Influence Tactics Essay

Tactics

It's been my experience that combining multiple forms of persuasion are the most effective. All of these forms of persuasion work best when they are presented in a positive context and quickly answering the "what's in it for me?" question for those being influenced. A large part of any successful influence effort is making the entire discussion positive, centered on those one is trying to influence. An example of deciding to go and visit relatives in Los Angeles is a case in point.

The majority of my family doesn't particularly like air travel with a few afraid of flying. Given the distance to Los Angeles, this made influencing them all the more challenging. Conversely, there are many attractions and things to do in Los Angeles and Orange County, and my entire family loves Disneyland. With a family friend attending UCLA and my aunt and uncle having moved there because they fell in love with the climate and found good jobs, the challenge was set.

Influencing the oldest members of the group (my family) proved to be the easiest, as their affinity for seeing relatives and their nephew, who is the latest success story of our extended family, was powerful.I started out explaining how we could see our relatives, go tour the UCLA campus while also visiting Westwood, Santa Monica and its many beaches. Using the influence of family ties to see my cousin, the beaches of Santa Monica and also visit Universal Studios worked well for the oldest people I attempted to influence. I continually stressed what was in it for them and that nearly won them over. Combining the inspirational appeals of seeing something new while visiting with relatives and underscoring it with legitimating collation, these combined approaches to influence showed signs of getting the decision to visit moving towards action.

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