by Diane Allen
Your ability to be convincing is one of the most important success tools. How convincing are you? Do people hear you? Do they adopt your ideas? Have you given up?
After you go through this self-evaluation, you’ll know what adjustments you need to increase your influence and be convincing.
You’re sitting at the control panel looking at 4 knobs labeled:
- Confidence
- Credibility
- Case Building
- Connection
Your job is it to figure out which zone you are in now. Then, adjust all 4 knobs into the green zone.
Confidence
Red Zone You are paralyzed by fear.
Yellow Zone You are confident in some areas and fake it in others.
Green Zone You exude confidence naturally anytime, anywhere.
Credibility
Red Zone You never speak about your qualifications.
Yellow Zone You speak about your qualifications only when asked.
Green Zone You always speak about your qualifications that directly relate to your idea.
Case Building
Red Zone You assume everyone is on the same page.
Yellow Zone You include some information to back your ideas up.
Green Zone You outline the problem, the solution, the steps to take, and you back it up with proof.
Connection
Red Zone You only focus on the task at hand.
Yellow Zone You use chit chat or small talk but then focus on the task at hand.
Green Zone You put yourself in the other person’s shoes and appeal to their emotions.
Getting to Green
Confidence
Because energy speaks louder than words, before speaking, you need to be in your most convincing energy. How do you muster that up? While a blog post can’t solve all of the world’s confidence issues, here’s one powerful tip: Get out of your own way. Most inhibitions come from being overly focusing on yourself. What bigger purpose do you serve? Do you love being the grounding force amidst chaos? Are you the silent leader who knows your work creates a solid foundation? Are you a genius in trouble shooting issues in a way that keeps the peace? Focus on the greater purpose that you serve. Those are the feelings to muster up your natural confidence.
Credibility
In order for people to trust you and therefore be convinced by you, they need to know: Who are you? If you were going to invest $500,000 and you didn’t know the financial advisor’s background and track record, would you invest? To be convincing, include the part of your background that mostly correlates with the topic at hand.
Case Building
Consider case building as the educational component of convincing others. Show your understanding of the big picture and the mini steps to solve the problem. Back up your case with proof that validates your ideas. This is how to build more trust.
Connection
The goal of connection is that people need to feel like it matters to them. If you lived in Alaska, why should you care about the python problem in Florida? It’s up to you to consider who you are trying to convince, get into their shoes and figure out why they should care.
Be Convincing
In order to be convincing, people need to feel like they have received from you all of the information they need in order for them to make a sound decision. When you show up in confidence and provide credibility, case building and connection, you’ll deliver exactly what they need!
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As a violinist, Diane was an early adopter with YouTube. As soon as she saw herself on video, she could hear just how UN-convincing she was. She sought out training in public speaking to learn how to be convincing. Although she had a rewarding career as a concert violinist, she fell in love with public speaking and ultimately found her true voice and true purpose as a professional speaker helping people to own their A-Game and be convincing. You can follow Diane and receive tips on how to own your A-Game at https://dianeallenspeaker.com
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