The Art of Woo

Using Strategic Persuasion to Sell Your Ideas
by G. Richard Shell & Mario Moussa
(27100)

Selling ideas is different from selling things. You have to “woo” people–win others over to your way of thinking. The Art of Woo is all about strategic persuasion, about using the strength of your relationship to get people’s attention, pitch your ideas and gain their approval. If you can get people to agree with you based on influence and persuasion rather than coercion or force, you have an excellent and valuable skill in your work repertoire.

Relationship-based persuasion almost always follows a distinctive and repeatable four-stop process:

The Art of Woo provides tools for a critically important activity in professional life: selling your ideas to people within the context of ongoing, important relationships. If you want to be a player in your organization, a successful partner with your customers or suppliers, a leader in your community, or even a good parent, you need to woo people to your point of view by putting your ideas across in convincing, relationship-friendly ways. Regardless of the context for your idea sale, the four-step Woo process constitutes the best practice for this art.

–G. Richard Shell and Mario Moussa

Sell your ideas or WOO (Win Others Over):

1. Survey your situation:

Assess persuasion styles

Polish your idea

Map decision process

Devise strategy

2. Confront the five barriers:

Poor credibility

Negative relationships

Communication problems

Contrary beliefs

Conflicts

3. Make your pitch:

Present evidence

Make solid arguments

Inject personal touch

4. Secure commitments:
Deal with politics

At individual level

Organizational level

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