The Laws of Persuasion: Appeal to Self-Interest

Part 5 of a 5-part series

If you want to change customers' beliefs, remember to appeal to self-interest.

So said American philosopher, statesman and inventor Benjamin Franklin in his 1734 pamphlet Poor Richard's Almanac.

"Would you persuade, speak of interest, not of reason," Franklin wrote.

We're taught to value reason, but "the world runs on individuals pursuing their self interests," as economist Milton Friedman once said.

The copywriter observes this law when she asks What's your WIFM?

Want to persuade?

Start with your WIFM.

The Laws of Persuasion: Character Counts

Part 4 of a 5-part series

If you want to change customers' beliefs, remember character counts.

So said the Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle in his fourth-century BC Treatise on Rhetoric.

We like to think we're moved by good speeches, not good speakers.

But that's not the case, Aristotle says.

"It is not true, as some writers assume in their treatises on rhetoric, that the personal goodness revealed by the speaker contributes nothing to his power of persuasion; on the contrary, his character may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion he possesses."

So stay upright and be strong; it will serve you well.

As the late Zig Ziglar once said, "The most important persuasion tool you have in your entire arsenal is integrity.”

The Laws of Persuasion: Begin with Your Own Beliefs

Part 3 of a 5-part series

If you want to change customers' beliefs, remember to begin with your own.

So said American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson in his 1841 essay Spiritual Laws.

You won't persuade someone to believe what you don't believe yourself, he said.

Emerson asked readers to consider the attorney's faith in his client's story.

"If he does not believe it, his unbelief will appear to the jury, despite all his protestations, and will become their unbelief."

It's a kind of karmic justice, Emerson says: the attorney's bad faith stifles him and feeds the jury's doubt.

"That which we do not believe, we cannot adequately say, though we may repeat the words ever so often."

Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle put it nicely: "Let one who wants to move and convince others, first be convinced and moved themselves."

The Laws of Persuasion: Facts Won't Take You Far

Part 2 of a 5-part series

If you want to change customers' beliefs, remember facts won't take you far.

So said German philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein in his 1951 book On Certainty.

Wittgenstein wondered why we trust, for example, the facts in a physics textbook.

It isn't because we understand them (we may not), but because we know how textbooks are written (physicists repeat various experiments and report their findings to peers).

The facts in a physics textbooks reflect a set of beliefs that a community accepts as true.

But what would you say to someone (a shaman, for example) who didn't accept physics?

Would you argue that his belief is foolish?

If you did, you'd be offering reasons his belief is foolish based on your belief in physics.

That won't get you very far.

To win the shaman's heart and mind, you must forget facts and focus on your vision.

"At the end of reasons comes persuasion," Wittgenstein says.

The Laws of Persuasion: Likability Outweighs Credibility

Part 1 of a 5-part series

If you want to change customers' beliefs, remember that likability outweighs credibility.

So said French philosopher Blaise Pascal in his 1658 essay The Art of Persuasion.

"People almost invariably arrive at their beliefs not on the basis of proof but on the basis of what they find attractive," Pascal wrote.

Because attraction holds more sway than evidence, Pascal says, you need to understand both "the mind and heart" of your customer, "what principles he acknowledges, what things he loves."

Pascal doesn't advocate sweet talk alone, but an artful blend of reasoned argument and adorableness.

"The art of persuasion consists as much in that of pleasing as in that of convincing, so much more are men governed by caprice than by reason."