Thoughts to you from yours truly - ( 72 ) - May 2, 2011

Thoughts to You from Yours Truly - ( TYYT ) - ( 72 ) - The Art of Convincing Others - May 2, 2011

Throughout our lives we must effectively communicate with other people before we can achieve any degree of success in life. This is particularly true today in this mostly market oriented world. One way or another we are promoting our ideas, products or services. Therefore, the art of convincing others is of paramount importance. Even Jesus Christ has been praised by non-believers as the greatest salesman in human history because of his ability to spread the word of God during his short life on earth and later through the teaching of his gospels by his apostles and their successors. So much so that over one-fifth of the world population are now Christians. On the more mercenary level, there are also other great commercial salesmen of goods and services who mainly conduct their trades by smooth and waxing talk.

There are mainly two effective ways of convincing others. The first way is by skillful speech as most merchants do but more effectively the second way is by personal example as most great personalities and leaders would prefer. The secret of success in commercial salesmanship is to work on human weaknesses of greed and vanity as well as to manipulate the gray areas of the law and only speak of the favourable facts about one's products and services. Therefore, most dubious commercial skills for convincing others are morally questionable. However successful such commercial skills are they can nevertheless only work in the short run. Sooner or later smart consumers can tell the difference between good and bad products or services. It is only by steadfast propagation of morally defensible principles and through personal examples of putting them into practice that will effectively and irretrievably convince others of the viability of your ideas. Thus, as the cliche goes :- " Honesty is always the best policy " especially when supported by personal example to give them credibility.

JKHC