Persuading Others: 40 Useful Performance Feedback Phrases

Persuading others is making sure your best ideas get a fair hearing without manipulating others or using trickery.

Persuading Others: Exceeds Expectations Phrases

• Strives to understand before being understood; thinks about what the other person wants and how they would want to be persuaded for a particular work or situation
• Thinks about how incredible one is to the situation at hand before one is able to persuade others
• Polishes own soft skills and learns the art of tact before one walks the path of influencing others
• Assesses oneself in order to verify own effectiveness of communication and improve own confidence a notch higher before persuading others
• Shows patience and empathy toward what other people have to say and changes own persuasion style as needed
• Does a thorough research on how a person would benefit from one's own solution or proposal in order to make the persuasion exercise shorter and effective
• Prepares own presentation or the final solution after carefully assessing and understanding how others respond to own ideas
• Practices and rehearses how to present a situation and gets ready for all possible outcomes
• Uses both verbal and non-verbal persuasion skills; uses open, encouraging body language, not defensive or closed
• Approaches a person when he/she is more relaxed and open discussions in order to achieve faster and better results

Persuading Others: Meets Expectations Phrases

• Asks intelligent and thoughtful questions in order to get the other person to open up and talk about what he/she is passionate about
• Speaks in the affirmative in order to maintain directness and keep one's own intentions clear
• Is able to invoke a sense of urgency in order to get a person to act at the moment
• Is willing to keep asking for what one wants even when other people keep on turning one down
• Prepares for any contradictions by practicing own pitch and giving it a thorough evaluation before meeting the person one wants to persuade
• Remains calm in order to avoid an appearance of self-doubt and anxiety and speaks in a clear, straightforward manner
• Asks questions to find out why someone is hesitant to agree with one's ideas and backs up own statements with credible evidence
• Plans what one intends to say before one does so and then delivers it with conviction and confidence
• Puts oneself in the other person's shoes in order to understand the other person's feelings, motives, and situation better and build trust
• Gets to know the individual that one is hoping to persuade first, in order to create a bond and make the persuasion process easier

Persuading Others: Needs Improvement Phrases

• Tries too hard to persuade, which puts off people faster or makes them lose interest in what one has to say
• Provides too much information, which only gets people confused and makes them think that one is trying to blind them
• Makes assumptions about the person one is persuading and therefore is not able to reassess when new evidence emerges
• Thinks that one is perfect in persuasion and therefore fails to hone own skills instead of looking at areas where one needs to improve
• Gains power by undermining the position of the person one is trying to persuade making them feel less important during the meeting
• Does not respect the other person's ideas or suggestions; regards own ideas as the best and does not care about what others have to say
• Imposes one's own views instead of listening to what others have in mind and coming up with an agreement
• Does not take the time to find out what the other person really needs before starting the persuasion process
• Does not do enough research about the solution one is presenting thus gives the other person incomplete information
• Gets angry or upset when the person one is persuading refuses to buy one's idea or solution to a problem

Persuading Others: Self Evaluation Questions

• Describe a time when you have used persuasion to convince someone to see things your way. What tips did you use?
• Is there a time when you have had to persuade a group of managers to accept your proposal or idea? How did you go about it?
• What are some of the things that you have done to improve your ability to persuade others?
• When selling an idea, it is sometimes useful for one to use real-life stories. Can you give an example of a time when you were able to do that? What was the outcome?
• Can you describe a time when you have used facts to convince a customer to buy your products or services?
• Can you describe a time when you have successfully influenced your team members to embrace change? How did you go about it?
• What are some of the challenges you have faced when trying to persuade others and how have you overcome them?
• Can you describe a time when you have had to convince a difficult colleague to accept your idea?
• In your opinion, which is the best time to persuade others? Explain your answer
• Describe the most difficult persuasion exercise you have conducted. What made it difficult and how did you go about it?