Rhetoric

“We can all benefit from learning to influence, persuade, negotiate, train and sell to others in a variety of contexts from direct selling to clients to coaching, team building, appraising, motivating and leading” (Atkinson, 2012). Rhetoric is a tool that we can use throughout our careers and in our daily lives. I will be defining rhetoric, listing the benefits of persuasion, the five stages of the persuasion process, and how I feel persuasion will help me in my profession.
Rhetoric is “the art or skill of speaking or writing formally and effectively especially as a way to persuade or influence people” (Merriam-Webster, 2014). There are many benefits to using persuasion while working with clients. “Persuasion plays a key part in engendering attitudinal and behavioral change” (Hassan & Michaelidou, 2013). Therapists are often trying to guide their clients towards behavioral changes and persuasion is a technique they can use to do so. Another benefit is that we are able to “control the flow of conversation and are constantly reviewing the focus and the potential outcomes through conversational change techniques” (Atkinson, 2012). This means that as therapists we would be able to see where a conversation with a client could be going in a negative direction and using our persuasive skills, we could turn the conversation back towards a more positive route. This also allows therapists to lead the client into talking about information that could help them understand the client better. Another benefit would be “having confidence to sell services and oneself” (Atkinson, 2012). It is important for the therapist to sell themselves to patients and others in the profession. In order for the client to feel comfortable and trust, the therapist needs to persuade the client that they are knowledgeable and able to help them. The therapist may also need to sell different techniques and tools to their client. Using persuasion they can inform the client about their best options for