--- title: If You Want Consensus, You Need Perspectives | The Sales Blog description: If you are going to build consensus, you need the capacity to take a third person’s perspective, and you need to help the contacts image: https://www.thesalesblog.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/shutterstock_260727803.jpg --- ### [Now booking SKO meetings for 2026/27! 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When you have a stakeholder speaking to another stakeholder, the person speaking is speaking in the first person. They are sharing their perspective. The person listening has their own idea about what is being said, and that is a second perspective. You have the third person’s perspective. You have to decide what you believe the speaker is saying, and you have to decide what you believe the second person thinks about what they heard. But wait. There’s more. There is another stakeholder who is absent from this meeting. That person has a perspective, too. They have their own idea about what the first stakeholder said, and they have their own perspective about what they believe the second person thinks about what they heard. The more stakeholders, the more perspectives. The more perspectives, the more there is to elicit and to manage. One of the problems in building consensus is that many of the stakeholders you are working with are sharing their first person perspective, [without considering other perspectives](http://thesalesblog.com/2015/11/12/7-things-you-need-to-know-about-consensus/). When we elicit their perspective, we don’t often ask our stakeholders to share with us to share with us what they believe their peer’s perspectives might be. The lack of perspective-taking means that people get left out of the process, challenges aren’t mitigated, and consensus isn’t reached. Or, decisions are made without considering others, and those who are left out entrench in their positions and kill whatever initiative was being pursued.   ###### Tags: [Sales](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/tag/sales) [2017](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/tag/2017) Post by [Anthony Iannarino](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/author/anthony-iannarino) on March 12, 2017 Written and edited by human brains and human hands. ![Anthony Iannarino](https://www.thesalesblog.com/hubfs/ai-blog-profile-crop.jpg) Anthony Iannarino is an American writer. He has published daily at [thesalesblog.com](https://www.thesalesblog.com) for more than 14 years, amassing over 5,300 articles and making this platform a destination for salespeople and sales leaders. Anthony is also the author of four best-selling books documenting modern sales methodologies and a fifth book for sales leaders seeking revenue growth. His latest book for an even wider audience is titled, The Negativity Fast: Proven Techniques to Increase Positivity, Reduce Fear, and Boost Success. Anthony speaks to sales organizations worldwide, delivering cutting-edge sales strategies and tactics that work in this ever-evolving B2B landscape. He also provides workshops and seminars. Connect with Anthony on LinkedIn, X or Youtube. 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What we’re doing right now **is working**, even in this challenging economy. **Would you like some help?** [![Solve for Sales](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2922376/d3a4938b-2008-4a27-8b44-7b2223f6d035.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2922376/d3a4938b-2008-4a27-8b44-7b2223f6d035) ### Join my Weekly Newsletter for Sales Tips Join 100,000+ sales professionals in my weekly newsletter and get my *Guide to Becoming a Sales Hustler* eBook for FREE! --- ```json { "@context" : "http://schema.org/", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Anthony Iannarino" }, "dateModified" : "2023-02-01T2:02:52 AM", "datePublished" : "2017-03-12 20:50:47", "description" : "If you are going to build consensus, you need the capacity to take a third person’s perspective, and you need to help the contacts", "headline" : "If You Want Consensus, You Need Perspectives", "image" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 16, "url" : "https://f.hubspotusercontent20.net/hubfs/2922376/Image/favicon.ico", "width" : 16 }, "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/if-you-want-consensus-you-need-perspectives", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "name" : "If You Want Consensus, You Need Perspectives", "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 24, "url" : "https://f.hubspotusercontent20.net/hubfs/2922376/TSB/images/TSB%20Logo%20Dark.svg", "width" : 228 }, "name" : "The Sales Blog" } } ```