#124: Exactly What To Say to Get Someone To Followup

If you've ever tried to schedule a follow up with someone to discuss a proposal to take next action, or to get their reaction to something, then you know it can sometimes be difficult pinning people down. Is there some secret to this? 

In this episode, I talk about six words that make it way easier to schedule follow ups.

I'm continuing my series on the book by Phil M. Jones called "Exactly What To Say: The Magic Words for Influence and Impact." Last week, I talked about how to use the phrase, just imagine that's in Episode 119.

Today, I talk about a phrase that can be hugely valuable when it comes to scheduling meetings. And it's this: "When would be a good time...?"

As Jones says, when you use this phrase, what you're doing is you're prompting the other person to subconsciously assume that there is a good time, and that there's not another option. So you're already moving to the assumption that yes, we're going to talk about this. Now, the only question is, when are we going to schedule it?

As always, thanks for listening!

You can find me here:

WEBSITE:  https://www.thorchallgren.com
IG: https://www.instagram.com/thorchallgren

You can find me here:

WEBSITE: https://www.thorchallgren.com
IG: https://www.instagram.com/thorchallgren

Transcript

If you've ever tried to schedule a follow up with someone to discuss a proposal to take next action or to get their reaction to something, you know, it can sometimes be difficult pinning people down. And you also know that having an actual time scheduled can make a huge difference. That meeting is much more likely to happen if it's scheduled. So how do you do that? Today, six words that make it way easier to schedule follow ups. 

Welcome to Every Day A New Thought. I'm Thor Challgren. I'm continuing my series on the book by Phil M. Jones called "Exactly What To Say: The Magic Words for Influence and Impact." 

Last week, I talked about how to use the phrase, just imagine that's in Episode 119. And I'll link that below. Today, I talk about a phrase that can be hugely valuable when it comes to scheduling meetings. And it's this: "When would be a good time...?" 

As Jones says, when you use this phrase, what you're doing is you're prompting the other person to subconsciously assume that there is a good time, and that there's not another option. So you're already moving to the assumption that yes, we're going to talk about this. Now, the only question is, we're going to find out when it fits in our respective schedules, you've decided to meet, you're just now deciding when there's no question about whether you should follow up, or whether there should be a meeting, it will. And you've just implicitly said that, now it's just scheduling. 

So here are a couple examples of how that might be used, you might say, when would be a good time to set up a meeting, when would be a good time to speak next, when would be a good time to meet for a follow up, or when would be a good time to get started? 

In this chapter Jones makes the point that you want to be sure to get that precise next point of contact so that you keep control of the conversation in your hands. So you are directing this conversation to the result that you're looking for, which is to move it to the next step. And then once you do meet, there's one follow up phrase that you should be thinking about using instead of asking them, you know, like, what did you think? Ask them? So what do you like about it? You're basically saying, let's talk about what you liked. 

Now, there may be more sophisticated sales methods and language that you can use here. But saying, What do you like about it is a good general way to begin the conversation. 

We actually use something like this in Toastmasters, when we have a guest, at the end of the meeting will ask them tell us one thing that you liked about the meeting. So you notice what that does is it's presuming that they liked something. And we're directing them to have a positive opinion and share one thing and also makes it easier for that person, which a lot of times puts people at ease, because now they don't feel like they have to come up with something you're saying. Here's what I'd like. So when you say so what do you like about it? You're directing the conversation talk to talk about the positive attributes of this. 

So my takeaway is always assume there will be a follow up meeting or a conversation and know that you want to schedule it. And you do so by saying when would be a good time? 

That's the show for today. If you liked this episode, please hit like if you're watching on YouTube. If you're listening to the podcast, please subscribe or follow the show on your favorite podcast app. Until tomorrow. Thanks for listening

Transcribed by https://otter.ai