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Sales Tweet #41

by Rick Baker
On Sep 13, 2010
Sales Tweet #41 Your Top 10 Clients: what are their proudest achievements? If you don't know then start asking today.
 
The Thinking Behind the Sales Tweet
If you understand the things that cause your Clients to feel positive emotions like personal pride then you will probably find some common ground for building a relationship. Often, the Client's office provides signals: pictures of family, pictures of pets, pictures of boats or cars, diplomas and awards, etc. Some Clients are not so 'public' and do not display things. They still may enjoy the opportunity to share stories of proudest moments with you.

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Questions?: The Art of Asking Good Questions | Sales | Thought Tweets

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The Art of Questioning - #1

by Rick Baker
On Sep 2, 2010
…based on Chapter 8 of Bruno Gideon's book Don't Take No for an Answer!
 
Bruno praises the art of questioning:
 
"If you consider the putting of questions you will realize that no other mode of communication lets you express your interest so clearly. You want to know something, you want to test reactions, elicit opinions, criticize, praise, or provoke - communication in its purest form."
 
You can concentrate your persuasive powers through well-thought-out questions. Take, for example, the recruiting process - hiring employees. Most people spend time creating top-quality questions for the interview process. But, few create top-quality questions for the job posting process. I find that puzzling. 
 
Questions can be used to 'influence'. Gideon tells the story of 2 monks, each hoping the Pope would allow them to smoke during prayer time. They both wrote letters to the Pope. The Pope allowed one to smoke but not both.
 
Why only one?
 
Here is how the 2 monks posed their questions:
  • "May I smoke during prayers?"
  • "May I pray while I am smoking?"
Whether the story is true or not, it provides a good example of how the wording of a question can influence the response.
 
Questions can be used to determine the motives of others and determine their sincerity. While I may be understating Gideon's thinking, it appears people who do a good job of listening to your questions (both listening to your words and registering your body language) are illustrating an interest in you, rather than a preoccupation with themselves.  
 
Gideon divides questions into two main groups:
  • Self-contained or closed-ended questions
  • Open-ended questions
Here's a summary of how he describes these two types of questions.
 
Self-contained questions:
  • Purpose: to get simple information - 'Yes' or 'No'
  • Advantage: speed
  • Disadvantage: they constrict the flow of conversation
  • Danger: they can lead to a loss of control
Open-ended questions: these are framed so they can not be answered with 'Yes', 'No', or 'Maybe'.
  • Purpose: to help keep the conversation flowing, show interest in the opposing position, and make use of the information at your disposal
  • Advantage: you don't give up control
  • Disadvantage: you are dependant on the other person's cooperation. If he or she is in a bad mood and gives monosyllabic answers you have nothing to go on. This approach is more time-consuming than asking self-contained questions.
  • Beware: don't embark on a cross-examination. Don't bombard your discussion partner with questions. That would be counterproductive.
Gideon also writes about goal-specific questions, which can be asked in either the open or closed style:
  • Investigative questions: to acquire information and ideas, to help you decided how to proceed
  • Deflecting questions: to redirect the conversation
  • Association questions: to form mental connections
  • Leading questions: to directly influence someone
  • Conversational questions: to fill gaps in the conversation, to encourage the other person, and to set the mood
  • Supplementary questions: to delve deeper or to get around evasive answer

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Questions?: The Art of Asking Good Questions

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Sales Tweet #32

by Rick Baker
On Aug 31, 2010
Sales Tweet #32 Spend some time on LinkedIn. How active are your best Clients today? What are they doing and saying?
 
