Resolving Concerns as a Step of the Commitment Pattern

Throughout the process of persuasion and commitment, concerns will arise. Therefore, resolving concerns is an important step of the commitment pattern that should be applied when needed throughout the engagement.

There are three steps to resolving concerns:

Discover the concern – Oftentimes, people will hide their true concerns. If you do not know their true concerns, you are ineffective as a persuader. It is very hard to find the root concern. One tip is to probe to open opportunities for deeper concerns to surface, with questions like, “Other than X concern you mentioned, is there anything else that would keep you from following through with this commitment?” Another tip is to guess at what the concerns might be, if you think you probably know what it is. It can be cathartic to just air the floor with the true concern.
Discuss the concern – Once the true concern is aired, discussing the concern is the easy step.
Help other’s resolve the concern themselves – Master persuaders do not tell someone how to resolve their concerns. Rather, they provide the verbal footwork necessary to dance the person into resolving the concern themselves. As in everything else, this requires tact.

With these steps, you have a great chance at discovering and resolving the true concerns that could be impeding progress with your prospect or other engagement.

—

This post winds up the series on the commitment pattern. I know they are dry, but I find the topic fascinating.

—

What are your thoughts on resolving concerns?

Related articles