SamTastic Weekly Tip: 2/17/26 - Use Three Strategies to Be More Persuasive
- Jim Mercer
- Feb 16
- 2 min read
This week’s tip: Use Three Strategies to Be More Persuasive
Leadership is the art of taking a person or group to a destination they might not reach on their own. Persuasion is a skill effective school leaders use to do this daily. Can you improve your persuasion skills? Communications guru Jefferson Fisher thinks you can by using three simple strategies:
#1. Make them first
Let the person you want to persuade be the first to hear something, be told something, or share something with.
It can be as easy as “I just had a thought that I wanted to run by you first.” People love to be first. It makes them more attentive and more likely to do what you ask.
#2. Anchor with positivity
Begin your sentence with “Because I know…” and tag a positive quality about them. For example: “Because I know I can count on you” or “Because I know you to be a dependable person.” What you’re doing is anchoring your message to a positive quality, making them much more likely to follow through.
#3. Use your voice
You might think you’ve written the perfect email or the perfect text, but nothing will replace the human connection of hearing your voice.
So call them—or even better—meet them face to face. You will always be more persuasive when you use your voice.
Congratulations Mahomet-Seymour Community School District SAM Teams!
All four schools earned the exemplary rating on the 2025 Illinois Score Card. This is Illinois’ highest possible rating and puts them in the top 10% of schools in the state.. All principals, the superintendent and assistant superintendent do the SAM process every day.
“We were very excited to learn that all four of our schools received the designation of exemplary. This was a result of our excellent staff continuing to seek ways to improve instruction and relationship building at all levels. Additionally, all four of our buildings have approached increasing student attendance with a laser like focus, and we have seen great result.’ -Superintendent Kenny Lee
It is budget time in most schools and districts. Be sure to include your SAM services for the 2026-27 school year. You can request an early invoice now by using this link: https://bit.ly/40GtA33
I like how this breaks persuasion down into practical steps instead of making it feel like some mysterious talent. In school I struggled with confidence during an online accounting exam, and I noticed that when I framed group project ideas positively and spoke up directly, people responded better. The part about using your voice really stands out because tone builds trust. Small communication shifts can truly change outcomes in leadership and teamwork.
I read the tip about using three strategies to be more persuasive and it made me think about how even small changes in how we explain things can really help get our point across in class or at work. I even remembered when I used Affordable law project editing to clean up a messy draft and it helped me make my ideas clearer without stress. It showed me that good support can boost confidence and results.