Quote from Matthew Whitewood on March 20, 2021, 10:37 am

Today, I had a call with my business partner.
I followed the general methods of

• Listening and seeking to understand the concerns
• Easing these concerns
• Showing that he has a significant say in the decision
• Getting him to mention the upsides rather than me say it explicitly

The conversation is made generic without details for brevity.

Me: I wanted to know your thoughts about getting these people on our team for a few months. (Making him feel valued in his input allows better persuasion and lets him share more about his concerns)

Him: I have a few concerns.
One of them is whether we will get back money as promised by the agency promising to pay the allowance for us.
We need to come out time as well to onboard these people.
Lastly, we don't really what to expect.

(So I don't know which is his real concern. I need to go one by one.)

Me: There's a few concerns.
Let me touch upon the first one.
Let me say that I'm exploring how to alleviate this concern.
I'm not making a stand yet whether we should go with this.
Here's how we can solve this issue on the payment ... (elaborate)

Him: Thanks a lot for clarifying on your stance.
The main concern is not really the money. (Now he starts talking about the key concern)
I don't really know what to expect from these people.
I'm not sure if they will provide value.

Me: I see. I totally see where you are coming from.
We will get a chance to speak to them a few weeks later.
I will compile my impression of them, their experiences and how they can fit into our team.
Then I will send them to you and you can let me know your thoughts.
We can even arrange a conversation with them.
So we can push this decision to the date then when we have more information. (Give him more time to think with more information)

Him: Yeah, that will be great.
Not enough information at this stage so I'm uncomfortable.

Me: A note that, if we don't find these people to add value to our team, we can stop working with them. (Minimise the risk according to his key concern)
That's part of the scheme.
But let me get this information in a few weeks and I will share this with you.

Him: Let's do that.
On top of that, we don't have to pay anything so we are getting this for free.
Pretty good as we always need to have an extra pair of hands.

(I didn't highlight the upside without first addressing the concerns, and he mentions the upside after I addressed these concerns. So now he's more convinced.)