008 - Agree Even When You Dont

This is session number 008 of the Influence Psychology and Persuasion podcast. Adding typical Mike fashion I've given you a strange title that seems oxymoronic. Agree, even when you don't. Why I suggest you always agree! Initially. Okay, I have given a bit more away now I've added the "initially" part at the end of the title. But bear with me here because there are some very important factors to consider and why I have made this statement about agreement.  Agreeing with a person first and foremost allows for rapport to be built and for the interaction to flow. And in any interaction, we are always looking for a good level of rapport and to ensure that we feel comfortable enough at the conversation stays in flow. Agreement is the very best way to do this! Agreed? lol Examples of agreement You are selling gas and electricity for a small not very known distribution company. You do have very competitive rates and the switch over from their existing large supplier over to you can be seamless and involve very little of their time. But, right at the end of the interaction before the person is about to sign their new agreement, they say that they have some concerns. "As you are only a small company, how do I know you will stay in business, and be able to provide me with the service I want, I feel a little uneasy".   the untrained person here would try to explain to that person that they needn't feel uneasy and they would try to reassure in any way they could, simply saying that they're not that small and they do have 3% of the entire market. this is a great example of not agreeing, trying to dissuade a person's opinion by telling. Creating an agreement though allows a person to feel as if you understand their situation, and also lets them know that it's fine for them to feel that way, as others have to. In this case, you'd use something called the feel, felt, found method, and it goes a little something like this. " Well Mrs Jackson I completely understand a you feel about switching to a smaller company for your gas and electricity services even though we are cheaper than your current supplier, in fact, every day I hear similar thoughts from people like you who felt the same way as you, however, once the switch has happened almost seamlessly, those people found that they were pleased that they trusted in smaller company to provide them with the similar great service, at a much reduced cost. This agreement twists the angle and makes a disagreement, agreeable.