Ask for “something else”, not “anything else”

Along with the post yesterday about bots identifying what they are, I found another good gem in that same podcast episode of “Stuff You Should Know”.

In this case, it was the surprising difference between asking someone “is there anything else I can help you with?” versus “is there something else I can help you with?”.

From the show:

“Some doctors say “is there anything else that you need help with today?” Apparently, anything triggers a response, a predictable response, which is no. But if you change anything to something, that, for some reason, that particular script or template opens up the possibility of sharing more.”

I’ve done a bit more reading about this and it indeed seems to hold true. When people say “anything else”, it’s kind of a shorthand for “we’re done here”.

This was tested with a group of physicians in the US (via BBC), where some were told to ask “Is there anything else you want to address in the visit today?”, a second group was instructed to say “Is there something else you want to address in the visit today?”, and the final group said nothing like that at the end.

The results? The “anything” phrase did the same as the group that said nothing (53% mentioned additional concerns), whereas the “something” phrase solicited 90% of patients to raise more concerns.

This leaves me with two thoughts:

1. Tiny changes in speech can make a big difference! I had never considered those before, but it makes sense.
2. You can use this either way. If you’re a waitress trying to close the diner, the “anything” phrase is more likely to wrap things up. However, if you’re a doctor trying to get more crucial information, “something” is a much better approach to take.

I encourage you to check out the full podcast episode for more.