Effective business development (BD) requires you to be able to influence others but how can lawyers and accountants influence colleagues, clients, and professional contacts?
Whether it’s in an internal planning meeting, a client pitch, or a talk at a conference you will have to win people to your way of thinking.
How can you influence colleagues, clients and professional contacts to come to your way of thinking is the right way of thinking?
The easiest way to persuade someone your idea or proposal is the best approach is to frame what you say around something they agree with or a goal you share.
Begin (in a friendly way) with the end in mind and work back from there. This means focusing on the benefits that your audience are motivated in … typically these will be saving time, saving/making money, and/or saving hassle.
Get the other person to say “yes”. If you can get them to say yes, your idea will be received with very little resistance as there is a clear logic flow.
You also need to be prepared to let the other person do a great deal of talking. This achieves 3 things:
1 They feel listened to (which is critical to gaining their agreement)
2 You will learn what is really important to the other person
3 You will be able to better frame what you want to say around more relevant and congruent reference points, e.g., a company vision, a new product or service line, a restructuring, etc.
And let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers. This way they will be more invested in the idea.
Throughout this interaction you must try and see things from the other person’s point of view and be sympathetic with their ideas and desire.
If you’d like to improve your influencing skills, please get in touch and we can explain how our BD specialist BD coaching helps lawyers and accountants improve the way they influence colleagues, clients, and professional contacts.