Storytelling Course Lesson 7: Add Credibility By Quoting Influencers

No matter how persuasive you are, certain members of the audience will tend to be more skeptical than others — They’ll look for loopholes in your arguments and search for evidence that bolsters their opinion.

Although appealing to emotion is important, it’s common for highly-emotional presenters to be associated more with conmen and snake oil salespeople simply because their presentations lack evidence.

Besides selecting relevant statistics and quantitative data to support your case, quotes can also be a very powerful addition to your persuasive presentation arsenal.

Imagine this:

Having the President of the United States speak on stage next to you saying that your ideas are impressive, true and that they should pay attention. Doesn’t that give you plenty of persuasive power?

The art of ‘credibility jacking’ or what some people would call the ‘Oprah effect’ or ‘social proof’ really lies in the opinion of a credible third party.

This doesn’t always have to be the most powerful person in the free world of course.
Even quotes from your customers will provide added value to the case you’re trying to make.

If you’re talking about big ‘new’ ideas at a conference, most people will be hesitant to adopt truly novel ideas that have yet to be proven. Consider quoting other prolific influencers in your space that have a similar (not the exact same) opinion.

If you’re selling your company service and product it helps to include client testimonials and case studies as examples to assure your prospect that you’re not simply pulling information out of the air. This works especially well if the profile of customers you choose to feature match the prospect.