SIX STEPS TO EFFECTIVE PERSUASION SKILLS (EPS)

ARVINDER S. BRARA

INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT

&

Co-author of PRACTICAL GUIDE TO MANAGING PEOPLE

along with Eugene Richman

The Art of Getting People to

Say

es

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

FOREWORD

1. INTRODUCTION 1

Everyone persuades many times a day

2. HOW TO DEAL WITH WHAT OTHER PEOPLE WANT 4

Understanding common human needs

Understanding employee motivation

Motivation at work

Minimizing conflict and stress in your group

Controlling the impact of informal cliques

The source of your authority

Dealing with employees

Dealing with superiors

3. HOW TO GET THE BEST RESULTS FROM YOUR PEOPLE 24

Focusing on the contribution of each member

Building on everyone's strengths

The importance of concentration

Setting priorities

Making meetings effective

Getting tough when necessary

4. HOW TO MINIMIZE RESISTANCE TO CHANGE 35

Understanding why people fear change

Helping others understand the Need for Change

How to discuss upcoming changes in a group

A systematic approach to making changes

5. HOW TO MANAGE PROBLEM PEOPLE 57

Pinpointing Problem People

Encouraging People to discuss problems freely

Dealing with Problem People

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Referring serious difficulties to helpful experts

Adapting problem people to group objectives

Changing problem people into assets

6. THE PRACTICAL APPROACH TO EFFECTIVE

PERSUASION SKILLS (EPS) 74

A predictive and proven scientific system of

personal persuasion, which you can control

7. OPENING STATEMENT (O) 78

How to open a conversation

8. PROBING (P) 80

How to understand the needs of people

9. OBJECTIONS HANDLING (O) 84 How to convert objections into acceptance

10 SUPPORTING (S) 99

How to reassure and introduce situational benefits

11. PROVING (P) 101

How to prove and expand benefits

12. CLOSING (C) 103

How to get acceptance through a number of

proven techniques

13. CHECKLIST OF GOLDEN RULES ON 113

EFFECTIVE PERSUASION SKILLS (EPS)

How the acronym 'OPOS-PC' can better your

everyday life

14. SUMMARY 116

How using EPS you can be many times more

effective as an individual

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Chapter 1

INTRODUCTIONEveryone Persuades Many Times A Day

In this world due to social, family and business issues you have to deal ceaselessly with different kinds of people. Therefore, learning how to motivate and persuade people to say, “YES”, or getting them on your side, is the most important skill you can use in your day to day interactions. This book is aimed at providing you with an insight into the behaviour of people around you and helping you learn how you can motivate people to accept your ideas to accomplish your personal and organizational objectives.

My motivation in writing this book is to help managers, sales personnel, business executives, professionals and individuals in all walks of life to get their ideas accepted in their day to day interactions, for improving their inter personnel relationships and overall effectiveness. We are often discouraged when our bosses or juniors do not agree with our views even when it is logical to do so. Reading this book will help you develop skills to change the course of sales pitches, superior-subordinate relationships and your personal relationships too. You will master the art of getting a “Yes” in a very agreeable manner, even from people who have said a firm “No”.

The book is the key to develop practical skills for effective persuasion leading to success and desired results, quickly and easily, in whatever vocation one pursues. Every person can develop behavioural skills by reading this book to better control human responses and reactions. Each chapter of the book deals with a specific skill. This is a useful feature as it enables the reader to learn these skills one by one and ultimately use all the skills to become more effective in day-to-day interactions.

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The only qualification required to learn effective persuasion skills (EPS) is a real desire to do so. These skills are a result of in-depth analysis of human behaviour that is predictable and lends itself to scientific study. It is a simple but very powerful body of knowledge, which can help bring greater achievements, happiness and understanding in everyday living.

It is interesting to note that all of us are involved everyday in convincing others about our point of view. This includes communicating to get acceptance of ideas, thoughts or concepts. These are persuasion requiring situations in the broader sense. Persuasion is not restricted to professional sales people only. In fact every individual is in a persuasion demanding situation many times a day - whether an executive, housewife, student, teacher, salesman, managing director, government official or any one for that matter. So skills to get people on your side are not only required by the persons involved in pushing a product or service but by everyone. Effective Persuasion Skills (EPS) can benefit all of us . These skills are imperative to get a commitment from others to help achieve our objectives.

Moreover, with increasing competition today, it becomes important to help improve individual capabilities. You can become many times more effective in your individual capacity by learning effective persuasion skills. When you consult various sections of the book repeatedly, you will be able to absorb these skills more and more completely. The following real life example of someone who I have trained will help to illustrate the usefulness of Effective Persuasion Skills (EPS) in everyday situations:

An ex-airforce officer, Suresh (real name withheld) after pre-mature retirement took up a job with a consulting company but was not doing well. To add to that, he was very worried about his son who was not good in his studies. He openly expressed anxiety about his future. His family became rather disjointed and tension loomed at most occasions.Suresh got an opportunity to be exposed to the concept of "Effective Persuasion Skills" and really got excited about using it to help him in his life. He used these persuasion skills to help convince his son to improve himself, start studying and producing results. He had learnt that to persuade you have to probe, understand and relate to the other person and get him to think likewise. Not only did he use these skills to solve his son's problems, he also used these skills to improve his own performance on the job. He was thrilled when he was successful in getting a ready 'yes' from his people rather smoothly. Finally, he solved his family problems very effectively. Today the family members share a good rapport amongst themselves and are doing extremely well. Suresh gives credit to using "Effective Persuasion Skills" (EPS) for his success

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professionally and socially. His son went on to do his MBA from New York and is today a very successful professional. He also learnt effective persuasion skills from his father.

The book has uniquely brought out that Effective Persuasion Skills can be learnt through a predictive and proven model (OPOS-PC). These are 6 steps which are based on an in-depth understanding of human behaviour:

O Opening Statement – How you should open a conversation.

P Probing – How to understand the other person's needs better by probing.

O Objections Handling – How to convert objections to acceptance.

S Supporting – How to reassure and introduce supporting examples.

P Proving– How to prove and expand benefits of your ideas and thoughts.

C Closing– How to get a “Yes” through a number of proven techniques.

Tip: To easily remember the model 'OPOS-PC' pronounce it as 'Ooh Pos Pee Cee'.

Before we get to each of these steps, let us first understand, how to deal with what other people want.

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