How to persuade an audience when they don't like your ideas

Have you ever had to persuade a sceptical audience? Maybe you were trying to get the audience to switch from their current supplier to your company. Or perhaps you are an entrepreneur with a great but new and strange idea pitching to a group of venture capitalists. Or maybe you want to present a promising proposal that contradicts the conventional wisdom in your organization. It is very likely that in all these scenarios, your audience will be sceptical about your proposition. But it is still your job to persuade them. How can you do it?In this article, I share one of the techniques you can apply to increase your chances of getting buy-in even with a disagreeable audience. I’ll tell you what the technique is, how to apply it and why it works. Let us begin.

Who is a sceptical or hostile audience?

It would be helpful to clarify what a hostile audience is here in the beginning. Audience agreement ranges broadly from extremely agreeable (fans) through neutral to extremely disagreeable (antagonists). I rate a sceptical audience as falling about one notch of neutral to the disagreeable side. And the hostile audience falls about two to three notches on the side of disagreeable.The key to being able to persuade this type of audience lies in understanding one simple fact - this audience is already invested in their position of disagreement.This realization is key.Unlike the neutral or agreeable audience, this person or group is actively or semi-actively resistant to your idea or message. This calls for a different approach to persuasion.

The Technique

The right technique when dealing with a disagreeable audience is this - intentionally soften your stance.You would think that persuading a disagreeable audience would call for more force, not less. You would think that, but you would be wrong. The human mind just does not work that way.When you are speaking to people (or a person) who already shares your beliefs, it is fine to really dig into the idea. You can use strong, affirmative vocabulary like “must”, “cannot” and “certainly”. You can be more forceful and even a bit preachy – after all, you would be preaching to the converted.All this flies out the window if that audience is sceptical or downright hostile.So, what do you do instead? You soften your stance. How do you do it? Here is one easy and effective tool you can employ – wiggle words.

Use wiggle-words

In an earlier post, I said you should avoid using weasel words in your presentations as this could weaken your persuasiveness. You can read that article here.However, in this situation, you are faced with a defensive (or offensive) audience. Therefore, you want to use words that give the agency to the listener. The listener must feel that they are making the choice to entertain your ideas because they want to. Not because you said so. For this reason, I recommend using wiggle words.Wiggle words give you room to, well, wiggle. They imply flexibility on your part and subtly request the same on the part of the listener. Let me illustrate.

Assertions, suggestions and maybes

Instead of saying“I am telling you that our current strategic plan focusses resources in the wrong areas”.Say something along the lines of“I am here to suggest to you that perhaps our strategy would be more effective if we allocated our resources differently”.In the first example, your audience will likely switch off. In the second, they may give your idea a chance. Why? Because by suggesting instead of telling, you relinquish the power to the listener. And the dynamic of power is crucial in persuading a hostile audience.

Use with care and consideration

This form of communication should not make up the entirety of your speech, but it should be employed in the more contentious bits. You might not have the audience breaking into exuberant songs of agreement at your proposal. They are a hostile audience after all. But you just might succeed in getting them to consider your position and hopefully, being open to continuing the conversation. And that is one step closer to winning them over to your side.Till the next post, speak with skill.