I didnβt know that not all βYesβ are the same.
When Chris Voss shared his secret in the book βNever split the differenceβ, it opened my eyes.
There are actually three kinds of βYesβ: Counterfeit, Confirmation, and Commitment.
A counterfeit βyesβ is one in which your counterpart plans to say βnoβ, but either feel βyesβ is an easier escape route or just wanted to disingenuously keep the conversation going to obtain more information from you.
A confirmation βyesβ is generally an innocent response to block-or-white questions. Mostly itβs just simple affirmation but no promise of action.
And a commitment βyesβ is a real deal β a true agreement that leads to action.
The commitment βyesβ is what you want, but the other two types also sound the same, we confuse ourselves to believe we have a commitment βyesβ, but instead, we have either of the other two.
If the counterpart doesnβt take some kind of follow-up action, then itβs most likely not a βcommitmentβ, but a βconfirmationβ.
The conversation might also look like a βcommitmentβ in the beginning, but very soon can lead to a βcounterfeitβ after you provide the necessary information and then they ghost you.
Hope this helps you recognize which βyesβ is being used so you can truly know when to seal the deal.