Persuasive Tactic #1--The Basics

Hello blog readers!
Yet again, I have left this blog for too long.  I will try to update at least once a week from now on, whether by adding posts/pages or updating pages.  There were some missing cereal bowls I had to find and a bunch of random facts I had to memorize, but now I'm back.

I've decided to start incorporating persuasive tactics into my blog material.  Considering I've referenced the topic multiple times, read a bunch of books and blogs on the topic, and actually have a tangible need for the methodology in my life, it made sense to include.

The first post I'm calling, "The Basics," because unlike with deduction, which you can kind of haphazardly jump right into without really knowing much background, persuasion is much more conceptual and requires some basic ideological explanation.

This is all based on what I've read in multiple sources, which I will include a bibliography of later.

What You Need to Know

• People are generally hesitant to be persuaded.  If somebody walked up to you and said, "Hey, you're doing everything wrong; instead of working at your steady day job as an information technology professional you should drop everything and start a dinosaur-themed pizza place because it's the right thing to do, even though it costs a lot of money," would you immediately quite your job to start a T-Rex Cafe?  Of course you wouldn't.  You'd want reasons, the person's experience and credentials, and some confirmation that this had worked for others.
• Since people won't do just anything somebody tells them to do, especially when it involves buying things or doing any sort of work, they need to think it's their idea.  You need to ask people questions that lead them to the conclusion you want them to come to.
• People are likely to do things for you if you do things for them first.  Give them things of perceived value, listen to them, take an active interest in what they're saying, have sympathy for their problems, do tasks for them, etc.  This is sometimes referred to as the Reciprocation Rule.

These are just the very basics, and more specific info is to come.  I'm taking it slow with this persuasion stuff because it's kind of tricky to understand and each topic is pretty intricate.  Once I've covered the very basics, I'll speed things up a bit like I've been doing with deductions.

Signing off,
SM