How do you influence others in life? Just like what Brian Tracy says in his book, influencing others makes up 85% of your success in life. How do you influence others and make big money with it? This article will make use of a challenging scenario, to show how you can influence and convince a perspective boss to hire you, even when you have no prior experience.

Is this truly possible?

The key simply lies in managing their perception of you.

1. Present your WIFM - "What's In It For Me?" case

What does your potential boss get to benefit by hiring you? Just like how you close a sale, imagine your employers are the consumers. Your prospective employer wants to know what they're getting for their money. Sure, you may not have experience in the job at this point in time, however, accentuate the positive and eliminate or minimize the negative.

Take for example, you graduated with an engineering degree but you want to apply for an Accounting position. Leverage on the analytical skills that you have learnt in engineering which is applicable to this job. Alternatively, if your current field of work and course of study is so different from your prospective job, then show how your "different" nature can provide a fresh perspective on the job. Skills are skills alone. They will only be as useful to the master who applies. Diversity is valued in multi-national companies for they can bring a fresh perspective.

Remember, hiring you means an additional headcount, which is the price they have to pay now. However, the COST of not hiring you is far greater than they can imagine. Use facts, showcase the tangible benefits you have created for your previous employers. Your prospective employer wants to know your dollar value (or their Return on Investment).

Tell them. Give them. Show them.

2. Prepare and Preempt their mental objections

One of the way in convincing someone is to preempt the potential objections that will play in their mind. How do you influence others? The ability to influence others hinges a lot on preparation. Be big on it, be serious about it. Do your own homework by figuring out what are their potential objections and convince them otherwise.

Be honest and upfront that these are their potential concerns, however more importantly, be prepared to show them how these objections are not exactly that big an issue. How do you do that? I'll elaborate this in greater detail in #3.

3. Positive Attitude - Show them you're hungry to learn

Sure, you might not have the necessary skill set or experience at this point in time. However, let's trace this back to confidence and positive attitude. Show your prospective employer you care and will be willing to go to the great lengths to achieve it.

Using the same engineering example, apart from leveraging on your analytical skill from your Engineering background, go further by highlighting the fact that you are willing to embark on additional courses such as ACCA to brush up your Accounting knowledge. Showcase to them your seriousness about the job by doing your homework on knowing what are the necessary courses or qualifications you would require for the job. Delivering results at the end of the day is essential.

Who knows? With your positive attitude, they may even want to sponsor your studies.

Be honest about it. Remember the mantra, "Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative". Be in control of creating the perception your prospective employer have on you. The details you include- or avoid- (fine, I sound manipulative), but remember they contribute to your version of the truth.

So is a lack of experience a good enough reason for us to be deterred? Learn the art of influencing others and you will learn that making money in life is easy. I hope my answer has shown that that is not going to drag you down. Manage the "truth". The truth is nothing but based on perception, so make sure at the very least, you appear like THE PERFECT candidate, even if your experience says otherwise.

As I blog about other interesting articles regarding managing our sphere of influence, check out my blog for updates.