Programa Avançado de Marketing

para Executivos (PAME 45)

2019
Communication skills

David Patient
dapati@ucp.pt
 March 15
• Organizing your message
• Six principles of persuasion
• Focusing on audience benefits
• Exercise: Letter analysis
• Exercise: Persuading a classmate
• Case: Steve Jackson faces resistance
 The greatest problem in communication is the
illusion that it has been accomplished.
- George Bernard Shaw

Nome do Curso Nome do Módulo Nome do Professor

 Session Objectives
• To understand six psychological principles that can be used
to increase the persuasiveness of requests
• To learn how to focus on your audience – in terms of
relationship, resistance, and direct and indirect benefits
• To practice persuasion techniques by analyzing a document
and convincing a reluctant classmate
• To apply material to a case, Steve Jackson, of trying to
implement internal change
 Business communication is . . .
• Purposeful. It solves problems and conveys information.
• Economical. It is concise.
• Clear. It is easily understood.
• Recipient-oriented. It focuses on the receiver, not the
sender.
• Relationship sensitive. In the context of an ongoing
relationship (versus one-shot deal)
 Word exercise
• Listen to the words without
writing any down
• Then take 1 minute to write down
the words you remember
 Primacy effect
• We will tend to remember the first things more than the
things that follow.
• We will tend to attach more importance to first meetings,
first impressions, first events first behaviors
• We will tend to use initial events to make our mind up
(which is then very difficult to change!)

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 Recency effect
• We will tend to remember the last interaction, event,
etc. more than the events that preceded it
• We will tend to attach far more importance to what
somebody did most recently
• The most recent “item” will often leave an emotional
shadow over the whole relationship/interaction

Nome do Curso Nome do Módulo Nome do Professor

Nome do Curso Nome do Módulo Nome do Professor
Planning 1: Clearly identify your purpose
• Establish purpose for writing
– What do you want your reader to do?
– What will make your message a success?
• Identify primary and secondary purposes
• Common business purposes
– Inform
– Persuade
– Request
– Maintain a good relationship
– Gain acceptance, agreement
– Document
– Instruct
 Planning 2: Who is my audience?
• What is their background?
• What is my relationship to them?
• What is their motivation?
• What are their priorities?
• How will they respond and use this
message?
• What resistance might I encounter?
The most common mistake in
communication
 Why persuade …. ?
I would rather try to persuade a man to go along,
because once I have persuaded him, he will stick.
If I scare him, he will stay just as long as he is scared,
and then he is gone.
Dwight D. Eisehower
“Research shows that persuasion works by
appealing to a limited set of deeply rooted
human drives and needs, and it does so in
predictable ways.”
- Robert Cialdini, Harnessing the Science of Persuasion
 6 Principles of Persuasion
1. Liking
2. Reciprocity
3. Social proof
4. Consistency
5. Authority
6. Scarcity
 Principle #1: Liking
• People like those who like them
– Offer genuine praise for something
• People like those who are like them
– Find and communicate similarities
 Principle #2: Reciprocity
• People repay in kind
– Natural urge to “even out the balance”
– Give what you want to receive
– Build a sense of indebtedness
– The magic of unsolicited gifts
• Include non-material giving
– Time
– Praise
– Effort
 Principle #3: Social Proof
• People follow the lead of
similar others
• Use peer power whenever
it is available
• Use references and
testimonials
• Select appropriate
spokespeople
Asch Conformity Experiments
 Principle #4: Consistency
• People align with their clear commitments
– Desire to appear consistent to others
– Encourage strong commitments
• Active
• Public
• Voluntary
• Specific
• People want to act consistently with past
opinions and actions
 Consistency – Foot in the door ....

• The importance of getting a

small commitment first, then …
 Consistency
• Assigning a trait,
attitude, belief, or label Since you understand and care
to a person, and then about the latest technology,
would you consider trying
asking for behavior out our latest laptop ....
consistent with that
belief
 Principle #5: Authority
• People defer to experts
– Expert opinion serve as useful
shortcut
– Don’t assume authority is self-
evident
– Communicate
• Experience
• Qualifications
– Even better, have another person
communicate your expertise
 Principle #6: Scarcity
• People want more of what they
can have less of
– Highlight unique benefits
– Leverage exclusive information
– Draw attention to possible losses
– Limit benefits
• Time
• Availability

If our operators are busy, please call back

later …
 6 Principles of Persuasion
1. Liking
2. Reciprocity
3. Social proof
4. Consistency
5. Authority
6. Scarcity
 How to persuade
1. Clearly define your purpose(s)
2. Focus on your audience
• Analyze
• Anticipate
• Listen
• Confirm
3. Build up to your request
4. Emphasize benefits to them
5. Address areas of (possible) resistance
6. Make it easy ....
Step 1: Clearly define your purpose
• Get audience buy-in? Get audience to
act?
• Make sure audience knows what to do
• Maintain a positive relationship … its
probably not a one-shot deal
Step 2. Focus on your audience
• Who are they?
• What’s In It For Them? (WIIFT)
– Direct and indirect benefits
– Rational and emotional benefits
• Why would they not ..?

