I'm honored to have a guest post at Sources of Insight from Jay Heinrichs on The 10 Best Ways to Persuade.  Jay is the author of best seller Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion.   I originally found out about Jay's work through a mentor and it helped me greatly improve my effectiveness in key scenarios, as well as understand why and how influence works.

Here's a summary of the key techniques:

1. Switch to the future tense.
2. Use “code words.”
3. If you can’t think of anything to say, repeat what your opponent said.
4. When in doubt, concede.
5. Express your opinion reluctantly.
6. Image comes first.
7. After image, logic.
8. Save emotion for last.
9. Timing is … well, it’s pretty important.
10. The medium can help (or hurt) the message.