Peter P. (his real name was changed to preserve the confidentiality of the client) felt terrible; he was nervous and worried about the negotiations with an investor.
As he left the office where the meeting had taken place, Peter began to go over it all in his head: “What could I have done or said wrong? After all, I carefully listened to the classes on “search for an investor”, did everything as it was said there, learned all the information and my presentation by heart!”. Through all these negative thoughts, the phrase that he heard while studying the classes arose in his mind: carefully concentrate on what your interlocutor says.
By the time he reached got home, Peter realized exactly what he had done wrong at that meeting. He made a typical mistake that most people are prone to make: interrupting the other party mid-sentence without listening to the end and trying to guess the end of his interlocutor's sentences or finishing the thought for him.
Peter's interrupting behavior led to a misunderstanding on the part of the candidate. He could not get to the "heart" of the applicant for investors, to interest him and understand what exactly he wanted. He violated the emotional background of the meeting and created an unfavorable ambiance, thus he was refused by the applicant.
Cause of failure.
Interrupting and "guessing" the phrases of his interlocutor were the reason for Peter's unsuccessful deal. Without listening to his interlocutor to the end, inserting his own, as he thought “necessary” phrases, Peter set the investor against himself. After all, the probability of guessing what the other person thinks is very low, and using this in a business dialogue turns the meeting in a negative direction.
One rule of good dialogue with the candidate!
The ability to listen to your interlocutor to the end, to understand him is a skill that is necessary for any person, in any field of activity. Most people speak verbosely and it is difficult to understand them the first time, even for a trained person. Therefore, it is important to learn to control your “inner child”, which wants to predict the answer or thought of the interlocutor.
That is why we must not forget that our subconscious mind generates thoughts/phrases faster than our interlocutor. It offers us an answer that we want to voice, causing us to interrupt the person, as we want to express our thought first.
It is important to control yourself and your thoughts, to be able to listen and understand the person you are talking to. You must pay attention not only to literal speech, but also to understand the reason why a person speaks this way and not otherwise.
2 rules by which you can avoid mistakes in the dialogue.
- Get to know our class - “How to negotiate”.
- Systematicallycontrol yourself. Every time you speak to a person, you must be convinced:
- you understood what the interlocutor said;
- you listened to the person to the end;
- and you understood the reason why he says so;