If… Then… Technique

THE TOOLKIT
If – Then Technique

A way to respond to declarative statements is to verbally flip the statement around into a question for everyone to hear. For example, take the statement:

“But we can’t afford to wait!”

Using the if-then technique takes the statement and turns into a question; hence, diffusing it and coming across more conversational. As a result, you’re response will sound like this:

“If you’re asking whether we should wait, then my answer is a definite ‘yes’

because we’ll get better results.”