PERSUASIVE TECH and BUILDING ARGUMENTS

STEP 1: BUILD A RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR
AUDIENCE (CUSTOMERS).
In order to sell yourself, your company, your product, or your service, you must first
establish a relationship with your customers—the audience for your message. This
process is also known as building rapport. Rapport refers to relationships of mutual trust
among people, feelings of sympathetic understanding and sympathetic compatibility. In
short, people pay attention to those they trust, have confidence in, look up to, and
respect.
So how do you build rapport with your audience? Here are some things you can do.
 Speak your audience’s language. Is your audience a group of young

professionals who are climbing the corporate ladder? Is it a group of experienced
entrepreneurs looking for a competitive edge? Or will you be addressing a room
full of senior executives? If possible, do some audience research so you know
something about the psychographics and demographics of your audience. The
better you know your audience, the better you will be able to put yourself in their
shoes and communicate with them in a relevant way.
 Cut to the chase. It may seem counterintuitive, but you don’t need to get off
topic and talk about yourself to build rapport. Unless it is a compelling part of the
presentation’s core, your audience doesn’t need to know your life story. You only
need them to believe that they might be able to gain something valuable from
listening to you. So don’t beat around the bush, give them what they want. For
instance, if they’re listening to you because they expect enlightening business tips,
they will have more confidence in you if you’re immediately enlightening. Ask
yourself, “What’s the best strategy for getting to the point right away?” Open
by stating your thesis and big idea. What are you going to do during this time?
What exactly are they going to gain from their time spent with you? This is what
news journalists call a “reverse pyramid.” The main point and pertinent facts go at
the top of the piece, and everything else that follows supports it with use cases,
testimonials, discussion of features and benefits, supporting evidence, and so on.
Not only will this help you build rapport with your audience, it is also an excellent
way of making your presentation a unified and powerful defense of your big idea –
whatever it is. You don’t want that to be tacked on as a surprise at the end of your
presentation. You want it to be front and center throughout.
STEP 2: UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE’S WANTS

AND NEEDS.
A persuasive presentation, obviously, aims to persuade the audience to take some kind
of action—read your article, brochure or proposal; click a link; make a purchase or take
some other desired action. But if you don’t know what your audience wants or needs,
you won’t be able to persuade them to accept your solution. After all, people take
specific actions because doing so fulfills a particular want or need.
But how can you truly understand your audience’s wants and needs? There are a
couple ways:
 Try to create a desire or need in your audience. You may have heard sales
experts talk about the importance of “creating a need” for your offer. This can be
done, but it’s not the easiest thing you’ll do in your business career. Imagine
having an audience of 1,000 people – only a few of whom came to your
presentation conscious of having a problem your product solves. Even if you were
a powerful communicator and an outstanding salesperson, it would be a huge
success for most offers if you convinced 30% of your audience that they need it.
Fortunately for you, there’s a better a way to communicate with an audience that
you have a good chance of convincing.
 Attract people with specific needs or desires that your solution can
fulfill.The key to attracting an audience that’s easier to sell to is advertising or
promoting your presentation to people with that specific need. The most
straightforward way to do this is to give your presentation the right kind of title. If
you’re selling toupees, for instance, this title might do the trick: “Are You Bald and
Wish You Weren’t? Learn Your Options.” This is a straightforward title or headline
that will attract your market – balding men who aren’t content with their hair loss.
That audience is better than a group of bald men who are satisfied with their hair
loss, or – worse for you – a group of young men that haven’t experienced hair-loss
at all – you know, the type who might be attracted by this headline: “Wish the
Ladies Were Fawning Over You? Learn How to Drive Them Away.”
Sometimes, however, it isn’t that easy. If your offer is something new that most people
have never dreamed of, it can be tough to attract an audience that’s composed of
people clearly in your target market. You may end up in a situation where you actually
do need to “create a need” for your offer. Even in this situation however, you’ll only be
able to create a need if you already know your audience’s needs or desires.
For instance, if you’re selling a new convenience, you’ll have to create the need for it by
building upon some other widely felt need or desire – such as the need for more free
time or the desire to stop mowing the lawn.
In most cases, you’re going to be doing a little of both – attracting people with certain
needs or desires, and convincing them they should feel some new ones.
STEP 3: MAKE CERTAIN THAT YOUR WORK

SPEAKS TO THE AUDIENCE’S WANTS AND
NEEDS.
When your message doesn’t speak to your audience’s desires and needs, it is going to
be ignored every time. So if you want people to pay attention, you have to quickly grab
their interest and engage them because your audience only cares about what you do
when you can meet their wants and needs.
It isn’t enough to simply know what their wants and needs are. Your message also
needs to explicitly address their concerns and speak to their interests, values and
aspirations. You must tailor your message to clearly demonstrate how you, your
product, or your service delivers benefits that fulfill your audience’s wishes or needs.
Finally, remember that not one of the three points listed above is explicitly about you,
your company or your service; they’re all about your audience. That’s because in the
end, they are the ones who determine whether or not you succeed. Therefore, it’s your
responsibility to connect with your audience, establish rapport with them, determine
what they want or need, and then tailor your message to address their desires and meet
their needs. Although it may be difficult to juggle each of those goals right now,
remember that when you can, you will have achieved your goal of communicating
persuasively with your audience, whoever they may be.
Want Ron’s help? See if his services are the right fit for your organization.
Building Strong Arguments

For essays, speeches, debates, meetings, or intense discussions, you may need to
organize your thoughts and defend them against people who might not agree with you. To
do your best in these situations, follow the process outlined in the next few pages.
Remember that arguments stem from a claim or position supported by compelling evidence
—evidence that persuades the reader or listener to accept a point of view.
The Seven C’s of Building an Argument

When you need to build an argument, use the seven C’s to develop and support a
position about a specific topic:
1. Consider the situation. Think of all aspects of the communication situation What
are the subject and purpose of your message? What medium will you use? Who is the receiver?
What is the context? (See the next page.)
2. Clarify your thinking. Think about the pros and cons of each side of the issue, and do
some preliminary research so that you understand the subject well. (See the next page.)
3. Construct a claim. Write a single statement that gives your position and the main
reason that you hold that position. (See page 104.)
4. Collect evidence. Research the issue in depth, using primary, secondary, and tertiary
sources. Investigate to make sure your claim holds up, and change it if it doesn’t. Gather a
variety of key evidence to support your claim. (See page 104.)
5. Consider key objections. Think about other viewpoints related to the argument.
What reasons could people cite to support opposing positions? What major problems could they
see with your argument? Decide how you will answer those objections—by countering them
(saying why they are unimportant) or by conceding them (saying they are important but can be
overcome). (See page 105.)
6. Craft your argument. Use your claim statement and the evidence you have gathered
to argue persuasively for your position. Appeal to the needs of your reader, and answer any key
objections. (See page 106.)
7. Confirm your main point. Wrap up your argument by stating your claim in a new
way, connecting it to real life and to the future

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PERSUASIVE TECH and BUILDING ARGUMENTS

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STEP 1: BUILD A RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR

 Speak your audience’s language. Is your audience a group of young

STEP 2: UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE’S WANTS

STEP 3: MAKE CERTAIN THAT YOUR WORK

Building Strong Arguments

The Seven C’s of Building an Argument

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