I love to play cards and have always been intrigued with the game of Bridge, although I'd never played the game. I decided to take the time to learn it. This meant buying a few books on the subject and going online to get a better understanding. The more I learned about this game, the more I realized this is no ordinary card game.
In Bridge, there are really two parts: The Bid and The play. The bid is a simple way of communicating with your partner what your cards look like in your hand. But, this is not easy as you can only do it by bidding your hand and telling the table how many tricks you can take with your hand. I won’t bore non-card players and make card players mad at me by trying to describe any part of the theory, but I will tell you that the only way to be successful is to speak a common language and understand what your partner is saying…. in a sort of code. For example, if my partner bids 2 clubs……I know that really means she doesn't have any clubs, and I should bid something else.
This reminded me so much of sales. A successful sales person understands the buyers code and accepts it at face value. A good salesperson bridges the communication gap between what the prospect is saying and what they really mean. In other words, when the prospect asks, “How big is your service department,” it could mean that they’re currently having service problems. They may not actually care about how big your service department is.
It is amazing to learn what your prospects are really saying to you before responding as opposed to first responding and then attempting to figure out what they actually meant.
Learn to play bridge, and understand what people are saying to you in code.
