89 The Skills of Persuasion Delivering effectively Delivery means supporting your ideas with effective behaviour.
Chapter 2 showed how non-verbal communication is a vital
component in creating understanding. When you are seeking to
persuade, your behaviour will be the most persuasive thing about
you. If you are saying one thing but your body is saying another,
no one will believe your words.
Think about the style of delivery your listener might prefer.
Do they favour a relaxed, informal conversational style or a more
formal, presentational delivery? Are they interested in the broad
picture or do they want lots of supporting detail? Will they want
to ask questions?
Delivery is broadly about three kinds of activity. Think about
the way you use your:
• eyes; • voice; • body. Effective eye contact People speak more with their eyes than with their voice. Maintain
eye contact with your listener. If you are talking to more than one
person, include everybody with your eyes. Focus on their eyes:
don’t look through them. There are two occasions when you
might break eye contact: when you are thinking about what to say
next; and when you are looking at notes, a mindmap or some
other object of common attention.
Using your voice Your voice will sound more persuasive if it is not too high, too
fast or too thin. Work to regulate and strengthen your breathing
while you speak. Breathe deep and slow. Let your voice emerge
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90 Improve your Communication Skills more from your body than from your throat. Slow down the pace
of your voice, too: it can be all too easy to gabble when you are
involved in an argument or nervous about the other person’s
reactions. The more body your voice has, and the more measured
your vocal delivery, the more convincing you will sound.
