In the world of Star Wars, lightsabers are neither good nor evil.  They are simply tools.  But placed in the hands of a Jedi or a Sith, they can be used for either good or evil. And of course, if you place a lightsaber in the unskilled hands of someone like me, you will be taking me to the Emergency Room. The persuasive tools of rhetoric are very similar. As sales professionals, we can construct and deliver persuasive messages to be used for either good (Jedi) or evil (Sith – Dark Side). Or if we are not trained in how to use these persuasive tools, we may accidentally harm others with our words (I’m guilty!). After learning these tools several years ago, I’ve personally discovered their power and I’ve learned to respect it.

There are three persuasive rhetorical lightsabers used by everyone. Let’s learn how to recognize them and how to use them properly for good. The three appeals used in persuasive rhetoric were first documented by Aristotle as pathos, logos, and ethos in ~350 B.C. Much more recently, in his book Thank You for Arguing, Jay Heinrichs does a great job explaining how all three of these used together create the most powerful form of persuasion or appeal.

The Emotional Appeal

Emotions are powerful and can stir an audience to action. When you think of emotions and business, they don’t seem to go together. It seems like trying to mix oil and water, but don’t be fooled. All humans have emotions and they play a role in our business decisions. What is the feeling or emotion you can tap into with your audience… pride? confidence? anxiety? fear? frustration? excitement? anger?

The Logical Appeal

In business, we are no strangers to this appeal. We live in a world of big data where we analyze everything. We even use something called meta-data which is data to tell us about data. Creating a logical appeal as a sales professional is a critical part of persuasion. How will the investment (purchase) from you create cost savings? revenue increases?

The Character Appeal

This appeal works most effectively toward the end of your presentation. Your character appeal is based on your credibility. Have you shown that you understand the customer’s situation? Have you shown your competence with your products and services? Have you delivered on your promises by setting expectations and then meeting or beating them? If you have done all of these things, the character appeal may include simple statements like, “I know how much this situation has affected your annual budget and even the morale of the team.” or “I can have our engineers redesign the infrastructure and send to you by close of business on Friday.”

Start with your Heart

Before using any type of influence on others, start with your heart. Using these tools for good means you are using them to help others (influence or persuasion.) Using them for evil means you are selfishly using them to benefit from others and you could care less if the customer benefits at all. That’s called manipulation and it’s wrong. Choosing to manipulate leads to the dark side.

Start with your heart,
Russ

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