The persuasion process is nothing more than an exchange of information.  But you have to pay attention to the type of information that you're about to divulge during that exchange.  One of the most important aspects is that it's not overwhelming or too in-depth.  We've all heard the expression “TMI” or too much information. Simply put, too many choices confuse people.  Too much information will then overwhelm someone.  Giving too much information also elevates the risk that you might say something that could deter them or change their pattern of thinking to not be compliant with what you're asking for.  I've seen this occur thousands of times where salespeople actually talk themselves and the target out of the sale by simply going on and on and on.

So now the question is how much information do you actually divulge when speaking to someone?  Well the answer to this question is that you simply need to figure out whether this person processes information centrally or peripherally.  If they are analyzing scrutinizing and really paying close attention to the information that you're giving them, than they are processing it centrally.  If they are turning to other cues, such as images or positive values to make their decision, then they are processing it peripherally, which means that their decision to comply actually has nothing to do with your information or your message at all.  If they are coming from a central standpoint, and really enjoy evaluating information, you must be prepared to give them as much information as possible.  And if they come from a peripheral standpoint where they're really not evaluating information at all, then avoid going into great detail at all costs, as this will ultimately lead them to say no.  Once you figured out how much information you need to give them, you must figure out how to structure that information for your message.

Your information is going to be based on how much information this person has on the topic before you even start speaking.  In the end, chances are they will either have extensive knowledge about what you have to offer or were not knowledgeable.  They will either be an expert or not an expert.  You will have to present information to these two types of people much differently.

People who have extensive knowledge in a certain area do not need to learn about the benefits of what you have to offer, because what they are going to do is simply link whatever you are telling them to whatever they have already stored in their memory about a topic.  So for them, you focus on features, which you better make sure you know a heck of a lot about.  If you appear to lack knowledge about what you're offering, you will lose them completely.  When dealing with a person that has no idea or any prior knowledge, the key is to give less information so they can process quickly and in your favor.  With this type of a person, you would spend most of your time on benefits, as peripheral cues play a big role in influencing this type of individual.

There are certain things that you can do with your message to make it more powerful.  The first is repeating it over and over again, through repetition.  The key is to make it sound different each time, so that it doesn't sound as though you only have one thing to offer and you just keep returning back to it.  The core of the message should always be the same thought.  You should focus on the delivering the message in different ways so that it becomes embedded in the person's mind, but doesn't sound like you're rambling on.

When structuring your message, you also want to focus on why the information that you have, whether it's about yourself, your product, or service, is different from that of your competition.  What this will do is enable that person to remember you in some way.  If people don't remember you, there is no way they could ever comply with you.  Also, make your message easy for them to remember so that they can repeat it back to someone else if they want.  People will logically try to justify any decision that they've made after they've done it. If your message can be easily repeated to themselves or someone else they will feel much more confident about their decision to comply with you.

If they make a decision to comply with you, and then later on find themselves scratching their heads not even really understanding what your message was, they are likely to experience buyer’s remorse, which is something that you don't want.  The next factor that's going to determine how well you play the game is how much your target knows about the benefits of what you have to offer before you even speak to them.  If they have extensive knowledge about the benefits and there is no need for you to stress them in that case, just simply speak to how they attained that knowledge and focus on the features of what you have to offer.  Taking this action will reinforce all of the benefits that they have already learned about.  When you're speaking to someone that has no clue about what you have to offer, then, of course, you must educate this person and explain the benefits of everything you bring to the table.  The next factor that's going to determine your success to influence someone to do something is whether or not you appear to be an authority figure.  They must trust that your knowledge, education, experience or expertise in something makes you the go to person.

The next factor that will determine your success is your ability to help them create a vision of using your product or service will for them.  This works extremely well when dealing with people that have limited knowledge or are not experts, because if people can see themselves using your product or service, they are more likely to want it and to remember it more.  But if you're dealing with an expert, who knows everything there is to know about what you have to offer, don't spend time trying to paint a picture.  In this case, the person has probably already done this in his or her mind when he or she initially began learning about it.