You Can’t Go Wrong Asking Lots Of Questions
A while ago we posted a sales job with us. Good pay, unlimited commission, great benefits, incredible freedom.
I set just one challenge, imagine we were a prospective client.
Everyone that applied made the same mistake, they pitched themselves (really hard).
This is the opposite approach we take with any prospect. It’s never about our services, it’s always about their problem.
None of the candidates asked any questions. No-one tried to clarify the challenges we faced, identify our current skills and knowledge gaps, highlight other ways they could solve our challenges, or look for additional value-adding opportunities.
We wildly over-estimate our ability to empathize with our audience.
This is usually because we skip a very simple step.
We don’t spend enough time talking to our audience and asking questions. How does this message make you feel? What do you feel is the best option here? What does this remind you of? What can we do to help? What do you really need? What aren’t you telling us?
It’s easy to identify the right questions to ask, it’s sadly much harder to summon up the willpower and courage to ask them.
Really great article @richard_millington - applicable in so many aspects of our work and life. I love questions!
thanks @Nick_Emmett.
I can’t agree more with you. As a professor I love when students ask questions, and I love to ask question to them too!!! Many times they just smile at me while I explain something, but when I ask them about the lesson, some are really lost. Just imagine what could had happened If I had continued with the lesson.
I’ve learned that if someone is asking you a lot of questions, is because he or she is understanding and interested in what your are saying. So as a community manager making question is fundamental to show your interes to a future client an to understand him or her.