How You Can Talk to Anyone in Every Situation

HOW TO TALK WHEN YOU WANT TO SHINE

185

Have you ever been in the situation with someone where you’ve

been trying to be really helpful and you’ve found yourself offer-

ing them what you think is a great solution, only for them

to turn round and say, ‘No, that won’t work’ or ‘I’ve tried

that already’?

You may even have been in the position where someone you’ve

been sharing a problem with started firing possible solu-

tions at you and you found yourself thinking, ‘If only they’d let

me finish’ or ‘I don’t want their solutions, I just want to talk

about it.’

If you’ve ever experienced anything like this, you’ve either been

in the presence of, or become yourself, a Solution Seeking

Missile! And it’s all done with a really positive intention. We

like helping people. We like to think that where they can’t see

the wood for the trees, our laser-like intelligence has quickly

identified the best course of action.

Please pause and wait until you know what the other person

wants. Do this and then provide a solution that fits the bill and

you will be the most popular person around.

And if you are reading this and have any kind of sales back-

ground, you will know that this is, bar none, the most effective

approach to selling. It’s an interesting fact, though, that very

few sales people do this!

Now, we weren’t at the meeting with John and his client but he

might, using the structure we’ve given you, have said something

like this:

John’s story – continued

‘I think I know how you must have felt. [Empathy] I know people/

have clients who have had similar experiences [as long as he

has]. What I want to do is find out [questions coming] exactly

what I need to do to ensure that you have the confidence to work

with me and to alleviate any concerns you have about that.’

[Understanding Needs and Wants]

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