OnlineBookClub.org

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Art of Influencing Anyone" by Niall Cassidy.]
People from all walks of life have at one point encountered a situation where the best and most desired results could not be achieved. Whether you are unemployed and attending many job interviews, a worker looking for a raise, or simply a parent trying to have your children listen to you. More often than not these problems stem from how efficiently you communicate and how you come across to others. In The Art of Influencing Anyone, Niall Cassidy explores the power of persuasion. Having a degree in psychology, Cassidy walks us through simple yet effective ways to delve into the human mind. By also using his experience in banking and insurance, Cassidy gives us an insight into helpful methods in communication and how useful they can be in any day situations.

As the title of this novel suggests, the main topic discussed is how to easily and successfully influence others. As humans, we are oftentimes conditioned to respond a certain way to outside stimuli. Cassidy here suggests that we can change these responses in people based on how we deliver a speech or by how we are perceived by others. These types of skills in communication can help anyone pass a job interview, make a sale, or simply reason with a friend. Regularly, a person’s capabilities alone are not enough to succeed. One must learn how to present oneself and how to accommodate others' opinions or feelings. For this reason it is stated that “if you do not have the respect and trust of your audience, then no matter how brilliant your speech is, they will refuse to believe you.” Having this respect will mean learning how to convince people of your expertise and appear to be someone of importance whom they shall listen to. Also explained are ways on how to make good impressions and on acquiring the attention of others on first meetings. Cassidy takes us through several methods of communication such as how to ask the proper questions to clients, being “artfully vague”, and how to use subtlety and indirectness to your advantage.

Social networking is not just about how many people you know, but also how much you can influence each of them.

Personally, I found this book to be very instructive and well written. The author covers all points accurately while offering anecdotes and examples on how to apply these skills in real life situations. Each of his methods are structured in a step-by-step analysis that is easy to understand and remember. The author also includes several case studies and experiments done in the fields of both sociology and psychology, that work as a basis for his explanations. Furthermore, a story is used throughout the book that deals with an exemplary salesperson. She is mentioned several times as the book progresses and her expertise in sales is often used to illustrate points made by the author. These anecdotes, I feel, made the author’s arguments more understandable, as an example was given for how to apply such methods.

Although this book is mostly directed at people working in sales, I do believe there are many things for others to learn from this. We do, after all, live in a highly social world where interaction is necessary. How to communicate well with others is a skill that one often needs to be successful in any part of life. For this reason, The Art of Influencing Anyone has several lessons that can not only be applied to business, but to one’s personal life as well. For example, we are instructed on how a mother was able to eliminate the fear her child had for an imaginary witch. Also relevant is the conditioning of behavior and how it was used to turn a man with a bad reputation into a gentleman. Lessons such as these, I believe, can be of importance to people both in their occupational fields and in their regular day to day lives.

The Art of Influencing Anyone is a great book to turn to when you need an extra bit of help to successfully achieve your goals. Whether you need help making that final sale, making a great impression on a job interview, or getting your children to settle down. This book contains very thorough and helpful information on how to effectively use persuasion and how to develop better communication skills. Cassidy manages to convey all this information to the reader while also making it easy to follow and comprehend. For the reasons above mentioned, I give The Art of Influencing Anyone 4 out of 4 stars.

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I thought this was an incredible review. Very informative. One of the first questions I had in my mind was whether or not is was mostly for a person in sales or for everyone, and they made sure to answer that. I am definitely a person who worries about first impressions, and in not being taken incredibly wrong and then by which to cause offense. The social world we live in definitely has all kinds of communication gaps, and this definitely sounds like something I should read to help close them. Adding this book to my reading list!

Thanks for a well written and thorough review. This sounds interesting.

Excellent review! I like that you mentioned that some of the lessons could be applied to one's personal life. Communication skills are so important in all walks of life, and this book seems to be a good tool in improving these skills. Well done!

A really well detailed review. The book seems quite interesting and instructive.

I am definitely adding this book to my reading list. One of the biggest problems that I have is persuading people to do things the way I think they should be done and I'm always looking for help in this area. I am a quiet person which I think could be why I have trouble getting people to listen to my ideas. Sometimes I let other people control situations that I think I could handle a lot better and even though this book sounds like it may be more for completing a sale, It sounds like it might be useful in my situation also, enough so that I would like to read it and give it a try. Nice review.

Great review! Really nice detail! I think we could all use a little help before a big event, and this book seems helpful!