I agree with Pavitra that it makes sense to thank people for listening, whether or not they end up closer to agreeing with you. But it’s often difficult to tell whether someone is seriously listening to you or not, so I don’t know how well this works out in practice.
The best way to handle this I thought of in a minute or so: when someone says they’ve changed their mind, acknowledge this respectfully (this might be a good time for “thanks for listening”). Then immediately change the subject to something they will gain status from: an area where they are successful or a topic they know more about than you do. Later on, maybe even several days later, after the tension has fully dissipated, say something like: “You know, you’re a very mature person. I really respect you for being able to change your mind like you did about (whatever); I’m still struggling with learning to do that myself.”
Yes, this is flattery. If you can’t do flattery, you should probably work on that skill sometime soon.
I agree with Pavitra that it makes sense to thank people for listening, whether or not they end up closer to agreeing with you. But it’s often difficult to tell whether someone is seriously listening to you or not, so I don’t know how well this works out in practice.
The best way to handle this I thought of in a minute or so: when someone says they’ve changed their mind, acknowledge this respectfully (this might be a good time for “thanks for listening”). Then immediately change the subject to something they will gain status from: an area where they are successful or a topic they know more about than you do. Later on, maybe even several days later, after the tension has fully dissipated, say something like: “You know, you’re a very mature person. I really respect you for being able to change your mind like you did about (whatever); I’m still struggling with learning to do that myself.”
Yes, this is flattery. If you can’t do flattery, you should probably work on that skill sometime soon.