The Language of Persuasion

When using the language of persuasion:

• 7% of your impact is through your words
•  38% of your impact happens through the tone of your voice
• 55% of your impact happens through visual input

Understanding tone and body language are critical to connect and persuade. You may have guessed this to be true about body language but think for a moment about the importance of tone. Consider the following sentence:

She isn’t flying to Paris tomorrow.
With the emphasis on she, the communicator is implying that your assumption about who exactly is flying to Paris is wrong.

She isn’t flying to Paris tomorrow.
In this instance, we’re being led to believe that perhaps she is making the trip to Paris, but she isn’t flying at all but possibly taking another form of transportation.

She isn’t flying to Paris tomorrow.
With the emphasis on Paris, the capital of France isn’t even in the equation. She is obviously flying somewhere, but it’s not Paris.

She isn’t flying to Paris tomorrow.
In this case, she’s flying alright.  And she’s Paris-bound. It may be next week, next month, or next year – but it is definitely not tomorrow.

“Intonation and emphasis in your words is everything when trying to connect and persuade. This means we need to be very careful with words-only communications, such as emails and text. It’s very easy to misunderstand the meaning behind the message. If you want to trust the words, be clear and unambiguous.”
-Lance Tyson

“Persuasion is not a science but an art.”
-William Bernbach

“Persuasion is often more effectual than force.”
-Aesop

“Persuasion can go through obstacles that force cannot.”
-Yusuf A. Leinge

“Elegant persuasion is when the other person thought it was their idea.”
-Unknown

“Leadership is about persuasion, presentation, and people skills.”
-Shiv Khera

“At the end of reason comes persuasion.”
-Ludwig Wittgenstein

“I can be pretty persuasive if I believe in something strongly enough.”
-Rashida Jones