Persuasion in business differs from any other kind of persuasion only in scale. If you’re trying to influence policy, you need to generate compassion and buy-in. People need to understand and feel the full impact of the problem you’re trying to solve. Two persuasive approaches can help you here. They rely on gathering both qualitative and quantitative data.Go beyond anecdotePeople with narrative compassion are attuned to individual, human stories. (They value qualitative evidence most).People with statistical compassion are attuned to collective, numerical stories. (They value quantitative evidence most).Creating consensus requires both forms of compassion.Be rigorousWhen presenting evidence, understand that anecdote can draw people in, but it’s not enough to persuade everyone. How is one person’s anecdote representative of a broader cohort of people?When collecting evidence, use the insights gained from qualitative stories to craft questions for the broader cohort. Have I desig...