How can I remain positive when I encounter people who say, “We can’t do that”? Presentation Skills

• June 27, 2011

When people say “We can’t do that,” it usually means you’ve run into a barrier of some sort. Your job is to use the tips you will learn at our Presentation Skills seminar to help you stay on course and find out what they are trying to protect.

Here’s a taste of what you will learn:

If they are Connectors, what they may really be saying is, “We’ve tried that before and we didn’t have great results, so why will it work this time?” Or they may be trying to tell you, “I’m not comfortable with change, so show me how this change can be done effectively.”

If the person is an Analyzer, they may be asking you to give them more facts that support what you are asking them to do.

In either case, your job, after learning our Executive Presentation Skills,  is to find the facts and remove the assumed barriers. You can do this by simply asking some open-ended questions:

“Let’s assume this can be done. What would need to change or happen in order for it to work?”
“Let’s play Devil’s Advocate. What would you do in order to make it work?”
“Let’s list the facts that support the statement ‘We can’t do that’.” Once the group has listed those facts, ask, “Let’s look at how we can turn these facts on their head to come up with a great solution.”

To the person who said “we can’t do that,” say, “It sounds like you’ve pondered this, and if you feel this idea won’t work, tell us why you feel that way?” This will get the person who is a naysayer, or one who never contributes ideas, to be quiet.

TAKE ACTION: Learn more about our Presentations Skills Seminars at: / or call us at: 1-888-467-9421