“Since...”

As often happen, “Since….” occurred to me on a coaching call with one of the Artistic Tile showroom teams.

We were discussing how to construct and direct a designer to not offer as many selections, but rather pare down to 2-3. This was in response to a designer asking for FOURTEEN samples of granite from slabs!!!  All agreed that 14 was 11 too many but how to say No and still appear willing to find the right choice was our challenge.

I had been having good results starting responses with “Since you….” and using an assumptive tone in the communication. How we reconstructed this conversation was to start with “May I offer another perspective?” and WAIT for their response. When they say “Yes” offer: "Since you are committed to helping your client to select the right slab AND you don’t want to confuse them, what if we took photos of you beside 11 of the slabs that you are considering and gave you samples of your three favorites to take with you? That way,  your client will know how much time you put into this AND what you found and favor. Would that be helpful for you?” WAIT for a response.

Try this. It’s a good way to determine willingness to see from another point of view AND of beginning with agreement. Try it with friends and family!!!

Let me know what happens.