Rational Persuasion
Convincing
a Client
Convincing a client to purchase a
product from a specific organization rather than the competitors requires the
use of rational persuasion techniques. I was
faced with a situation where I had to convince a client to purchase footwear
from the company I was representing. The prices of the footwear business are
almost inelastic because the cost of production and the subsequent costs of
bringing the product to the market are uniform in all organizations. In most
cases, organizations that sell footwear do not have the control of the prices
of the products. Manufacturers set the prices of footwear, thus making it hard
for retailers to adjust the prices. As such, the competition in the market is in the ability of the sales
person to convince the consumer of the other financial and social benefits that
come along with purchasing the product (Grobe 22).
The customers interest in this
scenario included security, economic well-being
and the degree of control of one’s life.
The customer required a product that would
serve their needs for the longest time possible at the lowest price.
Additionally, purchasing the footwear would give the customer a certain control
over her life. On the other hand, my interest included a sense of belonging and
recognition. Selling the goods to the customer will earn the company
recognition in the market. Additionally, I would receive recognition in the
organization as a competent sales person. On the other hand, the footwear gave
the consumer a sense of belonging. Different footwear are associated with different
social status within the society (Grobe 9). As such, the footwear would help
the consumer identify with the right class of people within the society.
Both
the customer and I were quite informed about the product. I understood the specific needs of the
consumer such as the need to fit in the right status within the society, hence
my success in convincing them to purchase the product. The customer
understood the value of the product and the credibility of the production company,
which aided in the negotiations. Both parties had the relative bargaining
leverage (Tsai 79). The customer could acquire the product from a different
store while the sales person would achieve the required sales from a different
consumer. The timing was ideal for both sides because the client needed the product, and the sales person had the item
ready.
As mentioned earlier, the prices of
footwear are fixed so I could not lower the prices to convince the client.
However, I convinced the customer that some of the profits earned from the sale
of such products would be used in helping
the needy people within the society. The information that I had about the class
of people that wore such footwear enabled me to appeal to their desire to help the society in any way possible. I explained
how the organization has been of benefit to different charities within the
society that are well known to the client. Further, I explained the plans of
the company to invest in a charity organization that helps the children
affected by HIV in the developing nations to acquire ideal education and health
services. The major limitation of the rational persuasion technique, in this case, was the lack of an
ideal incentive to persuade the consumer. In the future, I would prefer to use
a combination of persuasion techniques if faced with the same situation (Tsai
89).
Persuading
Team Members to Work Extra Hours
As a team
leader, I had to persuade my fellow workers to work for ten hours five days in
every week rather than eight hours for
six days in a week. We were to carry out different tasks that required a
maximum of ten hours to complete each. As
such, the team needed to work an extra two hours than the normal shift to achieve
the intended goals. Some people prefer spending short periods with their
families every day. Therefore, I had to convince the staff that the time family
time would be compensated during the weekend
and the extra day of rest.
The team’s interest included
security, economic wellbeing, and recognition. Achieving success in the team
project will lead to promotions and possible wage increment for the team.
Additionally, the team that succeeded in producing better results would achieve
job security, which further relates to the economic
stability of the team members (Grobe 21). The company rewarded productivity;
therefore, completing each task will
guarantee the team member recognition within the company. Team working gives
employees a sense of belonging. Consequently, when employees influence the
success of the company they become aware of their contributions to the firm
hence a sense of ownership. As a team leader, the same interest applied to me
because I was part of the team.
The entire team was quite informed of the requirements of the
company on the team. Everyone understood
what was at stake in case of failure, thus making it easy to convince the team.
As a leader, I understood the needs of different people from the group, which
gave me an upper hand in persuading them to take the deal. Most of the team members
were unmarried or young couples who needed time to party and go out. Therefore,
working extra hours to have one day off
was an ideal offer. The consequence of not reaching an agreement was a step
one, but the alternative would still have yielded the results. As such, the
team had a higher bargaining advantage than I did (Tsai 100). Time did not have
an impact on either party because we had the same deadline.
To get the team to do what I preferred,
I convinced them that working extra hours would give them enough time to enjoy
their social lives and remain productive. Working for six days a week
compromised the quality of the teams work because people would be tired and missing their social lives. As
such, working extra hours in a day allowed the team members to improve their personal productivity and achieve the
intended individual success. Consequently, the extra hours would allow employees
to exploit their potential and allow members to grow in different areas of
their lives. Spending more time with colleagues in a day helps employees to
develop ideal behaviors necessary for growth and development in the workplace. Therefore, I convinced the team that
if we worked together for the extra two hours in a day we would get to know
each other better and learn how to handle different situations in the workplace. In general, I appealed to the team
that my proposal would help us balance our career and social lives. The
approach did not depict any limitation in this case. However, in the future, I
would prefer to use a mixture of persuasion approaches of faced with a similar situation (Grobe 26).
Works
Cited
Grobe,
Christian. “The power of words: argumentative persuasion in international
negotiations.” European journal of
international, 16.1 (2010): 5-29. Print.
Tsai,
George. “Rational Persuasion as Paternalism.” Philosophy and public affairs, 42.1 (2014): 78-112. Print.
What Students Are Saying About Us
.......... Customer ID: 12*** | Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐"Honestly, I was afraid to send my paper to you, but splendidwritings.com proved they are a trustworthy service. My essay was done in less than a day, and I received a brilliant piece. I didn’t even believe it was my essay at first 🙂 Great job, thank you!"
.......... Customer ID: 14***| Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
"The company has some nice prices and good content. I ordered a term paper here and got a very good one. I'll keep ordering from this website."
