Everyone has what is called a convincer strategy, this means what it takes for them to be convinced of something. To become convinced some need to see it, some need to hear it or hear about it from others, in short most have a visual or auditory lead before they get the feeling of being convinced, I will go into more detail on this later.

If you were at a job interview, or trying to sell to a customer, or attempting to persuade someone, if you understand the concept of convincer’s then you will need far less effort to bring them round to your way of thinking. [ Keep in mind this is not a manipulative technique, because if you use it non-ethically, people will know that you are being manipulative and you could lose their trust. It should always be used for win-win outcomes ].

Lets use a couple of scenarios to demonstrate how you might use this technique in a situation. For example you are at a job interview. Here I would consider you might have extreme competition so this technique would be very appropriate. It will certainly give you the edge. I would suggest very early in the interview that you say to the interviewer , ” Can I ask you a question?” [ people will always allow you to ask a question because it shows you are interested]. When they say ” yes”, the question you ask and the way you phrase it is, “I am really interested in this company and particularly this job, if you have an excellent employee, how do you know that they are really good at their job?” Listen carefully to their answer [ take notes if you like because, you are going to analyse what they say, and note taking will make them feel like they are teaching you something ]. If they say something like, “I can see by their results, or I can observe their progress, or I look at how they are doing”, the words , see – observe – look at, are all visual words.

If for example they responded with, ” I would get feedback from customers, or I would talk to their manager, or I would hear on the grapevine”, these are all auditory words. The point of this exercise it to let you know that if someone wants to ” see results”, they won’t be as convinced by you,” telling them”, how well you did. And if they want to hear feed back, they won’t be as easily convinced by you “showing them “, how well you did.

If their main comments to you were auditory convincers then you would for the purposes of the interview tell them about what others have said about your work, maybe even give them some people to phone and talk to about your accomplishments. Whereas if their preferred mode was visual then you would show them evidence or examples of your accomplishments. [ maybe a letter of recommendation or pictures of something you have done]

This does not mean that you do not use both visual and auditory feedback to them, but you ” must “, use their favoured method, because this will fill up their convincer strategy more quickly and make your job of persuasion far easier.

Visual convincer [ positive ] = Kinasthetic convincer [ positive ] Auditory convincer [ positive ] = Kinasthetic convincer [ positive ] [ kinasthetic means internal feelings] once people have the feeling of being convinced this is often enough for them to make a decision.

People have convincer strategies that may differ in different situations, try out some of the following for yourself to experience what convinces you.

How do you know if a car is an excellent car? [is it the look? the feel? how it sounds?] How do you know if a meal is going to be nice to eat before you taste it? [ is it how it looks? how it smells? Because someone told you how good it is going to be?] How do you know that is the house you’d like to buy? How do you know that you like a specific item of clothing ? How do you choose your shoes? How do you know if someone is good at their job? How do you know where you want to go on holiday? How do you choose what you will eat from a menu? How did you choose your current job or employment?

Some examples of sensory language used by people – That sounds like a good idea. I see what you mean. That feels right. Something smells a bit fishy. That leaves a bitter taste in your mouth.

I hope that the above questions might have given you more insight to convincer strategies and to yourself as well, the convincer strategy is closely tied to buying strategies, which I will cover in the future, understanding yourself and understanding others will allow you to get more win-wins in life rather than win-lose scenarios, this makes life more balanced for everyone, and remember you reap what you sew, so be ethical in what you put out there.