Award-Winning Persuasive Communication Expert: Sales, Leadership
Michelle Bowden is Australia’s leading expert on persuasion in business.
She is the creator of the Persuasion Smart Profile®, a world-first psychological assessment that identifies your persuasive strengths and weaknesses at work. Michelle is also the best-selling author of How to Persuade: The Skills You Need to Get What You Want (Wiley) and a trusted pitch coach behind multi-million-dollar deals for global organisations across banking, finance, IT, pharmaceuticals, retail, and telecommunications.
An authority on persuasive presenting, Michelle has delivered her Persuasive Presentation Skills Masterclass more than 1,000 times to over 13,000 professionals in the past 25 years. Her name is synonymous with presentation skills in Australia. She is also the internationally published author of How to Present: The Ultimate Guide to Presenting Live and Online (Wiley).
Talking Points
How to Persuade: the psychology of persuasion at work
MICHELLE BOWDEN WORKS WITH ORGANISATIONS THAT WANT PERSUASIVE PEOPLE WHO COMMUNICATE CLEARLY, SMASH THEIR SALES RESULTS, AND GENERALLY ACHIEVE MORE.How to Persuade: the psychology of persuasion at work
As a business professional there is nothing more important than the art of persuasion. You rely on your persuasive abilities to win business, develop productive relationships, and drive results. So, … How Persuasion Smart are you?
Based on thousands of hours of global research, Michelle can show you there is a gap in the way your people persuade your customers, prospects, & decision makers.
Once you fill that gap, it will increase how often they hear the word ‘yes’!
An idea is just an idea until you persuade someone to support it, fund it or endorse it.
Key Take aways
- Learn that we are all persuaded in different ways, and this should affect your approach when attempting to persuade and influence.
- Understand your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to persuading people.
- Extend your persuasive reach and appeal to all 4 persuasive types.
- Learn best practice techniques for engaging and persuading your stakeholders, no matter their persuasive preference or style.
- Quickly build rapport with your stakeholders in person and in writing.
- Manage conflict respectfully and for results.
- Command attention and respect from people from the start.
Persuasion is the NEW Influence
Contrary to popular thought, true leadership isn’t about exerting influence— influence can be coercive. True leadership is about mastering the art of persuasion. In this dynamic and empowering keynote, Michelle Bowden CSP reveals how great leaders inspire action, foster collaboration, and drive results by persuading with integrity and confidence.Persuasion is the NEW Influence
Drawing on the proven techniques from her best-selling book How to Persuade, Michelle will teach you how to:
Build trust and credibility with ease.
Understand and connect with any audience.
Communicate with clarity, confidence, and conviction.
Overcome resistance and turn “no” into “yes.”
Packed with practical strategies, real-world examples, and Michelle’s signature energy, this dynamic and interactive keynote, based on her best-selling book How to Persuade, brings laughter, sharp insights, and practical exercises that stick. Michelle empowers leaders to master persuasion, inspire action, and drive real change—leaving you equipped and inspired to lead with purpose, influence, and undeniable impact.
Key takeaways include any or all of the following:
- Using persuasive types to boost collaboration.
- Building trust and credibility at lightning speed.
- Crafting messages that inspire and motivate.
- Effortlessly overcoming resistance.
- Balancing emotional and logical approaches.
- Practicing active listening to enhance empathy.
- Adapting strategies for any leadership scenario.
- Leading with ethical persuasion for lasting impact.
- This session is not just a talk— it’s a hands-on experience where leaders practice resolving their real-world challenges, leaving ready to implement persuasion techniques that actually work.
Yes! The Art of Persuasive Pitching
LET’S FACE IT, THERE’S NO BETTER WORD IN SALES THAN, ‘YES’!Yes! The Art of Persuasive Pitching
Unfortunately, salespeople face countless obstacles—hesitant prospects, tough objections, fierce competition, long buying cycles, and even colleagues in other departments letting them down.
This keynote is your real-time solution to overcoming those challenges.
In the room, Michelle Bowden—an expert pitch coach who has helped her clients win billions of dollars in deals over the past 26 years—will show you how to pitch ideas and solutions with clarity, confidence, and conviction, transforming resistance into agreement and closing deals faster.
Packed with actionable techniques from her best-selling book How to Persuade, this session teaches you how to:
- Build trust and credibility with prospects.
- Structure your pitch to resonate with any audience.
- Overcome objections and turn hesitation into agreement.
- Navigate internal challenges and keep deals on track.
- Be that fascinating salesperson who is memorable for all the right reasons.
- Close the deal with a compelling, persuasive approach.
- With Michelle’s signature energy, engaging stories, and practical exercises, your team will leave inspired and equipped to hear “yes” more often, win more deals, and exceed their sales targets.
Speak Up & Influence People
WE INFLUENCE PEOPLE EVERY DAY OF OUR LIVES. SOMETIMES WE WIN. SOMETIMES WE LOSE.Speak Up & Influence People
If you’ve ever thought you’d like to improve the way you communicate with the people around you so your relationships become easier…
If you’ve ever thought there must be a way to get people on side…
If you’ve ever wished you didn’t have to influence a stakeholder because you weren’t quite sure of the best way to say it…
Or you just want to hear the word “yes” more often in your life… you’ll love working with Michelle!
Speak Up and Influence People is a high energy, theory-based, interactive session that shows you that anyone can have the power to influence and the confidence to speak up in meetings, one-on-ones, emails and conversations and win every time.
Simply learn the 3 x Ps of Persuasion and have the right attitude. This is a fun presentation that will have your delegates laughing, learning and demonstrating a behavioural change.
