Polarity Responders: Contrary to All Belief

What's a polarity responder? We've all had dealings with them. They are someone who no matter what the situation, statement or issue at hand, has to respond in opposition. 'It's a beautiful day.'

Polarity Responder: 'It's definitely too hot. And I think there might be a few clouds on the horizon.'

Polarity responders are easy to spot and they're incredibly fun to deal with. I give them something to respond to that's to my advantage.

The next time you're eliciting criteria, look for the words 'different' or 'difference'. Polarity responders will use these often. They are incredibly 'difference' oriented, as in they will always see things the opposite of you in most or all matters.

In dealing with a particularly disruptive polarity responder (such as an employee or your teenager or even a difficult client or prospect), try this: 'Would you mind doing me a favor?' PR: 'Sure. What can I do for you?'

'Only if you want to, you don't have to.'

PR: 'No. What is it? What is it?'

'Okay, what I wanted to ask you is, would you listen closely to what's going on and if you hear that I've ever said something that isn't quite in keeping with what you think should be going on here, would you bring it to my attention right away?'

PR: 'Certainly. But what you're saying is great. You really know your stuff.'

'Well, I know, but I know you're going to find something so I want you just to bring it to my attention.'

Now this polarity responder is caught in a trap. If they bring it to your attention, they've done what you've asked. If they don't bring it to your attention then they haven't done their polarity. So either way you win. This keeps them from going into their polarity response. They can sit back and sort of enjoy. They're trying to listen really closely to what's going on so that they may come with one or two things for you.

PR: 'Well, you know, you said this and I was curious why.'

'Well, that's really important. I knew there was no way you couldn't bring that up so I'm really glad you did.'

This will stop them from bringing up anything else up they might have found 'wrong' with what you were saying because they fear you responding, 'I knew you'd bring that up too' and that response really pisses off polarity responders.

Utilizing patterns to your advantage is the key to persuasion. This is a really easy one to counteract. My intention is to diffuse this pattern so it doesn't obstruct anyone else either.

Article Source: Main Articles

Kenrick Cleveland teaches strategies to earn the business of affluent clients using persuasion. He runs public and private seminars and offers home study courses and coaching programs in persuasion strategies.

This article may be reproduced wholly or in part without written permission provided the byline, resource area, and any hyperlinks remain in order to give proper credit to the author.

Internet search engines and directory listings are imperative to your sites existence and success. Submit Your Website to the Searchen Networks directory and search engine to achieve authoritive inbound links.

Please Rate this Article

5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5