“I can also see how it (a persistent questionnaire) could extract the ‘hidden’ background info / organisational context that a client never tells you until you’re half-way through a face-to-face meeting, and which usually causes the meeting to go off in a different and more valuable direction.”
~ Longtime friend of the list Sam Glynn in a reply to last week’s “Delay of Game Penalties” email.
Jonathan Stark, a mentor and good friend of mine, also encourages questions in one of his podcast episodes “The Why Conversation” which is where I first heard about him
In The Why Conversation, you ask your prospect:
Why do you want to buy my services?
Why do you want to buy them now?
And why do you want to buy them from me?
Essentially doing your best to talk your prospect out of the sale
Throwing a kitchen sink’s worth of why
They might be better off not buying your expensive services
Thus increasing their value should they ultimately decide to buy
Or refer you to someone who will
Here’s the thing:
Asking questions of your client
Right out of the gate
Isn’t about power
It’s about placing the highest value
On your time with the client
And the insight they have
Into their customers.
I’m here,
Kevin