To people like marketers and advertisers, there is a hidden wish for people to just stick to their “gut feel” (or peripheral route). The reason for this is quite simple. With the peripheral route, a person is more likely to respond to cues or signals.

These signals can be given out or expressed in such a manner that the other person will be led to believe in something or the other person can be convinced to do something after the persuasive message has been conveyed.

One of the most powerful peripheral cues that you can use is similarity. Similarity to your audience can be expressed in many, many ways. I’ll leave you to figure out how to create the similarities, but I’m going to give you some major clues:

• Appearance
• Values
• Attitudes
• Social group
• Social categories

If you can utilize some or all of these forms of similarity, you can be sure that your persuasive message would have a much larger impact on people because you are showing them that you are not only persuasive but you share direct similarities with them.

By expressing similarities to your audience, you are giving them a direct message that you are not foreign/alien and therefore, you should be trusted because you share a commonality with each and every one of them.

Though this approach may sound old (and I’m not going to hide the fact that it is one of foundational principles in disciplines like marketing) it does work and it will continue to work because you are tapping into the primordial region of someone’s mind when you use a peripheral cue like similarity. People are hardwired to accept similarity as a sign that the other person can be trusted.

The second peripheral cue that you should pay attention is attractiveness. Now don’t get me wrong: I know that everyone is unique and there is no real standard of beauty that can be followed each and every time.

However, it is also true that people who come close to standards of attractiveness tend to be more persuasive than those who do not make an effort to make themselves look good.

So if you are always out in the field, you have to do something about the way you look. You have to exert effort to look really good so people would be drawn to your message and they would respond more readily to you because you are attractive. Attractiveness, though it is a physical trait, is reflected not only by your bone structure but also how you dress yourself, how you carry yourself in public, etc.

The third peripheral cue that you should never forget is credibility. To be a credible person, you have to show people that you are unbiased in your views and you are some that should be trusted by others.

One easy way of appearing to be a credible person is by showcasing your knowledge of a particular topic. So if you are trying to sell a water filtration system to a company, you will appear more credible if you can answer all of the client’s questions and you also have the initiative to volunteer information to your client.

Now, I know that for some of you, it is very difficult to appear as an expert because there will always be older and more seasoned competition around you. Don’t worry about them.

Just do your homework and do your best to present information the way an expert would – with no hesitation and with utmost conviction. Even if the other person is not persuaded by your arguments right now it is possible that you will be able to persuade that person at a later date.

Why am I saying this? Well, social psychologists have identified a peculiar tendency in people when it comes to so-called credible sources.

It appears that over time, a person’s conviction that he should only listen to one source alone decays and eventually, that person will choose to listen to other sources as long as the other sources are providing clear information and sound arguments.