This meeting, however, was virtual with seven people Isabella had never met. None of them had their camera on. She was looking at a wall of little black squares with names written on them. They looked more like gravestones than people.

How do you build rapport with that?

Ben didn’t want to just “improve” his communication skills. He wanted to stand out.

When he gave a presentation at a conference, he didn’t only want applause. He wanted people talking about it in the hall afterwards and telling everyone when they got back home.

When he met with his boss, Ben didn’t just want “a good meeting”. He wanted his boss fully engaged and talking to his boss about it, and that boss telling it all to his boss.

When he met with his team, he didn’t just want to “go through the agenda.” He wanted a team spirit that lifted everyone higher.

He wanted peers who respected him and sought out his opinions. He wanted customers with long-term, enthusiastic loyalty.

He wanted people’s faces to light up when he walked into a room.

Ben was done with ordinary. He wanted extraordinary.

Sometimes situations look hopeless. This article is for those. It applies not only to salvaging a sale, but to any situation that looks impossible. The solution is not to withdraw. And it’s definitely not talking more when they aren’t open to hearing. There’s a far more effective solution, often the only one that will work.

People make a huge mistake thinking that just because they said something, that the other person “got it”.  That it registered.

When the person you’re talking to is solidly stuck in a particular viewpoint, when they have an obstinately fixed idea, there can be a time lapse between the time you say something and the time it registers.  Why? 

Your communication hasn’t ARRIVED.