Who is Essential Skills of Persuasion and Personal Performance for?
Updated
Essential Skills of Persuasion and Personal Performance is a persuasion-training site led by Tom Vizzini and Kim McFarland, aimed at people who want to communicate with more influence. According to the site, it is designed for sales professionals, leaders, and anyone who wants more influence in everyday life. The material centers on building instant rapport, shifting mindsets, and communicating with impact, with an emphasis on practical strategies you can use immediately.
Who the site is for
The site names three broad audiences:
- Sales professionals who need to build rapport quickly and move conversations toward agreement.
- Leaders and managers who want to shift how people think and communicate with impact.
- Everyday communicators who simply want more influence in ordinary interactions.
If your goal is to understand persuasion as a set of learnable communication skills rather than as abstract theory, the site's framing matches that intent. If you are looking for formal certification, academic credentials, or a structured curriculum with defined outcomes, the site does not present itself that way in the available material.
What you can learn
The site describes its content around three directions:
| Direction | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Instant rapport | Techniques for quickly establishing connection and trust with another person |
| Shifting mindsets | Approaches for changing how someone frames a situation or decision |
| Communicating with impact | Speaking in ways that land clearly and carry influence |
The stated goal is that these are practical persuasion strategies you can use immediately, not background reading. The site also references "Persuasion Codes" and "Life, Mind & Persuasion Skills" as content themes, and mentions a "Winner's Circle" membership alongside a free subscriber membership.
How the content is delivered
The site presents itself primarily as a channel, with video content and a blog-style "Latest Post" section. Recent post titles visible on the page include "The Power of Bad Anchors," "Bad Advice Monday," "The only New Year's resolution you should make... it is not what you think," and "Why is Optimism Important?" It also lists a Winner's Circle webinar and an event calendar.
This means the learning format is ongoing content — posts, videos, and webinars — rather than a single fixed course. That suits people who want to keep dipping into new persuasion topics over time. It is less suited to someone who wants a defined sequence with a clear start and finish.
Practical considerations before you engage
- Membership and access: The site offers a free subscriber membership and a separate Winner's Circle. The available material does not state prices, so treat cost and access terms as something to confirm on the site rather than assume.
- Login requirement: The page shows a login and registration area, indicating that some content or participation may require an account. The exact boundaries are not specified in the available material.
- Speaker-led content: The material is presented through Tom Vizzini and Kim McFarland, so the value depends on whether their style and approach fit how you like to learn.
Bottom line
Choose this site if you work in sales or leadership, or simply want more day-to-day influence, and you prefer practical, immediately usable persuasion techniques delivered through ongoing posts, videos, and webinars. Look elsewhere if you need a structured certification path or a fixed curriculum with defined completion criteria. Before committing to any paid tier, check the current membership terms and pricing directly on the site.