Your dream deal is one signature away. The ROI makes perfect sense, and your solution solves real problems. But three stubborn stakeholders keep saying no. Sound familiar? Even the best business case falls flat without strong influencing skills to back it up.
Ask any successful sales leader or procurement pro – they’ll tell you the same truth: facts and figures alone never close major deals. The magic happens when you can turn tough critics into true believers. When you can help resistant decision-makers catch your vision, when you can build real relationships with the people who hold the power to say yes.
So, if you want to unlock that deal-closing magic, consider mastering these ten core influencing skills that separate the closers from the almost-closers:
Negotiation
Let’s be real – nobody likes feeling cornered into a bad deal. The best negotiators know this isn’t about winning at all costs. It’s about finding that sweet spot where both sides walk away happy. Imagine you’re facing a massive contract renewal. Your client just dropped the budget bomb – they need a 30% cost reduction, or they’ll have to look elsewhere. Most sellers would panic, slash their prices, or walk away. But what if you flipped the script? You could spread payments over 18 months instead of 12. Or bundle in some high-value services that cost you little. Help them find savings in other areas to offset your cost, get creative, and put smart negotiation to work.
Persuasion
Force someone’s hand today and lose their trust forever. True persuasion looks different. Think about that last time someone pushed you hard to buy something – how did it feel? That pressure probably made you want to run the other way. Smart influencers know that real persuasion means helping people arrive at conclusions on their own. Suppose you’re selling a pricey software upgrade. You could hammer them with feature lists and pressure tactics. Or you could ask questions that get them thinking: “What’s it costing you to maintain that legacy system? How many hours does your team waste on manual workarounds? What opportunities are you missing because your old system can’t handle them?” When prospects connect these dots themselves, they become their own best salespeople—no strong-arming needed.
Empathy
“Put yourself in their shoes” sounds simple. However, empathy may be one of the most challenging influencing skills to master. Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning reports that even though 78% of senior leaders acknowledge the importance of empathy, only 47% believe their companies effectively practice it. When that CFO seems fixated on cost, dig deeper. Maybe they’re under pressure to cut spending this quarter. Maybe they got burned by a similar purchase before. Understanding their real concerns – their fears, pressures, and goals – helps you address what truly matters to them.
Networking
Your network is your net worth? Cliché, but true. Potential deals are lurking everywhere you look without you realizing it. In-person and online, it’s all important. Whether a LinkedIn connection from six months ago or an industry conference where you grabbed coffee with a potential client, every relationship you build today creates possibilities tomorrow. Smart networking means playing the long game – helping others succeed with no immediate payback.
Motivation
Strong influencing skills start with understanding what truly drives people. Forget your reasons – focus on theirs—picture selling manufacturing equipment to a plant manager. You could talk about efficiency rates and ROI all day. But what if you discovered his real motivation? Maybe he’s tired of getting midnight calls about broken machines. Maybe his team is frustrated with constant repairs. Perhaps he’s up for promotion and needs a big win. Once you know what drives him – a peaceful night’s sleep, happier employees, career advancement – you can show how your solution delivers precisely that.
Trust
Trust is everything when it comes to influencing others. Imagine discovering your solution isn’t quite right for a major prospect. The commission from that deal would hit your quarterly target. Your sales manager is counting on it. But something’s off with the fit. You could push ahead and make it work. But what if you took the harder road? What if you actually told them, “Listen, I don’t think we’re your best option right now. Here’s why…” Sure, you’d lose the deal. Your quarter might hurt. But something powerful happens when you put their interests first – you build the kind of trust that lasts. They may come back next year with an even bigger opportunity or refer you to someone else who’s a perfect fit. Maybe your honesty today sets up your biggest win tomorrow. That’s the thing about trust and influencing others – short-term pain often leads to long-term gain.
Communication
Watch your customer’s body language in your next tough negotiation. Those crossed arms, and that tight smile tell you more than their polite “maybe” ever will. Active listening sets the foundation – catching every subtle shift in tone, unconscious gesture, and hesitation in their voice. What sets you apart is knowing that clear beats clever every time. Drop the fancy jargon and corporate speak. When you explain your complex solution, like talking to a friend over coffee, something powerful happens – people lean in, get it, and trust you. Million-dollar deals turn on your ability to truly listen, read the room, and explain things in plain English.
Conflict Resolution
Here’s what separates the deal makers from the deal breakers: not cleverness in negotiations but their ability to work through tough problems when everything seems stuck. Think about the last time you hit a wall with a key supplier or customer – when conversations turned tense and progress seemed impossible. Those make-or-break situations reveal an uncomfortable truth: no amount of negotiating tactics or positional power can replace genuine problem-solving ability. The leaders who consistently build lasting influence aren’t necessarily the smartest or most forceful – they’re the ones who stay clear-headed during conflicts, dig deeper to understand what’s causing friction and work creatively to find solutions that move things forward.
Preparation
Finally, solid preparation makes all the difference in your ability to influence. Remember that pit in your stomach when you’re caught flat-footed in a meeting, stumbling through responses while watching everyone’s eyes glaze over? The magic happens when you’ve done the work beforehand. While others rush from meeting to meeting, hoping to wing it, you can stand out by showing up ready to deliver real value from minute one. Your preparation goes beyond having answers – it shows people their time and priorities genuinely matter to you. When you walk in confident and prepared, you create the kind of focused, high-impact conversations that busy leaders appreciate. It’s about making every minute count and leaving them thinking, “Now that was time well spent.”
Where Influence Training Comes Into Play
Want to know what moves the needle in today’s business world? It’s not just what you know but how effectively you can influence others to take action. We see it daily: the impact is incredible when teams sharpen their influencing skills. Organizations aren’t just seeing better collaboration and stronger relationships – they’re watching their bottom line transform, with income per employee more than doubling and productivity jumping by 17%. Think about it: when nearly 60% of your people say they’re performing better because they’ve learned to influence more effectively, that’s a game-changer for your entire organization.
At Shapiro Negotiation Institute (SNI), we’ve walked alongside over 250,000 professionals like you, helping them become more influential leaders who get things done. We’re not about dusty textbooks or theoretical frameworks – we’re about giving you fundamental tools that work in your world right now. Whether you want to strengthen your team’s influence through our interactive workshops, get real-time coaching on high-stakes situations, or bring these skills to life through our cutting-edge virtual platforms, we’re here to help you make it happen.
Ready to see how stronger influencing skills could transform your team’s success? Let’s talk. Reach out to SNI today, learn more about our influence training, and let’s build something powerful together.
