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Persuading Personally 

There are certain cultural norms and rules of decorum people are expected to adhere to in society and in business contexts specifically. I am of the mind that rules are meant to be bent, if not broken entirely.

Part of "professional decorum" is not getting "too personal". But I contend that personal is exactly what people crave.

By adding the art of storytelling to your business interactions, you begin to create a context in which your clients will feel very tied to you and invested in the relationship becoming a lifelong endeavor.

Something that creates a sense of rapport in a very fast and powerful way is the statement, 'Let me share a secret with you. . .' Hmm. A secret? Doesn't everyone want to know a secret? Doesn't it make you feel "special" to know that you're about to be one of the special few that will know this information?

When you work 'secrets' and personal anecdotes into your rapport building, you increase the amount of and the speed with which your prospects begin to trust you. Of course, keep it within reason. You want these stories to be pointed and geared toward the matter at hand (i.e. what you're selling).

I share personal stories when I'm teaching. I will often open up about mistakes I made as a young man just beginning in sales and figuring out the world of persuasion the hard way, when sometimes honesty and integrity were not at the top of my list of priorities. These are tough lessons which I wish I didn't have to learn and which I'm not proud of. And relating them is difficult because they are blotches on my personal integrity which embarrass me. And yet, having overcome these and having learned from my past, I tell these stories to illustrate to my students what *not* to do as they begin to persuade.

Getting into the more personal aspects of storytelling is only part of persuasion. I am always certain to step outside of my first person narratives and explain how personal storytelling is an art. When you think about it, you can be an artist of almost anything. You can be an artist of business, an artist of personal relationships, an artist of persuasion, an artist in the kitchen, an artist with actual art supplies. When we start to think of all of life as a creative canvas, magical things can happen as a result. Some of the creativity we express is natural, other bits of our creativity, we've had to nurture and grow. I can tell you this: I was not born the persuader I am today. I've literally put years of practice into attaining the level of expertise I have today and each day I am grateful again for having put the time into learning such an amazing art.

My suggestion. . . find a personal story that relates to your business and start relating it to your prospects and clients. Watch how this quickens rapport and trust by magnitudes. We all crave a good story.

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Kenrick Cleveland teaches strategies to earn the business of affluent clients using persuasion. He runs public and private seminars and offers home study courses and coaching programs in persuasion strategies. Click here to get your own unique version of this article.

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