Many salespeople like realtors and car salespeople pre-qualify their prospects with questions such as these:
Are they empowered to make the buying decision?
Do they have the financial resources to buy? (for example, a condo)
Are they serious, or are they merely "shopping around"
and wasting your time?
Today's tip: Pre-qualify your conversation partners too.
An old adage is that we should "never discuss religion or politics." Why not?
Because if those you talk with are closed-minded and fixed in their opinions and beliefs, you may encounter conflict if your views differ from theirs. They may make you wrong and then try to persuade you to their beliefs. (Religious zealots and political ideologues are such people, and these are plentiful.)
A personal note: Among my relatives and friends I have a few zealots and ideologues. Knowing that, and wanting to keep our relations positive, I don't talk religion or politics with them. If they bring up those topics, I deftly change the subject, or I say "I'd rather not talk about that."
However, if the person is open-minded, you can have a deep dialogue. For example, if we prefer different candidates for office, we can learn why. We both benefit from that dialogue.
Now, back to your personal personal friends and relative: This caveat
If you think you can persuade your always-stubborn Uncle Fred to change his opinion on climate change, you're probably wrong. And if you get him riled up, maybe he and Aunt Maude won't come to your family's next reunion or Thanksgiving dinner. It's probably better that you "agree to disagree" and talk about more congenial matters.
(Your comments are welcome. Send them to me at [email protected])
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Until next week's tip,
Loren
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