Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to introduce a request slowly to increase
Speaker 1: your likelihood of getting to yes. When the immediate answer
Speaker 1: to your request would be no. Slow things down so
Speaker 1: the other person can't get used to the idea. Then
Speaker 1: when the time is right, you might get the answer
Speaker 1: you're looking for. Anyone who has been on the receiving
Speaker 1: end of a big fundraising request knows that you are
Speaker 1: not going to get asked by email directly for a
Speaker 1: big amount. Instead, there is an email about setting up
Speaker 1: a phone call. The phone call is about inviting you
Speaker 1: to an event the organization is hosting. There, you'll get
Speaker 1: to meet a few people who might follow up for
Speaker 1: lunch later, and well, you see where this is going.
Speaker 1: By slowing down the process, the fundraiser is increasing the
Speaker 1: chances that you will see how wonderful the organization is
Speaker 1: you will want to support it. You are working to yes.
Speaker 1: What works for fundraising often works in the rest of
Speaker 1: life too. Let's picture a couple where one party wants
Speaker 1: a dog and the other does not. Simply asking is
Speaker 1: going to result in a no, but slow acclamation could
Speaker 1: be a different matter. Perhaps Party A suggests taking the
Speaker 1: neighbor's dog for a walk on some sunny afternoon. Then
Speaker 1: when that goes reasonably, party A suggests dog sitting for
Speaker 1: the weekend while the neighbor is out of town. Then
Speaker 1: a second time a few months later. Somehow you've become
Speaker 1: the sorts of people who frequently have a dog in
Speaker 1: the house. Then once that's all happened, party A might
Speaker 1: ask party B to simply think about it for a
Speaker 1: week before giving an answer. Now, these baby steps might
Speaker 1: still not work, but the slow groundwork has increased the chances.
Speaker 1: The same approach might work with let's say remote work.
Speaker 1: Perhaps your workplace has brought everyone back to the office
Speaker 1: full time, but you'd like to return to remote work.
Speaker 1: Instead of asking for that flat out and getting a
Speaker 1: knee jerk no from your boss or HR, you might
Speaker 1: lay the groundwork, talk about how productive you were during
Speaker 1: the pandemic and show documentation of that at your review.
Speaker 1: Then you asked to work from home on a day
Speaker 1: when you are expecting an appliance delivery. On that day,
Speaker 1: you accomplish a lot of high profile work. Maybe a
Speaker 1: week later you bring up working remotely one day a
Speaker 1: week for a two month trial period. Your boss doesn't
Speaker 1: have to answer for forever Right now, she is just
Speaker 1: agreeing to a conversation in two months about it. When
Speaker 1: no disasters in sue, you can ask for more in
Speaker 1: two months. Slowly you make your way to yes. Now.
Speaker 1: It is true that with some requests you may not
Speaker 1: be able to accrue lots of little yesses before you
Speaker 1: ask the big question, But even then it can be
Speaker 1: wise to delay the response to your request. For instance,
Speaker 1: maybe you want to share an out of the box
Speaker 1: idea with your boss. Instead of bringing it up and
Speaker 1: getting a no right away, ask if you can just
Speaker 1: share an idea with the promise that she will think
Speaker 1: about it for a few days. Who is going to
Speaker 1: say no to a request just to listen? After you
Speaker 1: set up the meeting for five days from now, then
Speaker 1: you share your idea. After a few days, what initially
Speaker 1: seemed crazy might start to sound intriguing. So when you
Speaker 1: have a proposal a request that you think someone's knee
Speaker 1: jerk response would be to decline, try slowing down the process.
Speaker 1: You can gradually build support and momentum. What would have
Speaker 1: been a no may turn in time. Two. Yes. In
Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening and here's
Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd
Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,
Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,
Speaker 1: Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's B the
Speaker 1: number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can also
Speaker 1: shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeart
Speaker 1: media dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled out with
Speaker 1: all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to
Speaker 1: staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I
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