Eliciting a YES from others

The following tips have been provided by Andy Bounds, a talented Communications consultant. You can find out more about Andy and his services here.

You have to be good at getting others to say ‘yes’.

These ‘yeses’ could be big (please invest £millions in X). They could be small (please do Task Y). But, the better you are at triggering them, the quicker you’ll succeed.

There is no proven way to get a ‘yes’ 100% of the time. But some techniques significantly increase your chances. One is to ‘BO‘ your stakeholder, where ‘BO‘ stands for…

• B – Benefits – explain why your proposition will help your stakeholder in ways they – not you – perceive to be valuable. This shows them a ‘yes’ is in their interest
   
• O – Options – give them 2-3 choices as to how they can accept, and ask which they’d prefer. This helps turn their thinking from “should I agree?” to “how should I agree?”

So, sentences like: ‘you’ve heard our proposition. Would you like to invest £X?’ contain no value to your stakeholder, making a ‘yes’ less likely. A more compelling script would be…

• B – “Our conversation has shown two things: (1) you want to achieve [insert your stakeholder's desired outcome] and (2) our proposition will definitely help you achieve this…” 
   
• O – “…So how would you like to proceed? We could either [insert option X] or [insert option Y]. Which would you prefer?”

Stakeholder objections are not objectionable. They’re real to them. You must proactively address and resolve these objections, in ways that make both you and the stakeholder feel comfortable.

The first step is to focus on the value your proposition will bring to the stakeholder. The more they see the value to them, the more likely you’ll get that ‘yes’.

The second step is to remove their objections…

• Create a 2-column table. List all their likely objections on the left-hand side, and – on the right – your responses to them
• Pre-empt and remove their key 1-2 objections, by including them in your communication. So, you bring them up. Don’t wait for them to… “If I was you, I’d be concerned about the high level of investment, given how tight budgets are. Well, let me outline why the return from this proposition outperforms our other options”
• For all other objections in your table, pre-prepare and practise persuasive responses. This is better than the only alternative: making up your response on the day, before your stakeholder’s eyes

Action point

• Identify your next key communication where it’s important you get a ‘yes’  
• Structure your content, so it makes it clear how your proposition brings value to your stakeholder. Ensure you finish with a persuasive BO
• Tabulate their likely objections to your content, together with your responses. Incorporate the main 1-2 in your communication, using “if I was you…”
• Practise your responses to the other objections, should they raise them.
• Finally, remember the Golden Rule of Selling from last week: when they do say ‘yes’, stop talking!