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Answer:
Persuasion is an important skill because it allows you to get what you want from the world and avoid what you don’t want. It is a key to personal power and an effort multiplier.
Leaders are good persuaders. They gather people and tell them the best course of action. Their persuasion gets greater results than if they just had gone about the task on their own. They use the workforce of the masses in order to accomplish their goals.
Persuasion also helps you get resources faster. A simple sales job can help you make more than the average American, right out of high school. Persuasion also lets you get raises and have more social options.
Persuasion In Movies
Persuasion is certainly not limited to sales. Take the real life story of Frank Abagnale. If you haven’t watched the movie “Catch Me If You Can,” I strongly recommend it. It’s an absolutely wild story of a highschool student who forges checks, pretends to be an attorney, a doctor, and even a pilot.
At one point, Frank gets caught in a hotel room. Check forging material is in plain sight. He simply pretends to be from the CIA. He scolds the FBI agent for being late to the scene. Then he confidently strolls right out of the room.
Another example of why persuasion is important comes from the movie The Last Of The Mohicans. The movie takes place during the French and Indian war. In this particular scene, the French have surrounded a British fort. The armies have been fighting back and forth and the French seemed to have the British cornered.
Persuasion was clearly important to the French Commander in this instance. While he probably would have won in the end, he had a few different things at stake. One, he would have had many more men die. Two, he would have lost battle resources like guns, ammunition, food, other things. Three, he would have had to spend more time repairing the fort from the continued bombardment. Four, he could have also been attacked from behind by some other group of soldiers. Thus we see that the French commander used his persuasive skills to save himself many different resources.
Practical Uses For Your Convincing Power
Improved persuasion skills can help you when you need to get a raise at work. Better persuaders are more likely to make more money for the exact same amount of work., simply because they understand how to present themselves. They understand how to show that they have other options.
Improved persuasion skills can also help you when you live with roommates, family, or your spouse. These people don’t necessarily have to listen, but you often want things from them like a clean apartment.
You can use persuasion to get a discount on a purchase. If a sale expired the day before, convince the employee to extend the sale or replace the box. You can also use persuasion to protect against persuaders with bad agendas. If you know the psychological tricks that are used to convince people you can defend yourself and those that you care about.
What was the last time you were persuasive? If you want to learn more about the things you should avoid when trying to persuade, check out our next article in this series.
