Last year, at the end of my daughter Meg’s job interview, the interviewer asked “do you have any questions?”
She replied: “Yes. Please can you tell me if have any reservations about hiring me?”
They were surprised by her question. They liked the honesty of it. They thought about it; then said their only reservation was about her relative lack of experience.
She replied, saying she thought she did have the relevant experience. She asked if she could quickly explain why she thought she had it. They smiled, and said she could.
She shared her experience. They were convinced. She got the job.
So, a happy ending.
But she would not have got the job if she hadn’t asked the question.
Because, after she left the room, they’d have said something like “she seemed good – but not sure she has enough experience. So, we can’t choose her.”
Questions like Meg’s – which include a negative word like ‘reservations’ – are a great question to ask. Others include:
- Do you have any final concerns about this?
- Is there any reason we can’t do this?
- What harm would it do, if we tried this?
Because, if people say ‘no’ to the negative – this means they have no reservations, no concerns, etc.
Double negative = a positive. Which means we are good to go.
But if they do have reservations – as in her interview – we now know what they are. So, we can (hopefully) remove them. And then, once we have done, we can say “do you have any other reservations?” Eventually they say “no, no more” – so we are agreed!
Which means your final two steps to persuading someone to agree with you could be:
- Ask a negatively-phrased question – reservations, concerns etc. And, if they have any negatives, remove them. And then…
- …once everything’s agreed, then confirm the next actions and dates
Another example: I used this technique yesterday. At the end of a conversation with a potential customer, I asked
- “This all feels good to me. Is that how you feel – or have you got any final concerns?” (“No, we’re all good, Andy”)
- “In that case, our next steps are easy. There are only three things for us to do, to move this forward. They are…”
Action Point
- Identify someone who you want to say “yes” to you today
- If you think this two-step ending will help persuade them to do so – use it!
(Or, to use a negative word – “what harm would it do, if you tried this technique?”)
If your answer is “no harm”…then use it!