Truth be told, many skills are required to become financially successful. There are many formulas and steps in the marketplace, that no one method, step or formula works in all situations and environments.
However, there are some traits that nearly all the rich have that contributes significantly to their climbing up the financial ladder. One of the most important is the trait of being persuasive.
Being persuasive simply connotes the ability to be able to convince others regarding one’s position or point of view, especially in the presence of differing or contrary viewpoints.
The better you are at being persuasive the richer you will be; this is because every resource that you will ever need to make wealth is already in the hands of someone else. One must do a good job of convincing them to part with their hard earned resources to support your plans, ideas or schemes.
Those who are committed to building wealth will interact and relate with a wide spectrum of individuals and organisations – lawyers, politicians, bankers, law enforcement, health workers, investors, employees, partners and so on, in the course of this noble pursuit. Inability to convince and influence numerous stakeholders to accept your position could lead to your plans being thwarted. Thwarted plans could be lead to setbacks blocking a potential income generating opportunity.
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Every individual is called upon to deploy his or her persuasive capabilities on a regular basis, moreso when wealth building is the objective. You may need to convince your bankers to extend a line of credit, or get government’s approval to construct an edifice, parley with legislators to enact legislation, or even sway the public to see things from your point of view.
Persuasiveness becomes even more important when you consider that all through life we are all busy trying to sell something to someone. Life is essentially a selling job.
The inability to persuade others could lead to failure and disappointments which hamper the achievement of one’s goals. You can’t afford to be poor at being persuasive; in fact your very success depends on it. According to Robert Louis Stevenson, “Everybody lives by selling something.”
Nobody is born persuasive, it is developed. In order to develop it you must have a good understanding of the subject matter that you want to persuade people about, master it completely and thoroughly because questions will surely arise. Once mastered, then one must master the art of communicating using the right words, pitch, expressions and mannerisms.
Thirdly you must research and understand your audiences who probably have something that you want. You must anticipate and plan for all eventualities as you try to persuade them.
Expect them not to easily accept and craft steps to counter any objections they may have. It is also important to develop your self-confidence because it is only the confident that have a good chance to get others to accept their positions.
Being persuasive also demands study and loads of practice. You must learn how to present your case in the best way possible. Get educational material on persuasion for additional study and commit to applying the tips gleaned into your life.
When people get convinced they will usually accede to your request or petitions which is favourable to your cause. The more people favour you the more opportunities they will push your way which can help you succeed financially.
Consider Donald Trump, the billionaire American real estate developer, who faced opposition from government authorities that vehemently opposed his skyscraper building plans.
He had to sometimes make presentations to them in order to get them to accept his projects because without their approvals he couldn’t proceed. Today he has made billions of dollars which may have been unlikely had he not persuaded them.
Wale Tinubu of Oando’s foray into oil and gas took off when he was able to persuade the crew of an oil vessel to work for him even when he couldn’t afford to pay them.
Richard Branson of Virgin Group continues to persuade his financiers to continually provide him with funding to expand his business empire. Even Bill Gates had to persuade IBM that he could build the software for their first microcomputers which launched him on the road to fortune.
Persuading people is indeed a way of life for the financially successful and it never stops. Become more persuasive today and watch your income begin to rise.
Kenneth Doghudje
