Getting To Yes!

My son is almost finished with his Business Marketing degree and we enjoy talking about what he is learning and the parallels to the real world of business. Recently we spoke about the effectiveness of advertising and he mentioned that if we watch a tragic story on the news, we translate that negative feeling over to the next commercial we see. The same applies for how we communicate with other people. The lesson here states that when someone is in a negative or No mood, it has a tremendous impact on their decision making and it is difficult to reverse. If you want to achieve agreement with someone during a negotiation or sales call it is important to get them to say yes early and often. Dale Carnegie taught in How To Win Friends and Influence People, to win people to your way of thinking you must get the other person saying, "Yes, yes" immediately. This also works when you are speaking to a group. You should get an audience to agree with you to win them over in the early part of a presentation. To succeed at persuading and negotiating you must become an expert at asking good questions. By learning this skill you will gain valuable insight into the other person's needs and lead the conversation to a positive outcome. Questions are divided into four types: 1) Close-Ended, 2) Open-Ended, 3) Reflective and 4) Direct Agreement. Direct Agreement questions are typically yes/no questions and are asked to obtain agreement from the customer. Salespeople that do not understand the value of this skill will begin with a product presentation before understanding the needs of the customer. Great salespeople understand that selling is not telling. Selling is asking and listening to the answers. Have a great week! Pierce