Be More Persuasive By Speaking At A Comfy Pace And Taking Pauses

If you want to be more convincing, try adjusting the speed at which you speak and how many pauses you take while talking.

Photo by Erin and Joe.

In a recent study on speech, researchers analysed the speed, pitch, and fluency of 100 interviewers and compared how effective they were in persuading people to take a survey over the phone. They found that those who spoke at “a nice comfy pace”—three-and-a-half words per second—were more persuasive than slower or very fast talkers.

Also of note: those who took big pauses while speaking were always more successful than the perfectly fluent talkers.

So, the next time you want to convince your boss for a raise or be persuasive for another reason, sprinkle in some pauses and try talking at that “just right” speed.

How to Speak Persuasively [Scientific American]