The sales process is actually an extended conversation. Conversations are dialogues...not monologues. In a sales conversation, one of the best techniques to turn a monologue into a dialogue...is the use of questions.
Communications expert Dorothy Leeds talks about the 7 hidden powers of questions in how we communicate with others:
- Questions demand answers.
- Questions stimulate thinking.
- Questions provide valuable information.
- Questions put you in control.
- Questions get people to open up.
- Questions lead to quality listening.
- Questions get people to persuade themselves.
Bill Nicklin, the ultra-successful advisor who co-founded Horsesmouth, is a master of the question that stimulates thinking, and provides valuable information. He terms his questions, "knowledgeable considered opinions or KCOs). He uses KCOs to get the attention of high-net-worth investors. Recently he used KCOs to garner his largest account ever.
Here's are some examples of a Nicklin KCO.
- He might ask an officer or director of a company, "How are you being affected by Sarbanes-Oxley Rule 404?"
- He might ask a medical professional, "How will you be affected by prospective government legislation?"
- He might ask someone in a commodity-related business, "What would happen if China stumbles, causing foreign direct investment to decline?"
- He might ask someone in the ag-business, "What will happen if the federal government eliminates subsidies?"
KCOs are very open-ended questions, that the questioner gives some thought to, and are rather specific to the industry/profession of the person being questioned. As importantly, KCOs demand that the questioner LISTEN to the response...to allow follow-up with even more specific questions. For more insights on how Bill Nicklin uses KCOs, go to www.horsesmouth.com, and enter the keyword KCO. (By the way, if you are a financial advisor and are not a member of Horsesmouth...shame on you! It's the second-most, cost-effective, business-building resource in the business. All humility aside, The Prospecting Professor is the first...since we are FREE.)
Mike Schultz and John Doerr run a consultancy for providers of professional services. Here are some open-ended questions that they have developed to query the business-owner and/or entrepreneur.
- What's going on in your business these days?
- How has your company/industry changed in the last few years?
- What keeps you up at night?
- In the best of all possible worlds, what do you think you could do with your business?
- What's holding you back from reaching your financial goals?
- If your afflictions don't get solved, what will happen? Will they get worse? How will they affect you, your company's bottom line, or your family and children?
The point is...good questions are a magic elixir. Brew some up on your own...and take a long deep drink. You'll feel better.
Lance Armstrong Update: For all of you Tour junkies, (like me) yesterday was a good day. Lance Armstrong re-took the Yellow Jersey in a 112 mile charge up the Alps. He literally blew away all of his most-vaunted competitors. The Tour is far from over...anything can happen in this race.
Yet...here's the deal with Lance this year in the tour. He's already won six Tours, more than anyone else. He doesn't have to prove anything. This is his last Tour. You know that all of his competitors who he has smoked over the years have only one more shot to beat him.
Yesterday he showed us that he is capable of digging so deep mentally that he can win when all others would crack under the pressure. He has demonstrated that human potential is only limited by the size of our dreams. What steps are you taking to fulfill your wildest dreams? Are you taking them? If not, what's holding you back?
Lance Armstrong is not a saint. His hyper-competitive nature prevents him from being a person of "sweetness and light." At the same time, he is the living embodiment of what we all can achieve.
Allez, allez Lance!
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