Think about your intentions in conversations. Are you listening to respond or to actually listen? Are you trying to sell someone a product or trying to help their business?

Intentions come across in conversations more than you know. If you have the intention to sell someone, they’ll feel that. 

They will see that you only want to talk to them to sell them a product. That’s when they shut down. They stop responding positively or write you off as another salesperson. At that point you’ve lost them.

Come into your conversations with a different intent.

If you genuinely want to help customers or potential clients, they can see that. They’ll be more open to discussing business and more open to giving you more business down the line.

When you seem to be having poor conversations with someone close or with prospects think about where you’re coming from.

Are you trying to get something from them? Do you genuinely have their best interests in mind?

Think about what your objectives are in these interactions.

If you go into a conversation thinking about yourself, you’ll only ask for something and not care what happens to the other person. If you go into a conversation being open to what the other person has to say and focusing on helping them solve their problems, you are focused on them.

You control your side of the conversation. Listen to what the other person is saying and respond accordingly.

Try going into ever interaction with the intention of helping the other person instead of being focused on yourself.

Intention is everything. You can tell when someone wants something and when someone genuinely wants to help you.

Provide a helping hand instead of selling the same product as everyone else. 

“A gift consists not in what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca