Define Persuasion? Importance of Persuasion in Business Communication

Define Persuasion, Definition of Persuasion, Meaning of Persuasion

Persuasion is an art of influencing the mind of the listener and hence it should be done with great care. Persuasion may therefore be defined as “an effort to influence the attitudes, feelings or beliefs of others or to influence action based on those attitudes, feeling or beliefs.”

Persuasion is a communicative skill. It enables a persuader to present his point of view from the Receiver's point of view and induce the Receiver to act accordingly. Persuasion is very useful in internal management within an organization.

Persuasion as a skill requires.

1. Knowledge about the Receiver.
2. Intellectual appeals to arouse the Receiver's interest.
3. Presentation of one's interests from the Receiver's point of view.

Importance of Persuasion in Business Communication

Persuasion is important to a job-seeker. He can draft his job application on the basis of AIDA (Attention-Interest-Desire-Action) formula. His application must be drafted from employer's point of view.

A good salesman is expected to be excellent at persuasion otherwise he cannot arouse the buyer's interest. A good executive also needs persuasion. It is always better to persuade workers to take up a particular course or adopt new methods of operation in job than to order them to do so. Thus, persuasion is important in almost every activity related to business. Persuasion works both ways-downward and upward.

Advantages of Persuasion in Business Communication

Benefits of persuasion in business are given in the image below.

Image credits © Manoj Patil.

Benefits of persuasion in business skills are follwed:

1. Persuasion appeals to the self-interest of the people being convinced.
2. Persuasion is effective when the receiver is appealed orally.

Disadvantages of Persuasion in Business Communication

Disadvantages of persuasion in business are given in the image below.

Image credits © Manoj Patil.

Disadvantages of rational persuasion are follwed:

1. A salesman will glib (insincere) tongue can easily cheat a buyer by selling defective goods.
2. Persuasion is a double-edged weapon as sometimes the superior may be fulfilling his own self interest.