Transcripts

Lynette Padwa:
When we go see the doctor or the hairdresser, we're really thinking about what WE want but we're not thinking about the best way to communicate it to them. And we're not really thinking about making their lives any easier. But by making their life easier we get what we want.

Lynette Padwa, author of the book Say the Magic Words…

The most interesting thing I discovered was everyone wants to succeed and they hate to fail - hairdressers, waiters, doctors, lawyers. So when they first meet you, if they're getting the feeling that you are going to make them fail, they close up, they don't want to deal with you. If you give them the impression that they will succeed with you, they love you, they want to help you and things go much more easily.

Lynette interviewed people in many different professions in order to discover what would work best in dealing with them.

The hairdresser is a really good example. We all go to the stylist and we try to explain in words how we want our hair to look, that doesn't really work with them. You really have to bring a picture or point. And one fascinating thing I found out about hairdressers is that if they do something you don't like, if you end up really disliking the cut or the color, they're usually happy to fix it for free. They want to keep your business.

Tomorrow, dealing with waiters and teachers - I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.