I just heard this wonderful advice in regards to having conversations with others whether it’s for business or personal. I’m not quite sure of its’ orgin, but it’s inline with the basic rules of improvisation. It’s called, “yes and.”
I like it for more than one reason. It’s not negative and doesn’t discount what another person is saying, but adds to the conversation and directs it accordingly.
In improv, when someone establishes some sort of fact by stating it – “Why is your head so large?” You cannot say, “It’s not.” You have to accept it as fact and build on it. Maybe saying something like, “Yeah, and it’s really hard finding a hat that will fit properly.”
But, what if you brought that to the business world. Maybe it would sound something like this: “We can’t fit the cost of your product into our budget because your prices are so high.” The response could be: “Yes, and that’s because the quality of material we use along with the finished product is so much better than 90% of similar products. Because of that, our outlast the competition by 3X.”
Rather than negating what they said about your product, you build on it and address their statement directly.
It seems like a much less cryptic business strategy with respect and directness built into it.
I would think everyone would appreciate that.