Giving a persuasive speech and using persuasive words is a critical pre-requisite to success. It allows you to influence people’s degree of belief with respect to the utility and value of your ideas and to motivate them to choose the course of action you desire.
This skill, however, doesn’t only benefit marketers and sales people, but also other professionals in leadership positions. In fact, managers, doctors, and educators can tremendously benefit from becoming more persuasive communicators. For example, a teacher can help students realize the importance of writing and cultivate a desire in them to want to improve, a doctor can motivate a patient to follow through and take control of his/her health, and managers can increase the productivity of their employees and help them get a raise or a promotion.
So being attentive to your speaking skills and practicing good speaking habits will enhance your speaking power and help you deliver a more effective speeches.
Let’s start with the basics.
Logos, Pathos, Ethos
Aristotle identified three key characteristics of a persuasive speech as follows:
- Logos: the logical structure of your ideas and how you support them
- Pathos: the emotional elements of your ideas
- Ethos: the character traits of the speaker
Together, these three elements are used to demonstrate to your audience why your product, idea, or opinion is better than other alternatives. It speaks to their mind and their hearts, and thus has better chances of leaving them with a positive impression. However, a speech lacking in any of the above elements can give you a bad reputation and possibly drive you out of business.
A speech without a story, or without appeal to emotion, is likely to bore the audience to the point where they decide to leave before you finish your speech. Why should they stay if they can all of that information on the brochure or product label?
A speech without supporting facts is like a body without bones. It’s weak, fragile and shallow, and it will prompt the audience to doubt the credibility of your claims, and of your business.
And a speech from a bad speaker will distract your audience from the objectives of the speech and possibly lose them from ever wanting to do business with you. In fact, one bad impression has a much higher chance of being remembered than a positive one. So be careful how you present yourself to a first-time audience.
These are the basic elements of persuasion that should, by now, be part of your public speaking routine. In addition to these basic elements, I’m going to provide you with 3 tips that will help you stand out.
1. Incorporate More of Your Personal Story
The problem with many speakers these days is not that they don’t talk about their personal stories in their speeches. The problem is that they don’t talk about them enough. Most people give a general context to their speeches through their own stories, and they do so in the beginning. And that’s it. Then they never reference their story again. If you’re doing that, then you’re literally selling yourself short.
People are interested in the person behind the product or behind the service that’s being promoted. And the more they learn about you including your likes, dislikes, quirks, and other things about your life, the more they will trust you and the more they will like you. So don’t feel shy about incorporating more of your personal story into your speeches. In fact, you might benefit from speaking purely about your product or service through you own story. That’s what I do on this blog. In most of my articles, I speak about what works and what doesn’t work for me. And using my own experience, including my story for how I started this blog, I recommend various strategies and techniques to my readers, and I find that people love these kinds of articles a lot more than the information-packed articles you see in major magazines.
So keep in mind, people will connect with a human who has a real personal story more than a great speaker who is trying to sell them a great product. So no matter how long or short your speech is, please be sure to tell them a lot about yourself.
2. Don’t Ask Them to Justify it
Sometimes, despite the strength of your ideas and your abilities as a speaker, your audience might not exactly agree with you. So if you’re speaking with a customer or you’re speaking to your wife or husband and you want them to come to your way of thinking, asking them to justify why they don’t agree with you is possibly the worst thing you can do. That’s because they’ll become personally invested in that viewpoint. And if that happens, they will become committed to it and it will be ridiculously hard to turn them around.
Even though you might believe that your approach is the “better” one, some people will simply not agree with you, and that’s something you have to understand and accept. When you accept people as they are and you tell them you respect their opinions, chances are they’ll want to know more about your point of view. Again, you have to accept that some people are not ready to believe in your ideas yet. So given them time and don’t alienate them. They’ll come to your way more quickly that you think. Dale Carnegie wrote in his famous How to win Friends and Influence People, “Convince someone against their will, and they will be of the same opinion still.” So don’t be pushy and don’t try to “persuade” them
3. Hire a Comedian
Meeting new people can be a stressful thing for a lot of people. They don’t know much about each other and they’re anxious to make a good first impression. It’s even more difficult when the person you’re speaking with for the first time is about to do business with you. One of the best ways to break the ice with a customer, an audience or even a date is to use humor. However, most people suck at humor. That’s the truth.
If you don’t think you’re good enough at it, then please consider hiring a comedian. Tell the comedian your story and ask him or her to create something funny for your business or speech. It will do wonders for you and it will take the anxiety out of having to prepare a good opening line. Hiring a comedian and ensuring you have great material will also come in handy when you work with a tough crowd. In fact, that’s what politicians and other professional speakers do. You didn’t know that? They have a few backup lines that will help them out when things are not going their way.
So hire a comedian or a great story teller or an experienced speaker. I can help in this area too. Your speeches will be more effective and you’ll also have a lot of fun. If you’re tight on cash, then search the internet for good material. It’s worth it.