How to Coach Yourself and Others How to Influence, Persuade and Motivate | Page 165

occasions just because I took the time to reflect and put my thoughts to
paper.
If you want to know more about mind mapping you can google it or you
may like to download some free software called FREEMIND. If you are
interested, just click the following link and check it out.
http://freemind.sourceforge.net

2. Don’t Waffle
When you are trying to develop your influencing skills, you will have to
learn to be concise! Use just enough words to explain the idea. It should
be long enough to be able to explain it in totality and spark the other
party’s interest, without going too far and self sabotaging. It is too easy to
continue to expand on things and try and come at your points from many
different ways, and some of us have expressive personalities that struggle
to keep things concise, but the key is that most people respond far better
to concise communication.

3. Perception is Key
How you present your idea or proposal makes all the difference. The way
you speak will influence your audience. One thing that can be useful is to
study the style of the other party’s communication. Is it detailed or bottom
lined, are they more assertive or introverted when they communicate and
are they more people or task orientated? Watch out for those signs and
then mirror their style. With assertive and introverted you don’t mirror, in
fact you use normal questioning techniques in both of these styles to
facilitate the discussion. This allows you to make your points at
appropriate moments.

4. Looking for The Hidden Opportunities
Choosing correct timing is of the most importance. When you are looking
to persuade a group of people, they have to be in the correct frame of
mind to listen to you. So learning to choose correct timing is a vital skill
worth acquiring. Once you have your audience’s undivided attention you
can then put forth your idea.

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