Every action a person performs is far from accidental, because, one way or another, he always pursues some goal. Let's take the simplest thing: we go to the store to make purchases, prepare food to satisfy hunger, communicate with friends and family to have fun, learn new information to apply it in the future. In the same case, if our achievement of a goal depends on some people, we resort to manipulating them. For example, if we need someone we know to help with something, we can ask him to donate his time, put us as a priority - we explain the reasons for our difficulties and the seriousness of the situation, press for pity, etc.
We can say without mincing words that almost any interaction with other people in one way or another is associated with an impact on them. And, accordingly, over time, special techniques have appeared that allow this impact to be carried out properly. One of them, and very effective, despite its simplicity, is a technique called the “Rule of Three Yes”.
Rule of three "Yes"
The rule of three “Yes” is a special psychological trick that is used during a conversation with another person. Its particular advantage is that it is highly likely to obtain a positive answer from the interlocutor to the required question.
The rule of three “Yes” has been used by marketers, advertisers, salespeople, traveling salesmen and other specialists for decades, but in addition to them, quite ordinary people can successfully apply it in absolutely any area of their lives. By the way, the technique we are considering is often used by children who have unconsciously understood its algorithm. Remember at least some similar situation:
The child asks his mother a question: “Mommy, did I behave well today?”
Mom answers: “Yes”
The child asks the second question: “Are you and I going to the park today?”
Mom answers again: “Yes.”
Finally, the child asks the third question: “Will you buy me the toy I want?”
And here think about what answer is most likely? In more than 90% of cases the answer will be positive, because... After the first two questions are answered positively, the chances of getting the same answer to the third question increase significantly.
Reception of cost division
This method of dealing with objections is based on the psychological unwillingness to shell out a large sum of money at once. In this case, you just need to divide this amount by the number of days during which the service will be valid or by the amount of orders processed, the number of dishes washed, etc.
Example: “10,000 for life insurance is very expensive for me.” “Yes, the price is not small, but if you consider that your life and health will be protected for a whole year, then it will be 28 rubles per day. Agree that your life and health are more valuable.”
The essence of the three “Yes” rule
So, the rule of three “Yes”, so familiar to experienced negotiators, is extremely simple in its essence. It consists in the fact that you just need to consistently ask questions to your interlocutor, but the questions should be those with which he simply cannot disagree, i.e. to which he will answer 100% positively. There should be two such questions. And after the interlocutor answers them, you need to ask your main question - by inertia, and also, being subconsciously tuned to positive answers, he will most likely answer “Yes.”
As you can see, there is nothing complicated in the presented technique, but in practice many people do not use it entirely correctly. To dot all the i's and protect you from mistakes, let's look at a classic example from the field of trading:
— Elena Vladimirovna, would you like to expand your organization’s client base?
— Naturally, yes (few people would refuse such a prospect)
— Do you agree that professional and experienced customer acquisition specialists can expand the customer base to the maximum possible extent, and in a short time?
- Yes, I agree, that’s why they are professionals
“Our employees specialize in exactly this and over many years of practice have shown truly outstanding results. I think that these results will be very useful for your company. Well, shall we draw up a cooperation agreement?
- Good, yes
Naturally, this is just an example aimed at helping you understand the mechanism of operation of the technology. In this example, the client is literally led to a positive answer. Do you agree that if we had initially offered Elena Vladimirovna to sign a cooperation agreement, she would probably have answered negatively? Thus, by “warming up” the interlocutor with two preparatory questions, we increase the chances of receiving the answer we need to the most important question.
No less interesting is the fact that if you try to “dig deeper” and understand the working mechanism of the rule of three “Yes” more thoroughly, you can even find information justified from the point of view of science and medicine, which explains why after the first two “Yes” the likelihood of getting a third “Yes” increases. According to one version, this is directly related to the fact that during positive responses the human body releases hormones of happiness. In the same case, when the interlocutor answers “No,” his body is tuned to confrontation.
But let's move away from scientific justifications and return to practice.
Reception "Delay"
In a conversation, when selling to an objecting client, sometimes you need to pause. There are times when you shouldn’t answer your interlocutor right away to what you think is a “touchy” question. In this case, you can answer that you will definitely return to this issue.
This technique allows the emotional tension that occurs with active objections to subside. Later, returning to the question that caused the objection, it can be overcome by selecting arguments, or perhaps the need for an answer will disappear and the client will not remember his objection.
Just don’t overuse this technique so as not to lose the thread of the conversation.
Difficulties of the rule of three “Yes”
From one point of view, the rule of three "Yes" is a pretty good technique, because... allows a person, by logically asking questions and moving from the general to the specific, to obtain the required answer from the interlocutor.
