Have you ever wondered how people make money online? How successful entrepreneurs and business owners get their customers to buy their products or services?
While there are many different sales techniques and pitch tactics available, the best in the business have learned the true “selling” begins way before a sales conversation actually starts. The top people in any industry know that persuasion starts from the first interaction.
For example, the very first foundational element of persuasion is trust. There is a level of trust that must first be established before someone will buy your product or service. It doesn’t matter what sales persuasion tricks and tactics you master if people don’t trust you they won’t buy. Building trust begins from the first interaction people have with you or your brand.
If you want people to buy your products and services, you must first focus in on how to get people to buy into YOU. If your entire focus is on persuading people to buy your products and services, you’re trying to start the race at the finish line – it doesn’t quite work that way.
Persuasion…What It Is, and What It Isn’t
Simply put, persuasion is strategic communication and is just one component of your overall influence. It serves as the foundation of almost all of your marketing efforts and can lead people towards true change.
Ethical persuasion leads to influencing people’s attitude in such a way that they feel like they are making the decision on their own. They end up making a purchase without feeling like they are being sold to. Everyone likes to buy things they like, no one likes to be “sold.”
From our perspective, persuasion involves the ability not just to influence people’s actions, but their attitude towards your brand as a whole.
Many people confuse persuasion and manipulation; and it’s easy to do so, because the “over-the-top,” slimy tactics are always noticed. It’s easy to spot the marketer or sales rep pushing their ideas, beliefs, and products down your throat… and none of us want to make people feel that way. As a result, we often adopt a limiting belief that if we try and sell, we will sound slimy or disingenuous.
However, true persuasion actually creates the exact opposite experience. If done right, no one should notice.
So let’s set the record straight. Persuasion doesn’t have to feel sleazy and slimy or disingenuous. In fact, if you are feeling this way, then you are probably doing it wrong!
The Power of Persuasion for Selling Your Personal Brand
Because of the negative connotation tied to persuasion, many people avoid selling at all costs.
This is a huge disservice to you and your brand, and although there may be some valid fears revolving around your ability or desire to “persuade” your audience, at the end of the day it comes down to your real intent and motivation behind your selling efforts.
If you trust in the products and programs that you’re selling, and it’s adding value to another persons’ life, then it’s not selling at all!
Your main job is to communicate directly to your audience how your products or services will impact their life, how they will be a better version of themselves by purchasing or will undergo a transformation as a result.
Seek to educate your audience rather than focusing on hard selling.
In reality, persuasion is just strategically communicating value consistently, and when leveraged from the right mindset, can make all the difference in the perception and overall influence that you have as a brand.
Foundational Aspects of Persuasion
We firmly believe that before people make purchase decisions, many foundational aspects lead buyers to hand over their hard-earned dollars.
These “layers” of persuasion have to do with the perception and overall influence that your personal brand has had on that individual.
Here are three of the most critical layers of persuasion:
Buy Trust in You
We’ve all heard the saying, “People buy from people they know like and trust,” and that is the foundation for persuasion.
Before any sales conversations happen, there needs to be a strategic plan of building undeniable trust with your audience and followers.
And building this trust is just like building trust in a new relationship – after all, it is a relationship you are building.
So how do you earn the trust of a potential partner?
You demonstrate awareness to their needs and listen attentively. You provide empathy and solutions to their problems and show up consistently. You give without expecting to get anything in return, and you genuinely be yourself.
The same is true for your personal brand. The nurturing of trust in your relationships comes with the job title.
Always seek to serve your audience from their perspective, meeting them where they are at, and the trust is soon to follow.
Buy Into Your Ideas/Philosophy
As personal brand experts, our job is to provide our audience with new solutions, ideas, perspectives, and frameworks.
Strategically communicating why you are passionate about your field or topic and adding value through the presentation of your philosophies positively boosts your persuasion efforts.
For example, if a Facebook marketer has been using the same proven framework over time and has been generating success stories from his/her followers; as a result, the audience is subtly being bought into a new methodology that transforms their old way of thinking.
People must buy into your ideas, philosophies, and unique methodology before they ever pull out their card and buy your online course or hire you as a consultant.
Consistently adding value to your audience, sharing your ideas, beliefs, and philosophies – even through the selling process is one of the most effective ways of persuading people to buy your products and services.
Buy Belief In Self
Not only do people need to trust you and buy into your ideas, but they also must believe that you can also help them get the same results.
While you are educating people on your ideas, philosophies, and frameworks, it’s essential that you strategically communicate in a way where people feel that they too can get the same results you have gotten for other people.
A lot of times people create an over-complicated process trying to sound smart; but, it’s at the expense of creating confusion and causing people to not believe they’ll be able to implement and get a result themselves.
Simplicity is brilliance. The more simple you can make your concepts, the more people will believe they can achieve results too, and the more likely they are to buy your products and services.
Final Thoughts…
At the end of the day, persuasion is the big picture strategy behind your content marketing, messaging and branding as a whole.
Persuasion is about proactively answering those – conscious or subconscious – questions people ask themselves before actually making a purchase decision.
It’s a stacking of micro-commitments from your followers and potential customers. It’s trust built over time, a philosophy buy-in, and a community demonstrating results.
Persuasion doesn’t have to feel disingenuous. When you’re truly helping the world, persuasion is the key to effectively communicating your message to those who need it the most.
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