Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Doing Business With Socratic Talkers

Socrates was an influential thinker and used reasoning and logic as tools to win over conversations with opponents. Socrates explored intellectual independence to ask questions as a method of inquiry, now known as the Socratic method. More on Socrates here.

Businessman who use the Socratic method are concerned with analysis of details. If you come across a salesman who is a Socratic, don't be overwhelmed by his talk. That's the way he knows how to operate. He would probably throw more words at you than you can hear.

If on the other hand you want to sell something to a Socratic, provide the person all the information you have about the service or product on offer. Then ask, if he or she needs more information.

Socratics enjoy playing the role of a philosopher. They are not keen to get into tangible elements of a situation. They are famous for engaging in monologue speaking, often verbalizing their entire thought process. They have to hear what they are thinking before they can make a decision. They speak first to themselves, not necessarily to others.

So, if you are doing business with Socratics, be patient and a good listener. The reward for doing that may be the business deal which you may want to clinch. If this sounds easy; try being a good listener and you'll know the answer.

1 comment:

Muhammadh said...

Socratic method is a great teaching tool too. A Socratic salesman should be like a human sponge.