Do I show you a powerpoint filled with bullets?

Or give you a spirited sales pitch while looking you in the eye…

Perhaps I should send a very attractive salesperson.

Do I amplify my word of mouth and be sure you hear about my idea from your friends or people you trust?

Do I minimize fear or maximize gain?

Should I give you more facts and figures or you want more stories?

Are you best persuaded when a famous person writes a foreword to a book or is the fact that your favourite author wrote a book good enough?

Are you best persuaded in a group, surrounded by your boss or your employees or your family or people you trust? Will it matter if those around you give me a standing ovation?

Are you moved by a BIG billboard on the side of a busy road, or are you convinced by a random act of caring and kindness that a company does?

Are you persuaded to sponsor an event because a famous person will be speaking or are you more delighted that ordinary people who truly matter are in the room?

Should I give you a VIP ticket to a big concert or should I give you time and space to think about our proposal?

Can I persuade you over time, slowly drip, by drip, by drip, or do you respond better if you feel an avalanche of emotion coming?

Will you change your mind if I’m funny? Or if I scare you to pieces?

Perhaps there is no way you will be persuaded.

Perhaps nothing I can say will make a difference. However, you have told yourself that before and been wrong…

Will you buy if you get a discount? What if the price is high and going up tomorrow?

Will you buy if it is affordable to everyone? or you want it to be elegant, exclusive and elite?

Do you want to be the first person to embrace an idea (or the last)?

Here is the thing:

Unlike every other species, human beings make decisions differently from one another.

And the thing that persuades you is unlikely to be the thing that persuades the next guy.

Our personal outlook is a lousy indicator of what works for anyone else.