The power of persuasion (& how it can get you clients)

Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

What do you think of when I say persuasion?

Some pop culture references that come to mind are Matilda’s dad (a sleazy car salesman) and the snake from The Jungle Book film that does the swirly thing with its eyes. Don’t worry we’re doing none of that. Persuasion, just like selling, doesn’t need to be sleazy or manipulative or negative in any way. What it’s really about is forming your points to be able to take a lead from being interested to being convinced. 

Have you heard of the 3 elements of persuasion? This concept was around years and years ago - all the way back in the Greek times when people were making speeches. If you want to, you can deep dive into it like I did at university. 

The 3 elements are ethos, logos and pathos. It sounds complicated I know but don’t worry. It’s just because it was created by the philosopher Aristotle who liked to use fancy Greek words. Let me break it down for you. 

Ethos is how credible you are. 

Logos is the strength of your argument. 

Pathos is getting in touch with emotions. 

These three pillars work together to make what you say persuasive. I’ll explain them one by one starting with ethos.

So for anyone to listen to you and believe what you are saying you need credibility. You wouldn’t listen to a 10 year old’s financial advice because they don’t know what they are doing. Instead you’ll look for people who know what they are talking about.

They might have qualifications. They might have years of experience. They might have proof that they have been able to help other people with their problems. Or they might give you a little bit of advice, you try it out and it works so you are confident in their know-how. Think of people in the business world that you trust. Why is that? That will give you some clues on building credibility.

Now logos. What do I mean by the strength of your argument? Basically, do you have good points? Let’s go back to the financial advisor example. Let’s say they are trying to convince you to invest in a certain company. You’d wonder ‘Why? What’s in it for me?’ Just saying it’s a good investment is not a full argument.

Your financial advisor might use evidence of its growth, compare it to other companies or explain how you will benefit from investing. They’ll state their case. Use logic to explain why people should work with you so they understand where you are coming from. 

Then pathos is all about emotions. More than we would probably like to admit, we are driven by emotions even when it comes to purchasing decisions. We want to do what makes us feel good. We get a little high when we buy things we really want don’t we? When we spend our money in a way we think will benefit us, we get excited. 

We are more inclined to listen and take action when there is some kind of emotional benefit. When it comes to finances, most of us don’t make money for the sake of it. We make money to buy our dream house or provide for our family. Tapping into the excitement of owning your own home or the relief of knowing you can pay the bills is more effective than logical arguments alone. 

But like I said, they all work together. 

As your final takeaway, think about why you are the person to help your clients, how what you do logically helps them and what emotional connection you can make with your ideal clients.