Sales people sell: it’s what they do and what they signed up for. They enjoy the thrill of the chase and know what they’re after. They are masters of influence and persuasion.
The vast majority of people in work aren’t sales people. They didn’t sign up for anything remotely like selling and what’s more; they’ve had no training and yet find themselves in roles where the development of business is just expected.
But here’s the good news; in common with the sales people, you too are masters of influence and persuasion.
Yes you are!
Course you are. You are persuading and influencing friends family and close colleagues all the time. And what’s more, you don’t give it a second thought. But I want you to. I want you to think about what it is that you do to win people over to your point of view.
How did you manage to persuade your girl friends to have a curry and go to the flicks; when they said that they fancied a girlie night in with a bottle of Pinot, a ‘Tesco Finest’ meal and Patrick Swayze?
What did you say to your mates to change their mind and spend the day on the beach when they’d originally set their minds on going down the pub for a few pints and a couple of frames of snooker.
Before I tell you that which you instinctively do already, I want to point out what you don’t do.
You don’t send out a meeting request email to the four of them; detailing that you want everyone to meet at 10.30 on Tuesday and to set aside one hour to discuss the subject of the meeting, which is: ‘Leisure time strategy for weekend commencing the 9th of December (mission critical)’
You don’t, once the meeting is ‘accepted’, then email out an agenda, detailing what specific subjects are to be talked about on Tuesday:
1 Venue selection strategy (taking in to account environmental impact and alignment with the core values of the group.)
2 Hunger management solutions – possible options (Chinese/Indian/Thai/ Fusion – ensuring adherence with our current CSR and diversity policy)
3 Transport logistics for the event.
In other words; you do not use logic to persuade your friends. You use emotional arguments. You appeal to senses rather than the logical, reasoning part of their brain.
Imagine going about persuading people you know well, to go for a Chinese rather than an Indian by detailing the calorific difference between the two cuisines or the levels of saturated fat. Think about producing a riveting PowerPoint presentation, replete with graphs, dialogue boxes and tables, all of which address the environmental impact of travelling to each, using either a bus, train, car, walking or cycling? It’s nonsense isn’t it and yet that’s precisely how you and countless others, attempt to influence and persuade the people with whom they work.
Neither do you set aside a prearranged time and date on which to do this. You may have emailed, then phoned or exchanged a few texts, all of which may have been over a few days. You realised that trying to get others on board with a plan is not something that is always accomplished at a one-off meeting.
Your friends trust you and attach credence to your opinion. And it’s the same two factors that are necessary in the workplace.
If you are to persuade those who ultimately decide whether your knowledge management function continues in its current form or even exists at all: CREDIBILITY & TRUST are the brace of ingredients you need.
