A speech and communication coach claims people will open up to you when you use the technique
People will open up to you if you use a communication technique that helps you connect on a deeper level, according to a speech and communication coach. Reece J.M. regularly shares advice to help professionals “speak with influence” on his TikTok @progress.playground.
In a recent post, the speech and communication coach shared a video titled: “How to get anyone to quickly open up.” Addressing his 101k followers, Reece claimed: “If I had 10 minutes and I had to get that person to open up quickly, I would use assumption-based elicitation, which is what the FBI agents use all the time in their interrogations, in a positive way.”
He said: “Picture this. If I was to ask you a question, ‘How was your day today?’ automatically you’re thinking, okay, this is a generic question, so I’m going to give a generic answer, or you’re thinking, what’s the best way to answer this question.
“Your mind is thinking whereas if I was to say, ‘You seem like you’ve had a really good or bad day today’, automatically you emotionally respond to this assumption, thus allowing you to naturally open up.”
Reece added: “Another example, ‘How was work?’ Generic, boring, flat, versus, ‘It seems like work’s been really intense or stressful for you recently.’
“Bam, gets you to open up, triggers you emotionally in a positive way. So if you want to get people to open up, you use assumption-based elicitation. Therapists or even FBI agents use this all the time.”
The video earned over 95,000 views and 6,000 likes. There were also lots of questions from viewers. Someone commented: “Interesting, that question makes me suspicious my immediate response would be what makes you say that.”
Reece replied: “It’s about being authentic. If they ask a follow up question, such as the one you’ve mentioned, and you don’t have an answer then you’ve basically just lied.
“Once someone gives their reasoning, most of the time you will open up, to a certain degree, if they’re correct. If they’re wrong, even better – you may feel the need to correct the record. Again, this technique is rooted in authenticity.”
Praising the tip, a different commenter claimed: “I use this a lot in recruiting.” Someone else said: “This is good for sales calls too.”
Another viewer joked: “Try this with a Brit. ‘You look like you’ve had a good day’. ‘It’s alright, you’.” A similar reply read: “I don’t do small talk, I just say, I’m fine.”
According to the FBI: “Elicitation is a technique used to collect information that is not readily available and do so without raising suspicion that specific facts are being sought.” While Reece offered a positive example to help people connect, it could be used by people trying to collect information, including corporate information, that’s not publicly available.