Persuasion
I have learned that being persuasive requires you to send messages that are strong and synergistic. Words are the makeup of messages that we deliver with our mouth, our body. One cannot rely on words alone to persuade others because some potential is lost if the body’s delivery is flawed. Not only that but poor body language use can also damage your message in extreme cases. Thus if you are seeking to compete in persuading others that your view is correct, then you should master body language.
How to be persuasive?
(Especially in a business or school environment)
- Ask in person
-Asking in person may be the simplest way to increase your chances of success in many ventures. Asking in person makes success more probable because it puts a face to the question and gives you the opportunity to emote to any immediate responses. Having your presence involved when you are trying to convince is powerful because it is much harder to say no to a person than an abstract collection of words. Additionally being present helps you by allowing the body language you use to subconsciously impact whoever you are trying to persuade.
2. Dress for the occasion
-What you wear expresses what you believe to be the level of formality in the situation. If you are at school and plan on asking your professor for extra help, try to enhance your chances by showing them some additional respect by looking a little nicer than usual. Likewise, if you are a marketer and you are going to market your product to a wealthy potential investor you should dress to impress.
3. During Your Conversation
-When the person first sees you, you need to be sure that your posture is good. Acceptable bearing requires a straight back and shoulders tucked back. Remember that posture communicates how attentive, thus invested you are.
-When you are convincing someone make consistent eye contact: that communicates trustworthiness.
-DO NOT cross your arms or put them in pockets. Your hands and arms preferably are making gestures as you make your proposal and minimally should be at your side. Having your arms crossed or in your pockets communicates insecurity.
-Make sure that your body language is consistent in meaning. If you say something that you don’t personally believe, make sure you don’t give in to natural emotes that communicate lack of honesty. These include but are not limited to avoiding eye contact for a brief time, rolling of the eyes, and smirking. Also, avoid nervous smiles when you are speaking of negative subjects as that will mislead your audience.
All of the above content is what I have learned. Now I would like to get into what I have practiced. My practice has been me standing in front of a camera practicing body language while giving a speech. This practice allows me to personally view and grade my performance and improvements. Furthermore, I can show the video to friends and ask their opinion and act out what they would change in front of them. Practicing just a few times has caused me to have less self-doubt about my performance, and I had less negative comments about my performance with every new effort. (I did not attach it because I am not comfortable posting it online.)
My view on the importance of body language has changed as I have put effort into improving my own. I have discovered that body language is judged subconsciously thus it is only mastered when it is a subconscious act. If others are able to use their body language at a subconscious level I will not be able to compete in their league: body language is far more important that I first thought.