The Thinking Behind the Sales Tweet
LinkedIn is a tool: a tool for self-education and a tool for building relationships. If you totally disagree with that comment then don’t read on. If you are still reading then…pick the 10 Clients who impress you the most. Or, pick a mix of Clients and Probable Clients…people who fit the profile of your Ideal Target Client. Now, check out those people on LinkedIn. You probably want to do this on your laptop while watching TV [i.e., this lends itself to multi-tasking]. What are your ‘ideal’ buyers doing on LinkedIn? Are they well-connected? If so, then – to whom? Do they ask LinkedIn Questions? If so, then – what questions? Do they provide answers to other folks’ LinkedIn Questions? If so, then – what types of questions do they answer? What can you learn about your Client by watching what they do? [There are several other LinkedIn things to look at. We will cover them in later tweets.]

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Questions?: The Art of Asking Good Questions | Sales | Thought Tweets

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Sales Tweet #31

by Rick Baker
On Aug 30, 2010
Sales Tweet #31 Where do you have your favourite shopping experience? Can you find probable Clients at that place?
 
The Thinking Behind the Sales Tweet
This tweet is about the valuable information we can gain if we spend time thinking about the fact everyone buys stuff. So, every sales person is a buyer. This has several implications. There is 'cause and effect'. What causes us to buy the things we buy and what causes us to buy the way we buy? If we happen to notice our Clients buying the same things we buy at the same places we buy them then we have a piece of valuable information about our Client. Sure, maybe this will not be a huge piece of value. But at least it will be a little piece of valuable information. And - when it comes to understanding our Clients...every little bit helps.

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Questions?: The Art of Asking Good Questions | Sales | Thought Tweets

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Sales Tweet #28

by Rick Baker
On Aug 25, 2010
Sales Tweet #28 Ask sales-role candidates how they buy (1) shoes, (2) a big TV, and (3) a car. So - how will they sell?
 
The Thinking Behind the Sales Tweet
I believe there is value in analysing how sales people buy. Sales people's approach to buying will impact on their approach to selling. There are many specific things to look out for. For example, is the sales person an impulsive buyer? If so, then is the sales person as impulsive as the price of the item to be purchased increases...i.e. from shoes to a big TV and from a big TV to a car? Another example, does the sales person involve others or go it alone for purchasing? The self-image of the sales person will influence how the sales person perceives buyers.

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Questions?: The Art of Asking Good Questions | Sales | Thought Tweets

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Stories & Questions

by Rick Baker
On Aug 18, 2010
People like to hear stories.
 
I bet this dates back to the early caveman-hunter days.
 
In those days they didn’t have iPads and I’m pretty sure they didn't even have books. So, some hairy fellow, all beaten up and scarred would arrive at his cave after a hard day chasing sabre-tooth tigers and other such creatures, beating them into submission, and dragging them home for the clan dinner.
 
And, of course, everyone wanted to hear the story behind the huge, charred racks of ribs. So, the proud hunter would share the story of the day. Everyone would get full and get entertained. Then they would fall asleep beside the safety of the fire. The next morning, they would wake up and tackle a new day…another day, another huge beast to cook.
 
At some point, cave folks didn’t completely follow the hunters’ stories. So, they started asking questions. That was a pivotal point in human pre-history. The story tellers learned how to delve into the details. Also, they noticed certain stories and certain details generated more interest and more excitement amongst the cave-crowd. They concentrated on these types of stories with a win-win attitude.
 
Every once in a while one of the cave people would ask a really bad question and the story teller would bonk him with a tree-branch club. This helped the cave community develop guidelines for fair and reasonable questions.
 
That's a prehistoric rendition of how storytelling and questioning began. Sure, there were stories before these exciting cave-hunter stories. There were cave-gatherer stories and questions and later cave-scavenger stories and questions. But, those stories lacked cave-pizzazz. No sizzle.
 
Like: "Blork... [I found some berries today.]" "Gluck... [where?]" "Mrunk... [over by the river.]"
 
Simply, not very exciting stuff.
 
But, when cave-living folks started telling hunting stories and asking hunting questions, well, that was magic.
 
That's when civilization took off.
 
As did evolution.
 
And, ever since those cave-days the hearts and imaginations of human beings have been captured by good stories and good questions.

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Beyond Business | Questions?: The Art of Asking Good Questions

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