I suppose I must be quite persuasive. I recall the first thing I did, once I’d persuaded Sunderland University to appoint me as their Internet and Multimedia Specialist, was buy a computer. And learn how to turn one on.
This week, I chatted with a client about the difference between rational persuasion and psychological persuasion. As a nailed-on expert in neither, I asked an important question:
“How, when chatting to prospects, can we make it feel like we are marching purposefully away from them, smiling back over our shoulder, beckoning, “Come on! This way! It’s going to be brilliant!” So that they follow. Rather than staring straight at the audience. Arms open. Trying to get their attention and persuade them that your way is the best way.
The answer is to persuade psychologically, not rationally.
In short, emotion beats logic. Show them ‘what if’ not ‘what is’. Show them what you believe, not what you know. Exploring the new connects more than exploiting the known. And don’t allow the logic to kill the magic.
The answer is to persuade psychologically, not rationally.
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NOTE: The precisely worded notion that ‘Logic kills magic’ is borrowed from the very fine Rory Sutherland.