Match Minus One

A phone conversation tool I’ve learned from my COO at work has helped me understand how my normal interactions with others (even off the phone) can have negative and positive effects.

Talking with people on the phone, you talk to all ranges of personalities. It can be difficult to pinpoint that personality when you first get on the call, but the faster you can recognize it, the better the call is usually going to go.

In healthcare, sometimes the people I talk to are the most lively southern ladies you’ll ever meet. The kind that believe sweet tea is a main food group. They’re so excited for a call that they’ll talk your ear off about everything they’re doing. Also in healthcare, I get the grumpy guys from Oregon who have lived too many days with clouds and no sun. Getting them to say more than 2 words is an Olympic sport.

The tool my boss taught me was the rule of “Match, Minus One”…I definitely made that name up. I have no clue what it’s called. The main idea behind it though is to match someone’s conversation interest and then decrease it by 1.

If you were in a conversation with someone and had to rate their interest level from 1 to 10. 1 being that guy from Oregon, 10 being the sweet tea ladies, then you play to that number. Sometimes in sales, the tendency is to be positive all the time, but just like in most situations in the real world, if you are always that person who is always positive with no emotion below 100%, you are going to annoy people.

Instead, find the level number that they are at, and lower by one. Don’t raise more interest on your side before you have some coming from them. If you act just a little less interested in them, people tend to have much more actual conversation.