4 Steps to Master your Communication Influence

There are two ways to get someone else to do something. You can tell them or you can persuade them. Telling can lead to compliance or conflict. Persuading can lead to commitment. I’ve found that gaining commitment through communication can be done in four steps. I call this method WiFi.

It’s not what you think. It has nothing to do with wireless technology. It is actually an acrostic I use to remember and teach these four phases (Witness – Interpret – Feel – Imagine.) Here’s how you can apply this method to your own messages.

Useless info for the other trivia nerds like me: Did you know that WiFi doesn’t actually stand for anything? It’s not an acronym like SCUBA (Self-Contained-Underwater-Breathing-Apparatus.) It’s just a made up word! Huh… who woulda guessed?

Start with your heart…

Start with your heart. Never forget that leaders persuade to help the audience reach a better tomorrow. We do NOT persuade for our own personal gain. That is selfish, rude, and crosses the line into manipulation. Make sure your heart is in the right place before you make any effort to persuade others.

Know where you’re going…

You need to know how you want your audience to respond. What is your desired result? If the audience is going to take the next step after hearing you speak, what will that next step be? What would you like the audience to do once they are inspired to move?

Use the WIFI Method to Deliver your Message

WITNESS – give them the data and information they need to see and understand. Make them all witnesses of the current situation. Consider this to be the logical part of your argument. What are the specific facts, assumptions, or data needed to help the audience understand the issue? If you want to have the audience take action, they will need to fully understand the current situation. For example:
- What are the details of the current situation?
- How does our current situation compare to the past?
- What are the results we are seeing today?
INTERPRET – allow the audience time to interpret what you have given them. You can help them interpret the situation by pointing out the impact today and projected impact tomorrow if nothing is done. Focus on costs, both real and opportunity costs. Once the current situation can be seen from an impact perspective, it has been interpreted. The audience should see directly how they will be impacted.
- How much money is this current issue costing the company?
- What is the potential risk if the organization remains on its current path?
- What could we lose now or in the future if we don’t make changes?
FEEL – the direct impact on the audience will generate a feeling (confidence, pride, fear, anxiety, shock, joy, etc.) The feeling is required to create any type of movement or response. Feelings provide the fuel for movement. It never fails when I’m teaching these concepts I will have business people disagree with me and say that all decisions made are based on logic. I’m sorry to break it to you, but that’s not true. Even if you don’t think you’re relying on any feelings to make a decision, I bet you’re confident in the data you’ve reviewed. Guess what? Confidence is a feeling.
- How will I spend that extra bonus when I hit my new sales targets?
- How will I feel when we have to lay off 10% of our workforce because we were unwilling to move our sales to an online platform?
- I’ll feel energized again when we start pursuing growth instead of just run and maintain.
- How exciting will it be as we add this new service line across all our business units?
- What will my spouse say when he/she sees we’re on track with our retirement savings?
IMAGINE – This is where the audience begins to look toward the future. How will they respond to this situation? Based on the data shown and their own personal interpretation, they have a new feeling welling up inside them, and that feeling deserves a response of some kind. What will the response be this time? Let the audience imagine the next step based on the message you have shared.
- What will I do first to help our group get realigned after this merger is complete?
- How can I create more learning opportunities to assist others with their goals?
- With the new changes, what types of career opportunities are going to open up for me?
- What do I need to do starting tomorrow to get my team moving in this direction?

It’s always a process. In our minds, we want to be logically on board with a decision before we allow our heart to get too involved. With the best of intentions, we know that sometimes we allow ourselves to get excited about doing something before we’ve logically evaluated it.

If it is a major purchase, like a car, that’s when we end up with buyer’s remorse. “Why did I allow myself to buy this expensive car?!” But when our brain and our feelings get in line with each other, we can not only make better decisions, but we can create a better future.

Always looking for my next step,
Russ

P.S. Can I ask a favor? If you have a specific sales or leadership communication question, send me a message and I’ll address it in a future blog post. If we can support your leadership and sales communication, we want to help! Please let us know your tough communication situations.

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Russ Peterson Jr.

Helping Leaders Give Voice to Vision