Improving Your Yes Rate!

If you are getting more noes than yeses when asking others for support, resources or important agreements, heads-up. Time to reverse the pattern!  First, let's check your yes rate. Thinking of the last requests you've made of others, a colleague, boss or customer (or spouse), what percentage of their responses were yes versus no?  That answer is your yes rate. If your yes rate is above 95%, congratulations!  Use this information to reinforce what you're doing right, and as a coaching tool for others!

Here's the good news:  you can easily and effectively improve your yes rate by using a collaborative conversation approach.

When planning for that important conversation, know why someone would say yes - their yes factors - then provide information that promotes their saying yes.  Know why someone would say no, why they are unable or unwilling to say yes - their no factors - then prepare for and manage the obstacle in order to mitigate that potential no response.

To give credit where credit is due, some people do seem to have that special way about them - you know that charming demeanor, that when speaking to a customer about a price increase they emanate an aura of, "Of course you understand the value of what we do and how the cost is justified."  Although, that might not work all the time, there's much to be said for being that confident.  And, you've got to admit that's a more powerful approach than "I know this cost increase doesn't make sense, especially now, but that's the best I can do."

Whether you consider your approach to be charming, customer centric, or not, what is always most important when asking others for support is how you communicate and how you manage the conversation. And that has little to do with having, or not, a charming personality.

Some of us naturally seek to have collaborative conversations by asking and listening in order to better understand others. Some of us have the tendency to tell and explain with the intent to be understood.  And, if you're real good, you do both well and at the right time in your conversation.

How to structure a collaborative approach? Plan and ask a series of important "mini-yes" agreements in your conversation.  Mini-yes examples they could agree to before you ask for the needed support or customer agreement:

• Yes, your conversation has business or personal value to them
• Yes, you have addressed areas of mutual gain, their Yes Factors
• Yes, you have managed any potential issues, their No Factors
• Yes, your recommendation has the most value for you both
• Yes, you got an agreement on next best action.

It's so much easier to gain that final Yes agreement when you have received a mini-yes to other important agreements in your conversation.

Guarantee:  When you improve your yes rate, you will achieve more of your individual and organizational potential.  And it's a lot more fun!