Salespeople are some of the hardest working persuaders.

That’s why, when Chris Morse, Ph.D., finds himself at a store buying a television, at the front door talking to a solicitor, or even at the car dealership, and the salesperson asks questions to get to know him, he sometimes makes stuff up. Morse enjoys seeing how the salespeople connect his “interests” to themselves and weave it throughout the conversation during the retail process.

“They may start talking about how they also thought about majoring in what you did but then they changed their mind. Or maybe they have a sibling who went to the same college you did,” says the professor and chair of Bryant’s Communication and Language Studies Department. “The idea is that we start to feel connected to that person because they have similar experiences to us. We tend to trust people who are similar to us, or we feel ‘get us,’ which can increase the chances that their persuasive attempt is successful.”

Persuasion, which is an attempt to change someone’s attitudes or behaviors, is far from easy. Unfortunately, many people try to oversimplify it. While individuals may believe that they only have to do one thing to convince someone to do something — whether it be buying a car or changing a behavior — Morse notes that successful persuasion is actually the combination of multiple strategies working together.

Below, Morse shares five tips for how you can use communication to persuade effectively:

1. Home in on nonverbal communication, likability

Our words have immense power, yet people tend to overlook the influence of nonverbal communication (body language, facial expressions, gestures, eye contact).  

“It's not just necessarily what you're saying, but how you're saying it,” Morse says, noting that looking disinterested or holding yourself in a standoffish manner may hinder your likability and, ultimately, persuasiveness. “People often get so focused on the persuasive message that they forget that individuals are observing how they look while communicating it.” 

Additionally, individuals are more likely to be persuaded by those they like and feel connected to, such as friends — which is why our loyal confidantes can often convince us to do things that we may question later. If you're trying to persuade someone you don’t know, it’s important to come off as friendly and interested in what the other person has to say. 

“Or at the very least, seem like someone who ‘gets them’ and their concerns by using eye contact, affirmative head nods, or other behaviors that reduces the perceived social distance between you both,” Morse says.

2. Lean into emotion 

Emotion can be an effective persuasive tool if used correctly. Morse notes that primary emotions like anger, sadness, happiness, and fear are hardwired in us and can make us react in specific ways. 

“You have to be aware of the emotions that you're instilling, or the emotions of the people that you're trying to persuade,” Morse says, noting that political campaigns are notorious for leaning into anger and fear to influence decision-making.  

He highlights that if you're trying to persuade somebody who’s in a highly emotional state, it requires extra consideration. The strategies you choose to use (they may even be ones that have worked in the past) may not work unless you refocus or change the emotion before making that particular persuasive appeal.  

“For instance, if I try to get you to buy a product and you are angry, unless I focus that anger on someone else other than myself or my product, chances are you're going to turn that anger onto me and what I'm trying to sell you,” Morse says. 

3. Leverage your credibility 

Morse notes that all things being equal, official positions garner respect and increase a person’s likelihood of being persuaded.  

“One of the reasons doctors put their degrees up so prominently in their office is because they want people who are coming in to see where they got their medical degrees from — making them seem more official, credible, and experienced,” Morse says, noting that individuals are more likely to listen to the opinions of others, and quiet their individual opinions, if they “buy into” that person’s credibility. 

Not everyone holds positions of authority, which is why Morse suggests using credentialing to persuade people. If you’re trying to convince someone of your expertise, slip in a phrase like, “Based on my ‘x’ years of experience.” You can also have other people build you up. For example, someone you know may tell another person, “I don't really know, but my friend here has worked in that industry for ‘x’ years. Why don't you talk to her?” 

4. Consider the role of reciprocity 

Reciprocity, or the feeling of being indebted to someone, can be employed as another means of persuasion. Say your friends just asked you to help them move. If they did something nice for you beforehand, you're probably more willing to say yes than if they had asked you to, absent a previous favor. The concept also works with stores offering incentives, such as Black Friday deals. 

“Not only does that get me to the store but, because people feel like they are getting something free, unconsciously they feel like they might as well buy something else from the company as a way to repay the favor,” Morse says. “Or, in other cases, you will often see retailers offering a product at an initial price, then reducing it for ‘no apparent reason.’ The idea here is that we feel more motivated to make the purchase as a way of paying back the kindness of reducing the price when the retailer did not have to.”

5. Remain subtle 

Most people have become accustomed to persuasion and are often looking to “defend” themselves from it. Whether you’re trying to convince them to change their preferred brand of soda or get them to alter a particular health habit, people are often on the lookout for any attempt to “put one over” on them. The more overt you are with your persuasion tactics (think: infomercials), or the easier it is to see the motivation of the persuader, the quicker people tune out what you’re saying. Therefore, subtlety is key.

“The people who are really good at this are the ones who perform their persuasive tactic, and people don't even know that they were persuaded. Those who are most successful are able to present a persuasive argument to the people they're trying to persuade and, in most cases, have them think it was their own idea,” Morse says.