Build Your Influencing Skills
In business, you impact people every day. As a human being, you impact people every day. Even when you’re not selling, you’re still having an impact on your family, on people you meet, and those working with you. Everyone knows that first impressions matter, and that we’ve only got one chance to make that first impression.
But do you feel that you’re making the best impression you can? Do you feel that you’re the best you can be with regards to being able to deliver your ideas with a lasting impact? Would you agree that no matter how great your opportunity or idea is, if the delivery isn’t top-notch, then the chances of it surviving are slim? This is where Influencing Styles come into play.
What are Influencing Skills?
The word influence conjures up someone who can get things done. Someone of power. The definition of ‘Influence’ is ‘the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behaviour of someone or something, or the effect itself’.
The capacity to have an effect. That’s quite a powerful thought. And influence, as we said, is power. To use it wisely, it helps to know yourself and what your influencing style is, as well as other common styles. If, however, you want to know how to improve influencing skills, we can help you find better ways to do so.
Give some thought as to how you influence others, and what sorts of techniques and behaviours you use. Were you aware that each of us naturally reverts to the same influence techniques each time? Furthermore, as a result of those tactics working on others, we are most influenced by the same methods ourselves. We can teach you how to impact and influence others.
What are the 5 Main Influencing Styles?
A little research reveals that there are many different influencing styles, but there are some traits common to all the lists. Forbes magazine lists five categories, as defined in a 2010 study:
- Asserting
- Convincing
- Negotiating
- Bridging
- Inspiring
…are all effective styles depending on the situation and people involved. Not all of these styles work for all situations, and in our unique Influencing Skills training course we help you learn how to harness your own style and judge when to utilise other styles.
- If you are a challenging personality, using facts and reasoning as well as demanding your ideas are heard, you use an Asserting style of influence.
- If you are more subtle with your logic and reasoning, putting forward your ideas with a rational persuasion, then you are using a Convincing style.
- A person who searches for compromises and seeks a result which gives a better outcome, and is happy to make trade-offs, uses a Negotiating style.
- An Inspiring style is easy to spot as the person is encouraging, communicating a shared sense of purpose. This helps to ensure the group as a whole feels good about the outcome and are enthused about the possibilities, often through inspirational stories.
- And someone using a Bridging style will attempt to ‘bridge the gap’ with others by building relationships and making connections.
How Can You Improve Your Influencing Styles?
Did you find yourself in that group? Do you remember specific situations where one style worked over another? If reading this far makes you wonder how to improve influencing skills, then find out what topics we cover on our Influencing Skills training course.
We help you to improve your skills set by identifying and understanding your unique influencing styles. We then help determine in which situations it would be appropriate. Also, we help you to learn to use alternative styles, providing you with a full set of interpersonal techniques. What do you know about body language and nonverbal skills? These are also important tools for your success and we are here to make you the best you can be.
These are not ‘soft’ or ‘fluffy’ skills – they are essential in today’s business community. Negotiating requires a full quiver of many different arrows. MBM is expert in helping you to choose the right one.
Improve Your Influencing Skills with Training
At MBM we strive to give you the tools to deliver that top-notch pitch in order to clinch the deal. Your success is important to us, and we’ve got a programme specifically tailored to you and your business. Find out more about the people development products we offer. We train differently, using our unique Sticky Learning ® training method, which means you are much more likely to change your behaviours with us, than anybody else.
Our unique Influencing skills training takes place not in one large chunk, but in two and a half days. We deliberately space the training six months apart to give you the chance to practice your newfound influencing style. Sandwiched in between these classroom days, you will be challenged with case studies, videos, research papers and exercises. Using them in your daily interactions with people will help guide you towards the ultimate goal of improved influencing skills. The second day gives you the opportunity to realise and identify at least one example of a change in your influencing style which has impacted your bottom line.