But from another point of view, this technique must be used very competently - ask your interlocutor questions so that you don’t end up with an inappropriate situation, for example: “Elena Vladimirovna, you are a person, right? Do you want to live a happy life? Well, shall we sign a cooperation agreement?” and so on. This means that you need to pay a lot of attention to the questions you ask, and you need to ask them so that the interlocutor does not decide that you are trying to manipulate him. Always remember that your questions should logically continue each other, and most importantly, be adequate on the topic.
And one more thing: if you learn to apply the rule of three yeses correctly, you will be able to argue your position in a new way during the negotiation process. To illustrate how this works, let's look at another example:
— Elena Vladimirovna, the issue of payment for the services of our specialists is very important, because they cannot be called cheap. However, the longer the period for which the contract is concluded, the more favorable the conditions become for the client. Do you agree that long-term cooperation with professionals on favorable terms is better than short-term cooperation for a lot of money?
- Yes, I agree
— In addition to more favorable conditions, our long-term clients have the opportunity to use bonus options, which include monitoring, analytics and the development of new work strategies. And this, in turn, will help not only attract more clients, but also find weak points in the organization’s work, and therefore eliminate them, right?
- Yes, that's right
— If you take into account the competitive situation in your chosen market segment, as well as its constantly changing conditions, then the comprehensive support of specialists will be most welcome and will help you become a leader and maintain your position for a long time. Let's look at the terms of long-term cooperation and determine the most suitable options for us?
- Great, let's go
You probably noticed that by consistently presenting questions to the client, we were not only able to argue our position, but also received almost official permission for further actions and the maximum likelihood that we would be able to conclude a long-term contract with the client, beneficial for both for him and for us.
Based on all this, we can conclude that the “Rule of Three Yes” technique is both very effective and universal, which allows it to be used in work, business, negotiations, relationships with strangers and loved ones. Use it for your health and achieve what you need.
And in conclusion, we want to give you some tips on how not to get hooked by someone who is trying to apply the rule of three “Yes” to yourself.
Boomerang technique (“That’s why...”)
This technique for dealing with objections in sales is similar to the previous one. It is very versatile and, with good knowledge of the product or service that you are selling, will allow you to gently fend off the client’s objections and maximally demonstrate the benefits of what you are selling.
Example: “I believe that most financial institutions are very unstable these days and I cannot trust them with my personal savings.” “That’s why we offer added protection for your finances by being members of the Global Depositor Protection Association, which guarantees a 100% return on the money you put into safekeeping.”
How to counter the rule of three "Yes"
Like the technique itself, protection against it is very simple. To prevent your interlocutor from manipulating you, follow three simple tips:
- Know exactly what you want - often people themselves do not understand what they want. If a person (in any field of activity and life situation) does not understand what he wants, and is “driven by the wind” in different directions, he will always meet someone who will be able to use this for his own benefit
- Master the techniques of influencing people - as the well-known truth says, forewarned is forearmed. When a person himself has information on how people can be manipulated and knows how to use the appropriate techniques, then he will always be able to recognize situations in which these techniques are directed against him
- Learn to refuse - people find themselves in many unpleasant situations because they are simply unable to say “No” to their interlocutor, as a result of which these people begin to be used. To avoid becoming one of them, learn to say no, because when you say “No” to someone, you are saying “Yes” to yourself and what is really important to you
We wish you to always get what you want and never become an object of manipulation by others!
We also recommend reading:
- Storytelling
- Let's learn to speak or communication theory in practice
- Exercises for the brain. Part two
- Why ask questions?
- Technique of asking questions
- Black rhetoric. Part four. Flexible response to tough questions
- Reception “Choice without choice”: technique and defense
- Wait, what did you say?
- 3 Problem Analysis Techniques
- Questions to get to know a person better
- How to answer awkward questions?
Key words:1Communication
Reception “Exactly those...”
The client's objections can be aggressive or unpleasant. Then he expresses his subjective ideas, fears, or even accusations. In such a situation, the following technique for dealing with customer objections is suitable: choose an argument when the reason for the objection becomes a benefit, advantage or distinctive feature.
For example, to the objection: “Who needs these insurances anyway? You only take money from people!” It’s quite possible to answer: “It was those people who said that who later became our most loyal customers.”
The technique of raising the bar
Many clients use the principle as an objection: “The hat doesn’t suit Senka.” With such an objection, it is very advisable to demonstrate that you have experience working with even more complex cases along the specified parameter. In fact, your answer boils down to: “it has happened worse, however, we have proposals for this case too.”
Example: “We are a small company and this does not suit us.” “A month ago we worked with a client where the number of employees was half that, but we were able to find the optimal solution for this case.”
The technique of naivety
This technique suggests considering each objection as a real reason for refusing to purchase. It is applied as follows: by pretending that you believe the client's objection, you begin to solve this problem with enthusiasm, offering the client ways to overcome it. In response, he gives you a new objection, and so on until the present objection.
The technique is very labor-intensive and dangerous from a reputational point of view: if you accept every objection as sincere, you may seem unprofessional. But the time the client spends answering can be used for further persuasion.