What will you learn?
- Why do you need to take influence seriously?
- Grasp the concept of being ‘others focused’ at a whole new level.
- Know how to build deep, unconscious rapport with your stakeholders so they say, ‘yes’.
- Diffuse conflict or misunderstandings.
- Practice work-related scenarios and develop real-life responses.
- Gain a better insight into your current approach to persuasion and the impact on your relationships.
Persuasive Presenting
DISCOVER THE BEST-PRACTICE FORMULAS THAT GREAT COMMUNICATORS FOLLOW SO THAT YOU CAN COMMUNICATE CLEARLY & EFFECTIVELY AND STAND OUT FOR ALL THE RIGHT REASONS WHEN YOU SPEAK UP OR WRITE AT WORK!Persuasive Presenting
Anyone, including you, can be a persuasive presenter. Michelle will teach you how to do it right NOW!
You’ll be able to engage, influence and achieve your results when you communicate, present and even write in business!
This is a bespoke session that will be tailor-made just for you!
How does it work?
Michelle Bowden owns the space in persuasive presenting in Australia!
She has hours and hours of content that will transform your people.
Michelle will conduct a thorough briefing call to elicit your pressing communication needs.
Then she’ll craft the perfect presentation for your team that ensures you fix your issues!
Examples of past successes: Creating Messages that Stick, How to GRAB an Audience’s Attention, STOP! Your PowerPoint is Killing Me!
Who is this for?
- Anyone who speaks or writes in business!
- In short - everyone!
Longer Workshops
MICHELLE IS ACTUALLY A PASSIONATE EDUCATOR!Longer Workshops
So yes! Michelle would LOVE to deliver a half, or full day masterclass for you!
Michelle’s Masterclasses can be combined with a keynote presentation or facilitated as a stand-alone masterclass.
How does it work?
This is a bespoke session that will be tailor-made just for you!
Who is this for?
Anyone who speaks or writes in business!
In short - everyone!
Video
Michelle Bowden | Saxton Speakers
Michelle Bowden | Award-Winning Persuasive Communication Expert | Saxton Speakers
Persuasion is the new influence – are your people ready? Join Michelle Bowden, bestselling author and persuasion expert, as she shares how her high-energy keynote can transform the way your team communicates and influences outcomes. Before the event, Michelle offers a powerful Persuasion Smart Profile, a psychometric assessment developed with UK statisticians and psychologists. It identifies your team’s persuasive strengths and weaknesses, helping them understand the four key persuasion styles and how to adapt for success. During the keynote, expect laughter, dancing, and practical strategies your people can apply immediately to become more persuasive in every scenario. Post-event, you can gift attendees Michelle’s bestselling book, packed with 40 actionable steps to help them get what they want in life and business.WOW! Completely life-changing. Michelle's ability to captivate from the start and provide practical tips you can use the minute you leave her session to build your confidence and your busine ... keep reading Spinify
On behalf the AMP PA Network Committee we would like to thank you so much for your engaging enthusiastic presentation at our PA conference. We were blown away by your energy and you certainly left us all feeling so empowered to take our communication techniques to the next level. We have already had such positive feedback on your session and hope that we can work with you again in the near future. We hope you enjoyed the session also.
We have won hundreds of millions of dollars of ongoing business using Michelle's strategic pitch formula and her 13-step presentation system. Her approach and content bridges cultures, gender, age and prior experiences. She has made a material positive impact on our business and our associates' capabilities and careers. This has translated into significant benefits for our clients. She always brings an impressive amount of expertise, fun and challenge to her work with us. Highly recommended.
Michelle honestly I don't think today could have gone better! I couldn't be more pleased. My only regret is that we didn't get to do a full day with you as the content was sensational. You did well to jam everything into an hour. The feedback has been tremendous.
Michelle is one of a kind. Her incredibly engaging and memorable presentation was the highlight of our conference and the content she taught us was life-changing!
Michelle, the lessons from your keynote on persuasion are still resonating through our business 12 months later!
Michelle’s session ended with a standing ovation, so I think that speaks volumes about the impact this session had! People connected with how personal this was. Professional, engaging and bubbly. Her materials are incredible, people are saying they are going to read her book over the holidays!
Highly informative and engaging. We were literally out of our chairs, combining body actions with knowledge! Her practical strategies and clear explanations provided valuable insights that our team can apply immediately. Michelle’s has this innate ability to blend humour with her deep expertise making learning enjoyable and enlightening.
"A high-energy, entertaining speaker, Michelle sold selling to the 'sellers' during a recent presentation to the Australasian Promotional Products Association (APPA). Marketing and creativity is the bread and butter of our business, but Michelle was able to teach us a thing or two about the gentle (and subtle) art of persuasion. Michelle's knowledge of promotional products demonstrated her impressive commitment to research and the result was a memorable presentation that had many APPA members asking for more."
"Wonderful! It was such a pleasure to meet you and have the opportunity to gain so much insight from your presentation at our Conference. In the weeks since, we have received so much positive feedback from the attendees who raved about how inspired they were and how beneficial your techniques are in relation to their daily lives!"
Time and time again, Michelle Bowden never fails to deliver a first class session! A sincere thank you Michelle, for being part of the Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand conference program in 2014. As always, a pleasure working with you. We put on over 50 Professional Development sessions across 5 conferences nationally and you were our top performing presenter for 2014. A brilliant and well deserved result! You produced a professionally delivered, engaging session with clear key messages and loads of energy and interaction. Our delegates loved it and it's no surprise they want to see you again!
