“You want to save money, right?”

This was a question in a networking event.

Ick.

There is no freedom in this question.

You might feel powerful if you can get people to politely say “yes”.

But you have completely lost connection with your listener as a real person.

Someone free to say “yes”, “no” or “I don’t want to talk to you.”

What would treating the other person as free sound like?

“I don’t know if what I’m offering will be useful to you or not. You can tell me no and I’ll stop. How do you decide …?”