4 essential steps of influence

There are 4 essential steps in any persuasion effort.

None of them can be skipped or done poorly.

You can’t change their order either.

If you try to, you'll fail to make an agreement that stands on its feet.

You’ll have to maintain and support it daily.

Or you'll have to go back to the missed step and fix it to succeed in making a firm deal.

Here are these 4 essential steps:

1. Build relationships,

2. Build vision,

3. Conquer uncertainty,

4. Conquer hesitation.

Why are they so indispensable?

Let's look at it in the opposite direction, from hesitation back to relationships.

#4. Why do you need to conquer hesitation?

Obviously, if you don't defeat hesitation, nothing is going to happen.

You won't see any step forward.

You'll only see procrastination, focus on other things, emergencies, and even forgetting about it.

In today's world, with so many priorities, hesitation is the biggest reason for getting stuck one step before results.

That's why so many people don't start their businesses, don't take on opportunities at work, and don't practice critical skills for their success.

There's a huge gap between knowing that something is beneficial and actually acting on this knowledge.

Among coaches, it’s called “the performance gap.”

Knowing is not enough.

Doing is what moves you forward.

So, hesitation must be conquered and defeated in order to start getting

results from any persuasion and influence effort.

#3. What about conquering uncertainty?

Let’s see if it’s necessary.

What happens when you try to convince somebody to move forward before the level of uncertainty on the other side is high enough?

If there's no certainty that the deal is good, then it's still a bad deal or a high-risk endeavor.

It will feel like you're trying to trick someone into a bad deal.

The fear will set in, and the worst expectations will start to pollute the vision.

Trust will disappear as it will look like manipulation.

So, you can't skip the step of reducing uncertainty.

Provide all the support for the deal to be certainly and securely beneficial.

Assure the other side that they can’t lose when dealing with you.

#2. What’s significant about building a vision?

What if you skip this step?

What if you try to provide certainty, and the proof of a good deal and then create urgency to move forward when people don't have a vision of how your proposal is even beneficial?

For example, if I don't fish and don't care about fishing, it doesn't matter if you launch into explaining the quality of the fishing equipment.

First, you need to make me see myself finishing and enjoying the process.

You’d also want me to imagine how much fun I would miss if I didn't experience fishing.

Creating a vision of value and loss is where the influence starts.

And in many cases, the approach to it doesn’t start from making offers.

It starts with figuring out what the other side needs.

Fishing equipment doesn't have value unless it's a solution to a problem.

The problem that I, as your customer, have in this case.

Maybe my life is too boring?

Maybe I’m looking for an outdoor experience recently?

Find the problem and create a vision of a better picture with your solution.

"No vision - no decision" (Jim Camp)

So, no attempt to influence will be successful before a vision is created.

#1. Now, what about relationships?

You won’t deal with people you don’t trust.

This is what my mom said to me in the '90s when I was back in Russia:

"Don't buy anything from people on the street - always go to the store. No matter what they sell. No matter if they promise gold for nothing. Never. Don’t start talking to them. Just keep going."

There were so many cases when people were fooled into buying bad products when buying stuff from non-credible places.

Credibility is crucially important.

In the US, the credibility of all the supermarkets is guaranteed.

Therefore, when you buy food in the US, you don't look at expiration dates.

When you buy a cup of coffee you trust Starbucks as a credible organization.

And this trust has a huge value.

Your influence starts with building relationships.

You can't skip this step.

Because if you skip it, you'll be wondering, "why I'm offering a paradise, and no one is interested?"

Start with building relationships of credibility, trust, and respect.

Continue with building vision.

When the vision is built, you can ask or offer a solution.

Then, eliminate uncertainty and guarantee the results.

Finally, defeat hesitation and create urgency to move forward.

With these 4 steps, you'll be successful in every possible way.

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