A few years back, I read some stellar persuasion advice.
It was in John Carlton’s old print newsletter “The Marketing Rebel Rant”, and he was talking about how marketers can always keep their sales and persuasion skills sharp.
What was his advice?
Basically he said to ALWAYS be practicing persuasion.
I don’t remember the exact lesson, but the “gist” of it was (more or less) to hone your persuasion skillz by constantly persuading people you know to do things they might not ordinarily do.
Like getting them to see a movie they’d normally avoid.
Or eating a food they’d otherwise run from.
And so on, and so forth.
Anyway, it was extremely good advice.
And you can apply it to ANY kind of persuasion you want.
For example, if you’re a copywriter (or want to get better at copywriting), you can constantly keep writing articles that persuade people to click your links. Or, even better (and FAR more profitable), write emails to your list — www.StreetSmartEmail.com — persuading them to buy something from you.
But if you’re REALLY serious, try this:
Go ye forth and seek out someone online to debate about something you’re PASSIONATE about.
Religion and politics are perfect for this.
Because they FORCE you to back up your claims.
And there are few things that can sharpen your persuasion skillz like being challenged by people who might already have researched your position better than you have!
It’s not always fun.
(Frankly, it can be kind of hair-raising.)
But it WILL hone your persuasion skills.
After all, if you don’t do your homework and learn how to persuade, you’ll look like a fool. (And let’s face it… fear of looking like a fool is an extremely motivating force.)
Anyway, try it and see what happens.
It won’t cost you a dime.
And your “inner persuader” will smile.
Ben Settle
