So, who wants to be compelling?
Or rather… who doesn’t?
Of course, everyone wants to be emphatically compelling, highly convincing, emanating this resolute air of matter-of-factness that gets things done, in the way one wants to get them done.
I’m pretty sure that’s the case for you as well, dear Friend.
Now, it so happens that I have recently devoted quite a significant portion of my time to study mechanisms and ways of improving one’s ability to be highly compelling, without being excessively assertive or – God forbid! – intimidating.
So, without further ado, here’s from me to you 10 proven, tested, GUARANTEED ways to be uncontestably compelling…
1. Know Very Well What You Are Talking About
Excellent knowledge and awareness of what you are presenting to others and trying to convince them about is of the essence.
This has to be real knowledge and not just pretend. Mind you, people can tell the difference between the two (almost) every time.
To put it in a more streetwise fashion: don’t try to bullshit anyone, and don’t recklessly improvise about things your knowledge is limited. Trust me, it is much better to openly acknowledge a gap in your know-how about a certain topic, promising to come back a bit later with an answer or clarification.
Now, to know very well the topic you are talking about, you first have to spend sufficient time in studying it and, even better, have some kind of practical experience related to it.
If you then can convey the image of you being a true expert on such topic – attention, though: without bragging too much or acting like a smartarse about it – your chances of conviction increase significantly.
Then, if you can, it is extremely powerful that you also show your audience the reason why what you are asking them to do, or what you are sharing with them, will, hands down, benefit them.
Effective and powerful demonstration is the royal avenue to being explosively compelling… but more on that a bit later, under number 6 of this list.
2. Ensure That The People You Address
Are Highly Interested In And Receptive To
What You Want To Tell Them
As an old marketing legend used to say to other, both aspiring and successful, marketers:
“If you and I both owned a hamburger stand and we were in a contest to see who would sell the most hamburgers, there’s only one advantage I would ask to have on my side…
A STARVING CROWD!”
So, before you set out to convince someone – anyone – about anything ask yourself:
Is that someone truly interested – even better eager – in listening what I have to say to them?
Moreover, are they receptive to the topic as well as to me, its presenter, personally?
If the answer to both questions is a clear yes, then you have already covered a long way with respect to being compelling to your audience – be they one or many – even before standing before them and opening your mouth.
On the other hand, if your audience is for any reason unreceptive or – even worse – rather indifferent to what you are planning to talk to them about, then it is likely that even if you possess all the charm and charisma of the world as a presenter, it will not be enough.
In fact, it may even backfire on you…
3. Accept Only An Emphatic âYesâ
As The Answer To The Question: âWould I Compel Myself?â
If you cannot convince yourself, if you cannot compel yourself to action, then how on earth do you expect to convey your message to anyone else?
So, before you set out to present the case you want to bring to your target audience, practice with yourself. In fact, it really helps if you do so out loud, even standing in front of a mirror.
In this regard, take advantage of the fact that we are usually our own selves’ toughest judges.
You will know that you are ready only when you yourself feel fired up to act… exactly as you would like others to!
4. Do Not Even Think To Start Presenting Your Case
Prior To Ensuring A Sky-High Self-Esteem On Your Side
Undoubtedly, this relates to the previous point.
Before you bring forward your arguments and make the case you want to make to your audience, you need to ensure that the level of your self-confidence is at a very high level. Otherwise, if you start talking and – for instance – your voice is trembling or there is a hesitation in every third word you are saying, successfully passing your message across becomes a mission impossible.
Now, typically, the fact that you, yourself, have a very high degree of faith in the message you want to convey, acts as a crucial self-esteem booster in itself.
However, if you happen to have a difficult day or week and you experience a plummeting of your self-confidence, there’s a number of things you can do to restore and safeguard your high levels of self-esteem during your presentation:
You can listen to a song that you love, and which you know will automatically increase your levels of energy and enthusiasm.
Or you can talk to a dear friend, even for a couple of minutes, and get them to provide you with all the psychological boost you need.
Another thing is that you can read one or more inspirational quotes from a figure you truly admire.
Usually, such little self-esteem enhancements are easy and quick for you to detect and implement, and can, therefore, make the difference exactly when you need it the most.
5. Package Your Presentation As An Offer That Only A Fool Would Refuse
(sometimes, you may even use these actual words)
Think of all the ways your proposal will benefit your audience. That is, make sure that your audience sees beyond any reasonable doubt the tangible and relevant benefits they will gain by doing what you are asking them to do (this can range from convincing one person to go to the restaurant of your preference to motivating millions to buy the product you are marketing).
List all these benefits, particularly focusing on the ones that appeal primarily to the specific audience you are addressing. In this regard, it is of course very important to know in advance whom exactly you are talking to (see also the related point 2 above).
Here, it doesn’t only matter what you say, but how you say it. More specifically, you need to package your offer – whatever that may be – in such a way as to make your audience feel – feelings and emotions are much more important than “reasonable arguments”, here – that they would truly miss out on some big opportunity and /or they would regret it, if they weren’t to act as you invite them to.
In other words, make them an offer they cannot refuse.
How to do that?
A way is to shape your presentation in a way that, at least implicitly, acknowledges and takes advantage of the triggers – particularly the emotional / psychological ones – of your audience and activates them in the correct way.
