Alliah Bolanos

Professor Morgan

ENGL 101

October 21, 2022

Opinion Piece: Influence & Persuasion

From reading this article I’ll say it sparked more of an interest on what I learned about

influence & persuasion. When I hear the word influence, I think of society and social media and

how it can influence young children and teens which in my term is more like encouraging what

behavior is going around. And as for persuasion to me it seems like you’re convincing another

person on news “trying to get your way” to make it seem true. This really expanded my mind on

the correct term of what it means which is always great. This article brings out really good points

about influence & persuasion. We use influence & persuasion in our everyday life all the time.

What I mean by this is that in any career you normally use it for instant lawyers use it in their

work to win a case. Same goes for any sells rep but with them trying to get you to buy their

product. Persuasion is an art form if you know how to utilize it, and when you do you can

persuade almost anyone to get to do what benefits you.

I was persuaded at T-Mobile to buy an iPhone 12 mini. I went in just to look and

compare prices to Verizon. The man behind the counter could tell I was trying to get a lot of

information about the phones and plans that they had so he started to tell me he could offer me a

deal no other place can. He went on to show me how no one else's monthly payments could

compete because they had the lowest rates. The deal breaker was when he told me if I traded in

my iPhone 6s that was still in good condition it would take $300 off the price for the 12 mini. He

used different pieces of information to try and persuade and influence my decision to buy a

phone with T-Mobile. Before I walked in, I was nervous because I knew they would try to
pressure and influence me to get a phone right then and there. After I actually felt great because I

felt I got the best deal even though they influenced me to get a phone on the spot. “In time-

sensitive circumstances, positive persuasion techniques are a handy means for expediting results”

said Nicole DeFalco. She also went ahead and said in the article “Consider this: If someone

doesn’t have significant influence with you, yet they convince you to do something, has the

person persuaded you or did they simply facilitate a process by which you persuaded yourself?”.

Which actually got me thinking about my situation because it could’ve gone both ways of

persuasion. The guy could’ve persuaded me or I probably persuaded myself.