Questions are the answer
Some years ago I read the book by Allan Pease called “Questions are the answer” and it helped me understand how important questions are in the sales process. I linked it to two popular sales theory models – Spin Selling by Neil Rackham and Trust, Need, Help Hurry as set out by Tom Hopkins.
In both these models they explained that if you spend time asking the right question you get the opportunity to understand what your prospect or client need and with more questions to understand the important implications of their need. This creates the value for your proposed solution if you can offer a product or service that helps the situation they have described to you. Allan’s techniques on how to pose questions instead of making statements then comes in very useful as one seeks to ask the right questions.
As a first takeaway from this article I hope you can think of what questions you should include in your next sales meeting instead of the slides that show how long you have been in business etc. etc. What do your questions look like?
However, this got me thinking. As a business coach I believe that my key role is to ask questions of my clients and coach them to find the answers to the issues or opportunities that they are facing. So I came to the conclusion that by asking good coaching questions – particularly using a few key question models such as Sir John Whitmore’s GROW model I can help business owners make breakthroughs and gain better results for them selves. NB the GROW model is Goal, Reality, Options, What (or Wrap Up) is a sequential model that enables the coach to exhaust questions at each stage before moving towards the What stage where a commitment to action is achieved.
So this tells me that asking good questions is a key skill for seeking clarity whether when looking to make a sale or when looking to help a business owner to improve. When I look at it, the questions differ due to the area of focus, but the structure of them, starting open and digging deeper remains constant.
I am currently reading The Road Less Stupid by Keith Cunningham and guess what he proposes as a key differentiator between a successful business owner and the others? Thinking time, where they ask themselves at least one great question in an hours thinking time and then dig deeper around it. He gives three fundamental questions to give clarity around isolating the issue from the symptom so you can address it– 1) – What are the possible reasons I noticing this symptom? 2) – What isn’t happening, that if it did happen, would cause the perceived gap (or symptoms) to either narrow or disappear? 3) –What is happening, that if it stopped happening, would cause the perceived gap to either narrow or disappear?
This now leads me to the title of this article – Questions are the answer to selling effectively, coaching effectively and running your business effectively.
What questions are you asking your self, your clients and your prospects and could you improve your results through improving your questions?
I hope you found this thought provoking. Please contact me at rogerpemberton@actioncoach.com to discuss how you can improve your questioning.
