Persuasive communication for better negotiation

As you know, persuasive communication is one of our best weapons to create a good work environment of our company and, thus, to improving performance and the productivity of our essential staff without having to raise their salary. But there is more... Did you know that improving your persuasive communication skills will enable you to negotiate better with your customers and suppliers? Read on, because in today's article we tell you about what is persuasive communication and how can you improve it? This ability to improve contractual conditions with both your company's customers and suppliers.

What exactly is persuasive communication?

Persuasive communication is a skill which consists of using different tools to convince We will make sure our interlocutor is aware of the truthfulness of our message, our arguments, opinions, criticisms... Does this definition seem a bit vague to you? Don't worry, we will expand it.

What does persuasive communication seek?

Communication Persuasive is aimed at one objective: to convince, to persuade, to get our interlocutor to believe our words, to accept our arguments, to forget his own opinion and, finally, to share our own opinion.

How does persuasive communication achieve its goal?

To achieve its ultimate goal - toconvince-persuasive communication uses both verbal as well as non-verbal communication. In other words: in persuasive communication, the sender of the message not only convinces with the words, ideas or opinions he or she conveys verbally. He also tries to persuade his interlocutor by means of gestures, looks, silences, the pauses between sentences, the gestural posture of his hands, back, chin... I assure you that it is absolutely fascinating to see in full action a persuasive communication professional, But of course, there are risks if you are the person that the skilled communicator wants to convince.

Who uses persuasive communication?

Persuasive communication is used on a daily basis by professionals from different groups:: the politicians and their promotional campaigns, the publicists and their television commercials, the art critics and their press articles... But the ability to win over and convince someone simply by conversing is not an exclusive skill of these artists of persuasion. Any one of us can learn certain techniques and, by practising, become the persuasive communication professional that companies want and suppliers “fear”.

Keys to improving persuasive communication

As we said before, you can learning to communicate persuasively and convincing, it is not easy, but it can be achieved with a lot of training and some patience.

There are certain keys that will allow you to improve your persuasive communication skills by achieving better contracts with your suppliers, greater facilities to extend payments, etc. Where can you start? Take note of the following five practical tips:

1. Practice active listening, that other essential skill to lead human teams and to achieve the necessary improvement of the internal communication between employees and managers.
2. Script the conversation. Develop a clear and simple script that includes not only the key points you will discuss with your interlocutor, but also the objectives you want to achieve at the end of the conversation.
3. Time the messages. Don't forget to include in the script of the conversation with your customer or supplier on time you are going to spend to address each point, allocating more or less minutes depending on what you want to achieve with each of them. Remember that, in general, in order for persuasive communication to work it is vital to keep the attention of your interlocutor. Thus, you will have more chances to convince if every message you send is short, clear, concise and, of course, interesting. 
4. Prepare well for meetings. Remember that preparing for meetings includes setting up the place where the meeting is to be held: lighting, seating arrangements, background music, the state of the mobile phone (switched off) etc.

Check your physical appearance. Remember that persuasive communication is very much influenced by body language and that your physical appearance will be part of the convincing message you want to convey. So, remember to check that your clothes are in good condition (stains, wrinkles, scuffs...), your shoes, your hairstyle...