Mastering the art of persuasion: by Jeremy Tiers
Just about every successful admissions recruiter I’ve ever met has mastered the art of persuasion.
If you want to do a better job persuading this next class of prospects then try implementing these two persuasion-boosters into your conversation:
- Figure out whether you need to talk faster or slower. Did you know that it’s better to talk faster if your prospect is likely to disagree with you, or have doubts about your school? That’s because it gives them less time to formulate their own counter-opinions, and makes it more likely that they’ll accept your super confident talking points as truth. Plus, it also makes it less likely that their mind will wander and they’ll stop paying attention. Conversely, if you’re talking to a prospect who’s likely to agree with you, or is excited about you and your school, you should slow your rate of speech down. If you want more proof, here’s an insane amount of research that backs up the points I’m making. Being persuasive involves giving off the right “feel” to your prospect.
- Share both the positives and the negatives. As I’ve said before, this generation of students, and their parents, are looking for people who are transparent and demonstrate honesty throughout the recruitment process. It’s okay to show your cracks…in fact I’d encourage you to do so. I don’t know of any college or university in the country that’s perfect in every way. When you don’t touch on those perceived negatives understand that many of your prospects assume that you’re trying to hide something. Don’t lend credence to that notion by not having a conversation when the time is right. If you don’t, I assure you that someone else will, and who knows how they’ll frame that discussion.