Anthony McLean - Introducing persuasion: a practical guide

Published in the UK and USA

in 2014 by Icon Books Ltd,

Omnibus Business Centre,

3941 North Road,

London N7 9DP

email:

www.iconbooks.com

Sold in the UK, Europe and Asia

by Faber & Faber Ltd,

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Distributed in South Africa

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Distributed in Canada

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Distributed to the trade in the USA

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ISBN: 978-184831-722-2

Text copyright 2014 Anthony McLean

The author has asserted his moral rights.

Every effort has been made to contact the copyright holders of the material reproduced in this book. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publisher will be pleased to make acknowledgement on future editions if notified.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Typeset in Avenir by Marie Doherty

Printed and bound in the UK by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc

About the author

Anthony McLean is an Australian persuasion strategist who has worked in the persuasion professions for over two decades. Starting out his career as a police officer, Anthony quickly identified that he had an ability to talk to people. Studying Criminology while working provided a level of practical reality to the theory Anthony was studying that no university degree could ever provide. As a senior intelligence officer, Anthony worked at many high-profile units, including the Homicide Investigation Group and the Special Emergency Response Team the Queensland Police Tactical Group and Counter Terrorist unit charged with dealing with high-risk incidents requiring tactical and negotiated resolutions. It was in these theatres that Anthony first delved deeply into the science of persuasion.

Leaving the police to pursue opportunities in the private sector, Anthony travelled to the United States and trained with the most cited social scientist in the world in the field of Social Influence, Compliance and Influence: Dr Robert B. Cialdini. As one of only seventeen Cialdini Method Certified Trainers (CMCT) in the world, Anthony has provided real-world persuasion training and strategies to thousands of participants from more than 40 countries. He provides businesses and governments with the tools and strategies to ethically persuade others on a daily basis and breathes practical application into the science of persuasion.

Anthony resides with his wife Robecca and their three loving children Samara, Nea and Ryan on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia.

To my family. Without you this would never have been possible. To Samara, Nea and Ryan: remember you can do anything and be anyone and I will always love you. To Robecca: thank you for your ongoing support, love and guidance and for teaching me to be grateful.

Preface

If you have picked up this book, you are looking for one thing: you want others to say Yes! Yes to your requests. Yes to your ideas. Yes to your products. Yes to your proposals. You want people to buy what you are selling or buy into your ideas.

As a persuasion strategist, I see many claims by people suggesting you can learn the power of instant influence. You can take peoples words and actions and, as an influence ninja, have your way with them. The one thing they all tend to leave in the fine print or just omit altogether is that much of what they are teaching is their opinion or anecdotal observations. While they claim to have discovered the path that all others can only hope to follow, its more spin and hype than usable tools and strategies.

The reason I say that is because if it were true I would not be writing this book because we would already know how to get want we want. Conflict would not be occurring around the world and negotiation would be a redundant skillset. Well, my friend, turn on the news. Businesses close down every day because of a lack of sales or an inability to resolve executive level disputes. Governments battle to engage people to look after their health and drive safely. Parents struggle to get their children to clean up their rooms, turn off the screen and come to the table for dinner.

There is no magic bullet or secret sauce in this book. Instead, this is a practical introduction to the content, strategies, frameworks and tools of persuasion. I thought long and hard about how best to present what we know about the science of persuasion and decided that, rather than provide long, verbose chapters, I would break it down into four sections, each complete with short, sharp and relevant explanations of what you need to know to become an effective persuader.

If you are an intuitive, a person who can just change the behaviour of others, this book will provide you with the language and labels to understand what you are able to do. It will provide you with the knowledge to be able to modify your approach when what you have always done no longer works. Most importantly, it will allow you to explain to others and teach them what you are able do naturally.

If you are new to the field of persuasion and are looking for a place to start, this book will provide you with the knowledge, skills and operational language to commence your persuasion journey. The work in this book is rooted in science, not opinion; therefore there are structure, research and case studies beneath each point, some brought to the surface and others simply referenced for your ongoing development.

If you need to sell something, lead people, drive change, problem solve, negotiate, provide advice, work with others, resolve conflict or pretty much do anything else with people, this book will be an invaluable introduction to the field.

The purpose of this book is not to provide you with every framework, strategy and tool available. As a practitioner I know overloading you with information is as counterproductive as not knowing the tool exists in the first place. Instead, I will provide you with practical, useable tools and techniques that will enable you to start your persuasion journey.

In my opinion, the reason why this book is so important is because persuasion is one of those words that is frequently used in business, yet many people do not truly understand its meaning and, therefore, the distinction between persuasion, influence and manipulation is all too often blurred. A simple premise of this book is to explain it for you so you can do it.

SECTION 1:
Understanding

Section 1 is dedicated to providing you with the underpinning knowledge and understanding of what persuasion is and, probably more importantly, what it is not. In this short section we will develop your factual knowledge of persuasion. To do this, we will provide you with knowledge of terminology, language and specific details relating to the history and development of persuasion as a discipline.

The purpose of this first section is to ensure you grasp the meaning, nature and importance of persuasion. This level of comprehension alone will start to differentiate you from your colleagues, competitors and leaders.

The reason this is important is because in recent times, and certainly with the growth and pervasiveness of the internet, we as a society have started use the word persuasion in many instances without any clear idea of what it means to persuade someone.