Small talk can help you clinch that deal

A simple verbal twist can help frame requests more effectively.

If you're trying to get something from someone, words matter. Research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology suggests that a simple verbal twist can help frame requests more effectively.
In a series of experiments, participants engaged in hypothetical bartering over collectible cards, electronic appliances, and other items. Researchers found that a participant's proposal was more effective, on average, if it led with what his or her barter partner would receive. A smart salesperson, the results indicate, says "I can give you the car for $7,000"rather than "I want $7,000 for the car."
Emphasising what's in it for a client or negotiating partner encourages compromise, according to study co-author Roman Trötschel, a psychologist at Leuphana University of Lüneburg in Germany. The approach might also help an employee negotiating her salary or a spouse dividing up choresm - ''I'll do the dishes if you clean the bathtub." Says Trötschel: "'I will give you' or 'You can get' is better than 'I want you to give me,' 'I demand,' or 'I ask that you give.'"
The more frequently workers at an IT company used words indicating social chatter - like lunch, coffee, or football -, the less likely they were to be laid off, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania found by mining two years of their electronic communications.
Reprinted from Psychology Today