Avoid 5 mistakes to be more persuasive!

We all want to persuade others to do anything as we want. This is not a bad thing. But we have to learn the mistakes to avoid to persuade people better and more effective.

the word “Persuasion” might seem a little weird and some people may think it’s a polite way for “Fraud”! it’s not like that. As we said in “2 simple ways and 3 mistakes to persuade others“, we are talking about a product, idea, service which we intend to present in the best way we can.

So I believe we can be a pretty convincing person by avoiding these mistakes:

The fatal mistakes to avoid to persuade people

1- Not knowing the main idea clearly

Before doing anything, you have to know your bigger picture. You need to know what is it that you want to achieve at the end of your presentation. it’s a good idea to write down your purpose in 164 words. (You are allowed to write 164 words on Twitter).
Carmine Gallo who has studied Steve Jobs presentation style, says in his book, the presentation secrets of Steve Jobs, that we have to summarize our purpose in 164 words before we go for a presentation.

Learn the mistakes to avoid to persuade people better and present like Steve Jobs.

Remember that each idea is capable of being summarized. If it’s not, you are making a big mistake.

2- lack of clear advantage for the audience

let me tell you an example, there are some books that we study at school which doesn’t have any use for us. for example, why do you need to know about a river in middle-east or Russia?
The person who had written this book might think it was important but in our point of view, it is not.
Many students ask themselves, why do I need to memorize them? and they answer I have to if I want to pass the exams.
So it’s essential to define an advantage for the audience. The title and presentation you have chosen must be profitable for the audience, not yourself. Advantages and profits such as:
– solving a problem
you can say if you listen to this speech, you’ll know how to work faster in fewer hours.
– How to earn money?
You can guide them and show them some ways to earn money faster with less effort.

3- Lack of a clear procedure

One of the mistakes to avoid to persuade people is having no purpose for your persuasion.

This one has a meaning. Imagine you buy the most expensive groceries, meat, beans, spices and then mix them in a box. Then throw them to the audience and ask: do you know how much is that meat?
Lack of a clear procedure means when you are not organized and you don’t speak harmonically.
The fact that when you add the spice, meat and even knowing the right time to cook is vital. Having a speech is exactly the same.

4- More than enough explanation

We almost always love the product we are introducing or love to have a speech about something that is our favorite, otherwise, we wouldn’t have chosen to have such a presentation. do not forget that the audience may not find it as fascinating as you think. Therefore, the presentation will be boring and exhausting for the audience.

We see in a huge website like Ted.com that the biggest ideas are explained in 20 minutes or less. There are no speeches that last longer and of course we see how attractively professional they are.

It’s wrong to have long-lasting speech. It is one of the fatal mistakes to avoid to persuade people more effectively. So try to remember someone who talked for hours and made you bored or even mad.
Summarize your speech as much as possible but don’t leave out any important stuff.

5- Speaking for long hours

One of the mistakes to avoid to persuade people is speaking for too long.

As we always said our brain has a certain amount of ability to process what we hear and learn. Do not talk more than 20 minutes under any circumstances.
If you have to have a presentation for 1 hour, try to split it into several parts and ask two or three people to do it, not only one person. Another way is by using different tools. For example, talk for 20 minutes, then show a video for 20 minutes and have a manual activity with a machine for the next 20 minutes.

My suggestion is to split these parts into different 7 minutes. Speak for 7 minutes, show a video for the next part so that the audience’s brain can rest and then start the third part again.

Finally, I need to warn you again. Avoid these mistakes to persuade people much easier than before.