logic and emotion.
The prescribed actions must be feasible.
Make it as easy as possible.
9. In
order to create a good structure for your argument, and reach
your audience it may be helpful to ask yourself the following
set of questions:
Ask
yourself about you and your message
What do I want to accomplish?
What will make my message clear to my audience?
What will increase my credibility and trust?
What Laws of Persuasion am I going to use?
What do I want them to do?
What Power structures exist?
What characteristics of influence do I have?
10.
Ask yourself about your audience
What is their initial mindset? (What are they thinking and feeling now)?
When will the call to action work?
(What do you want them to do and when)?
Why should they care?
(What is in it for them)?
Where does this affect them? (Health, pocket book, relationships, etc.)
How will they
benefit? (What
will they gain)?
Copyright 2002, Magnetic
Persuasion, Inc.
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