Sometimes, there really are magic words that can make things happen for you and your business, they just aren’t typically “Abra Cadabra”, or “Is this your card?”
These magic words might say words like:
“Have you ever made an exception?”
“Are we done trying to work this out amicably?”
“I’d like to have xyz, how can we make that happen?”
These magic words tend to center on the idea that less is more, and they allow other people to fill in the blanks and solve our problems for us.
Using these “what” and “how” sentences take away anything accusatory and allows the listener or reader to wonder how they can help with this particular issue.
So next time it’s really important, try and ask your counterpart a question and allow them to solve it for you.
It’s just like sales –
The salesperson typically knows what they have the authority to offer you, but they benefit if you don’t get every dime from them. Similarly, you don’t know what that drop-dead offer is.
Asking these open-ended questions allows the “seller” to start to show their hand, which tends to be more effective than demanding to know if they’re holding any aces.
Appeal to people’s natural desire to help you solve a problem, especially when solving that problem helps them too.
For more information about these magic words and negotiation mastery, I highly recommend Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss.