How to Coach Yourself and Others How to Influence, Persuade and Motivate | Page 86
o Diversion
This is a basic distraction technique. You simply divert the person’s
attention to something by drawing their attention to another feature or
characteristic of your argument. For example, if you are trying to
convince your boss to let you work from home, he or she might zone in on
the fact that they wouldn’t be able to supervise you directly. Instead of
letting the conversation dwell on that issue, you could divert their
attention to the fact that you would be more productive without
distractions, which in the long run will save the company money and will
make your boss look good when you are getting things done faster.
o Omission
This is exactly what it sounds like; you simply do not say anything about
a topic that you think might sway the other person from your point of
view. However, you need to be careful when you use this tactic because in
a work scenario, you may be required to use full disclosure. Or, if you
omit information when you work with a customer and it is information
that they discover after the fact, if they consider it important information
they will not appreciate the fact that you omitted the information in the
first place.
However, if you can safely leave certain information out of a conversation
that you think would dissuade the other party, you can choose to do so. It
might be something that you can address after you have already gained
agreement, at which point the item may no longer have as much
importance.
o Confusion
Although this is not the most noble of persuasion tactics, it is effective. If
you can establish yourself as the expert with the complex or highly
scientific information, you may override the other person’s position
simply because they are not able to deliver their position with the same
amount of detail. If you know the topic you are discussing inside and out
and the other party does not, you will be at an advantage because you will
be able to show a depth of knowledge that makes it seem as if because
you know more you must also know better.
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