Tuesday Tips

When someone has a reason for not doing what you want them to – no time, money, desire etc – you can either:

• Wait for them to state their objection. Then respond to what they say. Or…
• Mention it yourself before they do, and calmly remove it

For example, if you know a customer’s worried about your price, you could:

• Wait for them to say so. Or…
• Mention it yourself – “I did some calculations. And your Return On Investment will be over 525%. Here’s where I got the figures from…”

I much prefer the second. You don’t sit there, dreading the moment it comes up. And, because you get your response in early, you can help them feel better about it, more quickly.

It’s the same with my online Video Club. The main objections people have about it – and my calm interceptions – are:

• ‘What if I buy them and hate them, or don’t use them?’ – You get your money back. There’s a 60-day money-back guarantee
• ‘What if I don’t have time to watch them?’ – They’re super-short – 5ish minutes each. Plus, they’re timely – you can watch a video about (for example) impressing in meetings on the way to the meeting

Another example: face-to-face (f2f) meetings. You can often save time by swapping f2fs for a diarised Telephone Meeting. But people often suggest you meet f2f. So use these calm interceptions instead:

• ‘It’s important we move quickly. So, given our busy diaries, let’s schedule a call. That way, we can crack on much quicker than waiting till we can meet face-to-face’
• ‘My diary is rammed. And I don’t want to delay things. So let’s move quickly, and kick-off with a phone call’

Or of course you can use one I’ve said a few times – ‘Have you seen my face?! Trust me: a call’s better’.

Action point

Know someone’s who’s concerned about something you’re doing. Calmly intercept it before things kick off, by (1) scripting what you’ll say to them (2) saying it to them before they raise it.