From Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People.
Talk in Terms of Other Person’s Interests.
“For Roosevelt knew, as all leaders know, that the royal road to a person’s heart is to talk about the things he or she treasures most.” (p. 121)
Roosevelt was known have a large range and diversity of knowledge. The night before meeting a visitor, he would read up on a subject the visitor was particularly interested in.
“I happened to be excited about boats, and the visitor discussed the subject in a way that seemed to me particularly interesting. After he left, I spoke of him with enthusiasm. What a man!
My aunt informed me he was a New York lawyer, that he cared nothing whatever about boats—that he took not the slightest interest in the subject. ‘But why then did he talk all the time about boats?’ “‘Because he is a gentleman. He saw you were interested in boats, and he talked about the things he knew would interest and please you. He made himself agreeable.’” (p. 121)
A man was looking for the President of a company to pay for expenses. He knew the president had a check for $1 million cleared and framed it on the wall. The president loved to talk about the story behind this check, and later gave give money for the expenses and more!
A man was trying to sell bread to a hotel and kept getting denied. The man changed his tactic and decided to find out what interested him and talk about his passion. After talking about his passion, the man decided to order bread from the man!