"That's a fair point."

Costs essentially nothing. Buys an enormous amount. Most people brace for the counter-argument; they've stated their position and they're waiting for yours, and they've already pre-loaded their defenses. When you grant the point instead — actually concede that they've said something valid — the defenses come down because they suddenly have nothing to push against. The conversation moves from adversarial to collaborative almost immediately. The critical element is genuineness. A perfunctory 'that's a fair point' delivered on the way to burying it with 'but' is not this technique — it's the performance of it, and people can tell. Real concession means sitting with the validity of the other person's point before moving to your own. You can disagree with someone's conclusion and still grant the legitimacy of how they got there. When you do, you've separated yourself from the vast majority of arguers, who treat every concession as a loss rather than a shortcut to a better conversation.