| Good persuasive interviews are not debates. They are efforts to establish common ground during which both parties recognize the necessity of compromise and the virtues of realistic goals. Good persuasive interviews are not canned efforts designed to fit all situations. They are carefully planned and adapted to each interviewee, yet they remain flexible enough to meet unforeseen disruptions and reactions.
Good persuasive interviews are not speeches to an audience of one. They are conversations involving the interviewee as an active participant and requiring the interviewer to listen as well as speak effectively.
Good persuasive interviews are not aimed exclusively at either emotion or reason; they appeal to both the head and the heart. Good persuasive interviews are not efforts in which anything goes as long as the interviewee does not catch on. They are honest endeavors conducted along fundamental ethical guidelines.
The interviewee is a central part of persuasive interviews and must play an active and critical role. Good interviews are interactions in which interviewees listen critically, ask insightful questions, raise important objections, challenge evidence, recognize common tactics for what they are, and weigh proposals according to agreed-upon criteria. | 
2003 McGraw-Hill Higher Education