David Voelker

Background

About David Voelker

Achieving goals often requires persuading people to do things. The first step in gaining people’s cooperation is building a model of their decision-making process and its influences: their own needs, limits, values, fears, and other motivators. Some of these are usually known; others need to be researched or estimated. Based on this model, a strategic persuasion plan is developed, the heart of which is a set of messages carefully crafted with the right language and tone and designed to leverage likely motivators. People’s decisions are influenced by both "cold"(cognitive) factors and "warm"(emotional) factors. Sometimes a well-supported logical argument that anticipates and addresses all concerns is sufficient to persuade. But people’s decisions can also be influenced by their incidental likes and dislikes and by subconscious biases. Advertisers and marketers have been using these psychological side doors to persuasion successfully for years. No attempt to persuade can ever be guaranteed to succeed. But having an expert on board who can apply the principles of human influence compiled over decades of research gives an edge that can mean the difference between success and failure. I help clients with a wide range of persuasive and other communication needs, from mission-critical compliance-gaining initiatives to reviewing internal communications for improvements to readability and impact. I can be reached at dvoelker8 [at] dvoelker.e4ward.com.