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Permission to Proceed

For Impact Ideas | | Nick Fellers

Ask for “Permission to Proceed”.

This concept helps you TRANSITION in the flow of a visit and ACCELERATE the pace of your ongoing dialogue in a relationship.

The use of this is pretty literal. At the end of a first visit with someone you might say, “This was our first visit. My only goals today were to establish a relationship, take some time to learn about your interests and make you familiar with our impact. It seems like there were some good connections, based on that would it be okay if we explored ways to help in our next visit?”

Other examples:

  • “Would it be okay?”

  • “Would it be possible to?”
  • “At this time, I’d like to talk specifically about the Funding Plan if that’s okay with you.”

If there was a poor job of predisposition, you might even be able to get away with: “I know we didn’t come here today to talk about numbers but it certainly seems like we’re in sync about the projects. Would it be okay if I were to share the Funding Plan?”
Asking for permission to proceed allows you to be comfortably assertive. How do you know if it’s okay to ask? You ask.