Tips to improve your negotiating persuasiveness

“Persuasion is often more effectual than force.” Aesop

It seems obvious, but to achieve your business negotiation goals, you must be persuasive. Your mission is to persuade the other party to see how your proposition is the best win-win scenario. The good news is that you can become more persuasive.

Dr. Chester Karrass provides the following eight tips that will help you become more persuasive in your next negotiation:

1. Start your negotiation with easy-to-settle issues
2. Emphasize where positions are similar rather than where they are different
3. Provide useful information
4. Present both sides of the issue
5. During a presentation, the most important points should be made at the beginning or at the end (people forget what is said in the middle)
6. When discussing pros and cons of an issue, present your favored point last.
7. Present your conclusions explicitly.
8. Repeat your message to improve acceptance


The United Kingdom newspaper The Guardian, recently published an article on “How to be more persuasive,” written by Steve Martin, co-author of “Yes! 50 Secrets from the Science of Persuasion.” The article provides five useful tips, including:

• Be the first to give—this helps establish reciprocity
• Boost your credibility by admitting your weaknesses
• Be sure to cite third-party recommendations to help build your case

Read more and take a quiz to see how persuasive you are here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/may/29/how-to-be-more-persuasive
How do you work on being more persuasive?