Some people suggest that all business communication is a form of persuasion - th

Question

Some people suggest that all business communication is a form of persuasion - that is, you are attempting to motivate others to think and/or do as you suggest. Others suggest that you should use persuasion only in rare circumstances. For example, in the recent Dale Carnegie Training book called "The 5 Essential People Skills", the authors write the following:

It has been said that persuasion is like a savings account. The less you use it, the more you've got. Learn how to use your powers of persuasion well and at the appropriate moments. With time and practice, you'll be able to have positive influence on people's decisions in any number of areas.

Then there's an argument that what business people are about (actually what people are about) is persuading and reacting to persuasion.

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This week, let's discuss your perspectives on the above, and how often and when you should use persuasion in the workplace.

Also, let's key in on just what it is when we talk about persuasion. I would agree that in almost any business communication there is an element of "the ask". That is, you will rarely in your business career engage in a communication where you are not asking someone to either do or think in a way you are suggesting. But is this the same as persuasion? Is there a difference?

Beyond these points, as business communicators, should we shy away from being persuasive? Is persuasion something we actually get paid to do? Is it something we even can avoid, or should we accept it and try to turn it to the positive?

Explanation / Answer

Business discussions are often about persuading someone in to accepting your idea/product/ conclusion. It is more often than not, in business discussions, we ask about lot of things and find out information regarding the same. However, just asking someone about something does not qualify as being persuasive. Even repeatedly asking cannot be called persuasive, it’s rather irritating to the other person. When we ask someone, we are expecting some information that we are not aware of. Which means, the information that the other person provides when we ask them is considered as correct (assuming the person has no ulterior motives). Where as in persuasion, we rather ask the other person to accept our point of view or idea based on the set of information. Asking someone does not require any prior information available with us. Whereas while persuading, it is a prerequisite to have back up information using which we can convince the other person to agree with our view point.

In day to day business activities, persuasion forms a major part of business. This is in fact also part of someone’s work for which he/she gets paid. A purchase executive has to be able to persuade the supplier to sell the goods at lesser prices. A sales representative has to be able to persuade the customer to buy more products, a service provider has to be able to satisfy the end user that he is being provided the best in the industry. All the above mentioned are examples of how persuasion is what people are being paid for. It is not the only thing, but definitely the major part of the actual payment being made. This is something that we cannot avoid, either being the one persuading or the one being persuaded. It is necessary to know when we have to persuade and when to avoid. It all depends on the end objective. If any sense of persuasion would lead to the person being able to get close to his/her objective, it is when persuasion is a must. Unnecessarily persuading on every aspect would make the people around being unresponsive when actual need for persuasion arises.

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