By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to strengthen your persuasive skills. Reading time: 2:18

Think of a ROSE the next time you’re trying to persuade someone.

ROSE is an acrostic for four distinct initiatives you can use to strengthen your persuasive skills.

R is for Reciprocal.

O is for Opposite.

S is for Scarcity.

E is for Enticement.

Reciprocal

Give something for something in return. Samples in a grocery store. Retailers conduct sales: Buy one get second one ½ price. Fast Food establishment issue BOGO coupons (buy one/get one free). Car dealers offer little or no down payment leases. Vacation club members get a discount for being in a union or being a member of (AARP) formerly the American Association of Retired Persons.

Opposites

Establish an opposing price point or investment value, a price that differentiates the gap between the highest and lowest and therefore builds inherent value between them.

A dress shop keeper will show you a $500 dress first to lessen the sticker shock of the $175 dress especially if you planned to spend considerably less.

Williams & Sanoma introduced the first bread baking machine. Sales were flat until the company introduced a second more expensive, more fully featured model. Now customers had a price point something to compare their investment . The comparison to the original $249 model look like a deal compared to the more expensive machine.

Here’s another example of how contrasting items enhance the value of each, where the most expensive, the biggest can looked even bigger and more expensive compared to something smaller. P.T. Barnum’s Jumbo elephant –all 12 feet and 13,000 pounds –would always make its entrance along side a four-foot tall elephant to better accentuate its comparative size.

Scarcity

Limited Time or Inventory . Sales ends this Saturday. First come first served.

Enticement

Everything 50 % off this weekend only. Open a credit card account for your purchase of $300 or more and get an Ipod.

Buy this suit and feel (fill in the blank). Buy this phone plan and save.

Yet no matter how many ROSEs you send, leaders know that the scent of a ROSE is ephemeral. Leaders seek to influence -an initiative that is more long lasting than persuasion.

They influence by first standing in someone else’s shoes and not standing on someone else’s toes.

To convert someone’s behavior, you first stand in their shoes and see their world from their perspective. Ralph Waldo Emerson said that a man can only be “reformed by showing him a new idea which commands his own.”

Then you let them smell the ROSE of persuasion.

From where they stand.

Today’s ImproveMINT

Persuade others with what they value
to keep your leadership thinking in mint condition.

SUBSCRIBE: Have a Leadership Mint delivered to your E-mail every business day.
It’s free. Just click the SIGN ME UP box in the upper left column.

Related articles