The most common mistake people make in

communicating is not thinking enough about
their audience
 You-Attitude
• Looks at things from the reader’s
point of view.
• Respects the reader’s
intelligence.
• Protects the reader’s ego.
• Emphasizes what the reader
wants to know.

The best way to persuade people is with

your ears – by listening to them. (Dean Rusk)
The most important word in
persuasion?
 Receiver vs. Sender focus
• Sender-focused
“We are requiring all staffers to complete these
forms in compliance with company policy.”
• Receiver-focused
“Please complete these forms so that you will
be eligible for health and dental benefits.”
 Step 3: Build up to persuasive request

• Don’t jump right in

• Prepare your audience
• Look for areas of mutual interest
• Identify shared goals, leverage the
relationship
• Remember the importance of
– Opening (attract interest, set tone, primacy effect)
Step 4: Focus on benefits (to them!)

“Would you persuade, speak of interest, not of reason.”

(Benjamin Franklin)

• Benefits vs. Features

• Direct vs. indirect benefits
 Step 5: Anticipate objections,
reduce resistance
• Anticipate reasons why they would say no
• Consider counter-arguments
• Build trust and credibility
– Show expertise
– Reference past experience
– Demonstrate understanding of them
– Use facts, statistics, expert advice, …

“The most important persuasion tool you have in

your entire arsenal is integrity.” (Zig Ziglar)
 Step 6: Make it easy ...
• Provide all necessary information
• Suggest a specific next step
• Close confidently, don’t apologize
• Repeat key benefits, shared goals
Letter Analysis
Dear Leonor,

Since you are a local author, we would like to invite you to give a talk on
Saturday, March 30

Because we are short of funding, we are inviting a local author. Perhaps you
could talk about your new book, “The Future of Banking in the 21st
Century.” Many of our members were confused by the chapter on the
effects of technology in this area.

Dinner usually starts at 9:00. You can choose any topic you want. If you
need transport, we can arrange it. I can send a map, as the building has
probably changed a lot in the years since you were a student here.

Could you let our faculty advisor, Mr. A. Lopes, have the pleasure of your
reply in order that we can make appropriate arrangements. We know you
are probably extremely busy, that it is close to Christmas, and that there is
no payment, but we hope you can help out our club in this way.

Thank you for your consideration.

Persuading a classmate
To go to a vacation destination?
 How not to persuade ...
• Use upfront, hard sell
• Don’t understand or tailor to audience
• Focus on information and rational arguments
• Fail to leverage relationship and shared goals
• Lack, or overestimate, credibility and trust
• Ignore possible obstacles, present only one side
• Look at persuasion as a one-shot effort
Steve Jackson
at Western Construction
 Who’s who at Western Construction?

• Project Development,
– Abu Dija, Head
– Luke Williams, Project Evaluation Group (34)
– Steve Jackson, Software Impl. & Training
– Mike Barnett, Int. Bidding & Contracting (12)
Despite the work piled high on Steve Jackson’s desk, he
couldn’t help thinking about Luke Williams’ comments:

“You have got to get Barnett on board. If he comes at

this with his usual cynicism, he’s going to kill the new
BSO software project.”
This time he found a forwarded message that Barnett
had written to Williams:

“Steve Jackson doesn’t have his facts right about the

latest software design. We’re heading down the path
to an inferior product. You really need to replace
him.”
1. What has Jackson done right in introducing
BSO at Western?
2. What could Jackson have done better?
3. Why is Barnett resisting the introduction of
BSO?
4. What should Jackson do next?
 LEARNING POINTS
- Change initiatives often meet unexpected and (apparently)
unreasonable resistance
- Power to implement or to resist does not come from
hierarchical position
- Understand your opponent’s objections. (People will not
change their mind if they don’t feel understood)
- The need to overcome resistance does not end when an
initiative has been approved or adopted.
 Session Objectives
• Review some tips for effective writing in English
• Introduce Cialdini’s 6 principles of persuasion, from
Harnessing the science of persuasion
• Overview key strategies for persuasive messages, including
selling benefits (instead of features)
• Through selling exercise appreciate importance of asking
questions, listening, and connecting features to benefits
• Apply material to a situation of overcoming internal
resistance to change: Steve Jackson
What is one thing
...you will do differently?
Final …..
Questions?
Thoughts?
Comments?

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