4. They know their audience. Persuasive people know their audience inside and out, and they use this knowledge to speak their audience’s language. Everyone is different, and catching on to these subtleties goes a long way toward getting them to hear your point of view.

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Habits of super persuasive people

Whether you’re convincing your boss to fund your project or your preschooler to put his shoes on, persuasion is a skill that’s instrumental to your success in life. Persuasive people have an uncanny ability to get you leaning toward their way of thinking. Their secret weapon is likeability. They get you to like more than their ideas; they get you to like them. A summary of thoughts from Travis.

Dr. Travis Bradberry

https://www.twitter.com/talentsmarteq

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1. They’re pleasers. Persuasive people never win the battle only to lose the war. They know how and when to stand their ground, and yet they are constantly making sacrifices that help their cause. They know it’s better to be successful than it is to be “right".

Yvan Dorier

2. They aren’t pushy. Persuasive people establish their ideas assertively and confidently, without being aggressive or pushy. Pushy people are a huge turn off. The in-your-face approach starts the recipient backpedaling, and before long, they’re running for the hills. Don’t be impatient and overly persistent.

Yvan Dorier

3. They aren’t mousy, either. On the other hand, presenting your ideas as questions or as though they need approval makes them seem flawed and unconvincing. If you tend to be shy, focus on presenting your ideas as statements and interesting facts for the other party to mull over.

Yvan Dorier

5. They paint a picture. Research shows that people are far more likely to be persuaded by something that has visuals that bring it to life. Persuasive people capitalize on this by using powerful visual imagery. Good stories create images in the mind of the recipients that are easy to relate to and hard to forget.

Yvan Dorier

6. They use positive body language.

Yvan Dorier

7. They smile. People naturally (and unconsciously) mirror the body language of the person they’re talking to. If you want people to like you and believe in you, smile at them during a conversation, and they will unconsciously return the favor and feel good as a result.

Yvan Dorier

8. They acknowledge your point of view. An extremely powerful tactic of persuasion is to concede the point. Admit that your argument is not perfect. You want your audience to know that you have their best interests at heart. “I see where you are coming from,” “That makes a lot of sense"

Yvan Dorier

9. They ask good questions. The biggest mistake : failing to hear what’s being said because they are focusing on what they’re going to say next or how what the other person is saying is going to affect them. A simple way to avoid this is to ask a lot of questions. People like to know you’re listening

Yvan Dorier

10. They use your name. Your name is an essential part of your identity, and it feels terrific when people use it. Persuasive people make certain they use others’ names every time they see them.

Yvan Dorier

11. They form connections. Without instruction of any kind, 55% of the students successfully reached agreement. However, when students were instructed to introduce themselves and share their background before attempting to reach agreement, 90% of the students did so successfully.

Yvan Dorier

12. They are genuine. People gravitate toward those who are genuine because they know they can trust them. Persuasive people know who they are. They are confident enough to be comfortable in their own skin.

Yvan Dorier

13. They are patient When you try to force people to agree instantly, studies show that they are actually more likely to stand by their original opinion. If your position is strong, you shouldn’t be afraid to back off and give it time to sink in. Good ideas are often difficult to process instantly.

Dr. Travis Bradberry

Whatever I do, I do for the universal. It's not like an individual thing; it's not like something from me. What I present to the people is for all of us, you know. I present music for the people.

Burning Spear

I grew up in Mexico, not the U.S., and the fact is that there just aren't any parts for Latin actresses. I have to persuade people that my accent won't be a problem, but an asset.

Salma Hayek

Writing for me is not a premeditated act. It just happens - characters keep coming out of nowhere and doing things I never expected them to do. The most persistent and most productive of these has been Paul Christopher, whom I didn't expect to see again after he appeared in 'The Miernik Dossier.'

Charles McCarry

Stupidity knows no bounds and certainly no city limits, but by and large, 99 percent of the people who come to Melvins shows seem to be relatively well behaved... I'm happy and relieved by this.

Buzz Osborne

True class can never receive the highest grade..for its grade is endless.

Denise Newsome

Both me and Edgar are firm believers in never underestimating or talking down to an audience, and giving an audience something to do, to give them something which is entirely up to them to enter into the film and find these hidden things and whatever.

Simon Pegg

We were also able to do a great deal of work to improve highways, airports and airways, waterways, and railways, all of which are important and have provided a better quality of life and economic development opportunities for my constituents.

Nick Lampson

The sky in Texasis the most amazing sky in the whole world country, I think, like you can see more sky in Texas than you can see anywhere else in the world.

Idina Menzel

I believe an invitation from the Commission on Presidential Debates is similar to a draft notice - a civic responsibility.

Jim Lehrer

I am free to confess that I am disappointed with the Yosemite valley. It seems only about one-half as grand as the American Fork canyon.

Heber J. Grant

Being raised Catholic myself, I think people who are Catholic tend to carry a lot of guilt. It's almost a joke.

Linda Cardellini

We have to replace our focus on personalities with a focus on ideas so that the opinionated and self-serving pronouncements and forms of cyber-bullying are replaced by thoughtful dialogue and open-minded conversation.

Anthony Carmona

I can let the team do the talking for me.

Bob Paisley

Heroism in a bad cause.

Karel Reisz

I'd rather be dead than dying.

Stephen Evans

The critical part with meal spacing is that you stabilize your hormones so that you do not have those spikes in insulin that occur when you eat large meals.

Ian K. Smith

My business life is really simple. It's like, get check. Put check in bank. Pay rent. I've never bought a stock in my life. I never got caught up in that trip. And the truth is, I don't obsess about money ever.

Bennett Miller

E.B. White's essays are the best things I've read about Maine - especially the one in which he's not sure if he can go out sailing any more in his sloop.

Nicholson Baker

I want to be judged on my own merits.

Park Geun-hye

There's never a surefire good career move except doing good work.

Seth Green

I, over the years, have always felt more comfortable if I could go into a projection room and look at a film and not really know what to expect. If you read the script first, you form all kinds of preconceptions about how things look, what the location's like, what the actors are like.

John Williams

Love is like a booger, you pick and pick at it. Then when you get it you wonder how to get rid of it.

Mae West

Twenty-two is just such a random age. It's a little blah.

Jennifer Damiano

I've started looking at my own father a bit funny. He assures me, though, that I really am the son of a Scottish postman.

Craig Ferguson