If you are more interested in this particular, highly significant, dimension of becoming a more compelling individual in your life, you may want to have a look at this.
Again, it’s important you don’t trick anyone into doing something they are at best lukewarm about, but that you truly believe both in the meaningfulness, power and uniqueness of your offer, as well as in its advantageous nature to your audience, and you can prove it (see next point).
6. Demonstrate In A âTake No Prisonersâ Way The Superiority Of Your Argument
This is perhaps the most powerful way to strengthen your conviction than any other.
What you aim at achieving here is to provide your audience with a sample of what your offer entails for them, which is so overwhelmingly compelling in itself so as to convince them on the spot in the direction of what you want them to do, without you needing to add even a single additional argument.
Such a demonstration could involve, say, you sharing with your partner a certain trailer of the movie you would like to watch with them in the evening, knowing that it will grab their attention in such a way so as for them to not be able to say no to you.
Or, let’s say you are marketing a certain service online; and let’s further assume it’s coaching one. Then, what could truly be the catalyst for you to dramatically increase your sales appeal would be to include a compelling video testimonial of a client that matches extremely well the profile of your target customer, in terms of demographics, specific emotional and immediate needs, as well as of values and principles.
It is not an exaggeration to say that if you can score a powerful demonstration of the benefits of what you are promoting – one which your target audience can immediately and viscerally resonate with – there is NOTHING else you need to do in order to achieve your objective.
7. Envelop Your Words With A Red-Hot Sense Of Urgency – Just Make Sure Itâs A Real One!
If you can include an imminent deadline, a threateningly approaching milestone in time, by which your audience must act in accordance with what you are asking them to do, else… they would lose a big opportunity or they would suffer from the negative consequences of them not taking such action, you spectacularly increase your chances of receiving the reply you wish to get from them.
You just need to make sure that the urgency involved is 100% real and the respective deadline is clear and understood. Moreover, such deadline has of course to be relevant to your audience, especially with regard to the fact that they must truly care for the potential opportunity they would lose, were they not to act urgently.
On the specifics of how to convey this sense of urgency via your spoken – or written – word, it’s also important you accommodate it to the idiosyncrasies of your specific audience, and repeat the necessity to act quickly, not in a tiresome or annoying way, but strategically (for instance, it may be wise to do so only three times: in the beginning, in the middle, and in the end of your presentation).
8. Be Very Specific Without Being Boring
To be as specific and precise as possible in what you are presenting makes you, in general, much more compelling.
This is because by focusing on certain key details, you convey a sense of you knowing very well what you are talking about, and you can also easily capture the attention of your audience (e.g. by making reference to a particular piece of statistical information that is impressive).
You just need to be careful, in the sense of you making sure you don’t become too technical or elaborate too much on every miniscule detail, lest you provoke an undesirable… yawning effect to the people you address.
And, of course, you need to make sure your specific references are “attention-catchers”, either in an objective sense (i.e. when you know that virtually anyone listening to them would be naturally more curious to find out more about them) or because they are of high relevance to the particular audience you are addressing.
Of course, it is even better if your attention magnets meet both of these conditions!
9. Consider Yourself As A Storyteller Rather Than A “Seller”
Do yourself a big favor, and don’t limit them to the role of the “seller” or “salesperson” (within or without quotation marks) when you are trying to convince someone about something (or anyone about anything).
I mean, don’t misunderstand me, there is nothing wrong with exercising a little good old “salesmanship” (besides, as alluded earlier in this post, any attempt – both direct and indirect – you make at convincing someone necessarily incorporates some fragments of salesmanship), but I do not advise you stick to such role and frame of mind.
What is even more important is that you make your “offer” – the gist of what you want to convince the people you are talking to about – integrated in a story.
People love to hear stories, you see, and they are much more ready to identify themselves with you and what you are promoting, in one or the other way, when you use the storytelling medium.
To be even more specific, it helps if you bring in to your presentation some kind of personal or anecdotal evidence related to the topic you are discussing.
Your priority should be here to narrate a story – it doesn’t have to be very complicated – that is very intuitive for your listener to immediately relate to.
And, if I may add a further little tip, avoid using humor excessively, unless you know really well the addressees of your communication so as to be certain that you won’t be misunderstood, or even accused, because of the humoristic elements you chose to integrate in your story.
10. Listen To Your Intuition And Do Not Be Afraid To Course-Correct –
If Need Be, On The Spot!
And, of course, listening to your intuition – also referred to as “gut feeling” – can make you much more compelling, exactly when you need it the most.
So, if during your presentation – which you should have prepared very well before getting on with it; this goes without saying – you get a strong intuitive impulse to adjust and course-correct, you should follow it. Chances are you will not regret it.
So, there you have it!
I firmly believe that these 10 tricks can do miracles in making you very compelling, no matter what the topic about which you want to convince others is. Just make sure that the latter is something legally, morally and ethically just. In case of doubt, always refer back to the golden rule:
Do Unto Others
As You Would Have Them Do Unto You
Until next time,
Practice how to be even more compelling than you would ever think you could be!
PS: If you happen to be a digital marketer, or if you are in general interested in becoming truly more knowledgeable and, unavoidably, compelling in a truly booming market – one where there are huge opportunities of easily starting from scratch your very own online digital marketing business – have a look here.