Listening to the election campaigning going on, I can't help but be struck by two diametrically opposed approaches to communicating with voters.
On one hand there are the extravagant visions of future doom--colorful analogies filled with adjectives and exclamations. Very little promises anything concrete and measurable, but it sure gets your blood boiling and your hackles up. You're steamed and you're not going to take it anymore--you will vote!
On the other hand there are the appeals to logic and reason. We've already done this and that, and next we're going to tackle the next problem. Stick with us and over time you will see concrete and measurable results. No one raises their voice, gets a hot flush of excitement or feels their heart pounding. Without any passion, it's hard to be motivated to get out and vote or to vote for that candidate.
Persuasion is a people problem, not a facts/logic problem. When you've got to persuade your colleagues and employees, or your customers and clients, you've got to be passionate yourself and make them passionate. That is the only surefire way to get them to take action.
If they FEEL, they ACT. If they think, they just keep on thinking but they don't act. Which approach will you use the next time you need to be persuasive?
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