The annual PMRG National Conference offers health care market researchers the opportunity to become empowered with knowledge and expand their professional reach. Motivational speaker and PMRG’s 2014 keynote speaker, Daniel H. Pink, is the author of four books about the ever-changing work world. His most recent book, To Sell Is Human, is a New York Times Business Bestseller, Wall Street Journal Business Bestseller, and Washington Post Bestseller. He uses decades of behavioral science experience to shed new and optimistic light on influence and how selling has becomefundamentally human.
Attunement– The ability to step back from your own thoughts and view things from another perspective. Being able to find common ground between yourself and the person you are encountering will broaden your lens.
Buoyancy– Explain your failures in a way that depersonalizes them. What you do before and after an encounter will show how you will stay afloat on the ocean of rejection.
Clarity– Being able to make sense of information is more important than having the access to it. Focus on problem finding as opposed to problem solving.
Pink explains and demonstrates five ways to stand before the data and frame messages that increase clarity and lead to action.
- Perspective Exercise: Take your dominant hand, and with your pointer finger, draw an “E” on your forehead. To whose perspective did you draw it? Is your default behavior to take your own perspective or others? Pink says to become a better perspective taker and increase your effectiveness, briefly reduce your feelings of power. The more powerful you feel, the worse your perspective can be, so try to see things from another point of view.
- Think or Feel: In a negotiation case study, three groups were asked to create the most effective plan by imagining what they thought the other groups were thinking or feeling. Which group was more effective in persuasion? Thinking! The thinking group was more able to understand the facts – logistics trump feelings. Ideally, you want to try to get both, but an understanding of what (how) the other party is thinking emerges as most effective in negotiations. In a pinch, go with your head over your heart.
- Mimicry: Successful negotiators recommend subtly mimicking the mannerisms of their negotiation partner. The Journal of Experimental Social Psychology reports negotiators who mimicked their opponents mannerisms were more likely to create a deal that benefited both parties. Pay attention to others posture gestures, and language. Then reflect those back without being an idiot about it. Physical and verbal mimicry is a way people understand somebody else’s perspective.
- Extrovert vs. Introvert: Do you need to be an extrovert or introvert to be an effective negotiator? Both! Ambiverts are the most effective negotiators. Having both characteristics are most successful in effective negotiation because they are more attuned. Don’t try to be one or the other; be more like yourself.
- Persuasive Tool: Ask a question! When you allow people to create their own reasons for doing/believing, they are more likely to adhere to that emotion. When the facts are clearly on your side, persuade with questions because it elicits action responses.
