How we change what others think, feel, believe and do

Untried

Techniques > Resisting persuasion >  Untried

Method | Example | Discussion | See also

Method

If you know that the suggestion has not been tried before then you can highlight the risk in implementing something which is at best an uncertain idea.

Point out that you or the company have not tried it before. Maybe also note that nobody else has tried it either.

If you do not know whether the proposal has been implemented before, ask the other person for evidence of how it has been successful (not just used).

Example

Ooh. No. That's just too new for me. Far too risky. I like something that I know has been tried and tested.

That's a novel idea. I've not heard of it being used before. Who else has used it? What improvements did it bring? What problems did they have in implementing it?

If I tried that, how could you guarantee that it would work? What would you give me if it isn't good enough?

Discussion

Often when people are proposing a course of action they do not know if it has been done before. Even if they do know who has used it, they are unlikely to have statistics to demonstrate how effective that previous usage was. And even if they can show this, you can talk about how your situation is different.

A time that 'untried' as an objection will not work well is in an organization where being innovative is actively encouraged.

See also

Tried it, Theories about forecasting