To be completely honest, everyone. Persuasion is so pervasive that you can pretty much equate it with communication. Any time you communicate with another person (or even to yourself), you have a need to persuade.
Do you want to change a habit of yours? You need to persuade yourself to make the required changes. Do you need to teach something to someone? You need to persuade them to see the information in a way that makes sense to them and is easy to remember. Do you want to communicate your experiences to someone else? Power persuasion allows you to give them a full, rich experience that will have meaning and impact.
To communicate effectively, you need to persuade the listener to accept the information and to interpret it in the way you intend. While this may not normally be described as ‘selling’, you are in fact selling your prospect (the listener) on the idea that what you say has validity. Only when they have ‘bought’ that concept will you have effectively communicated your message.
Because of the fact that even the most rudimentary forms of communication can be described in terms of selling, you will notice that throughout this course we use terms such as ‘prospect’, ‘product’, ‘offer’, and others that are usually used in the selling field. This was done simply because the majority of readers will be involved with selling at some level, and it just makes sense to accommodate as many people as possible.
Although I have used a number of selling terms in the course, this material can be used for any persuasion situation, whether you are seducing a potential lover, motivating a child to follow the rules of the house, or giving a friend the inspiration they need to pursue a goal. Just keep in mind that the person you’re trying to persuade is being referred to as your ‘prospect’, and the thing that you are persuading this person to do is being referred to as your ‘product’, or your ‘offer’. You have sold your product to your prospect when the person you’re persuading agrees to do the thing you want them to do.