Today’s screed isn’t about Joni Mitchell or her song from the late ’60’s. It’s about being an effective businessperson. I was going to write “negotiator” but as I’m thinking about it, this is really applicable to all areas of business – sales, relationships with other members of the team, – pretty much everything. As an aside, I think it’s one of the factors behind the gridlock in our political system but we don’t do that stuff in this space so just file that away. Quite simply, if you want to get to agreements on things, there’s one ability you must have and that’s our topic.
If you can’t understand the other side of an argument, you can’t find a solution that results in a compromise that’s acceptable to both sides. Pretty simple, I know, but you’d be surprised as to how few people can actually do that. Let me give you an example. You’re selling a product or service and you and your potential customer agree it’s something that can help. But it’s “too expensive.” What does that mean, exactly? Does it mean “I like it but your pricing is way out of whack with my perception of the value?” Does it mean “I love it but I don’t have the budget now?” Does it mean “I’m talking to someone else with something similar that’s half the price?” If you don’t probe and really understand the other side, you’ll never make the sale, since each of those issues needs to be managed differently. You certainly don’t want to drop the price if budget is the issue – they can’t buy now at any price.
I find that much of the time, people who disagree are operating off of a different group of “facts.” That gets complicated by how those facts are prioritized. It’s much easier to deal with the latter if you can make sure there’s agreement on the former. The only way to do that is to do everything you can to understand how the other side sees the world, recognizing that it’s not going to be black and white – there’s lots of nuance in between. You’ll be surprised how you can deal with things once you each understand the other’s position (and I’m not saying agree with it!).
What do you think?
Consult Keith 