Not all questions are created equal

Getting to the heart of what your customers need starts with well-crafted questions that elicit the insights required. These questions can seek out opportunities, generate ideas, gather perspectives, and identify potential issues. 

Smart questions, strategically designed to draw out the right information, will help you to understand what they want to achieve and how you can help them get there. 

Questions are the catalyst for progress. 

Here is my strategy for getting the vital insights required. 

1. Start with the end in mind: think about the outcome you need: focus on the result. 

2. Map out a sequence of questions to get you from A-B. 

3. It’s not an interrogation. Go in softly with ‘How is business this month?’ then gently drill down until you get to the crux of a situation or problem. 

4. Practice makes progress. The more you do it, the more natural it will become, feeling like a chat rather than a set of Q&A’s. 

5. Keep questions open-ended. 

6. Use thought-provoking questions as this encourages thoughtful responses which in turn could spark a new idea. 

7. Listen intently to responses to shape your next question. 

8. Don’t be afraid to go deep, if there is a reluctance to answer at a deeper level, come back up and approach it from a different angle. 

9. Remember to build trust and respect the fact that not everyone may want to open up immediately! 

Open-ended questions gain valuable insight, but they also demonstrate that you care about your customer’s business and helping them succeed. 

However, the right questions move the relationship forwards and accelerate business growth for both parties: A win-win. 

To learn more about the power of questions, look out for my next post: Responding to the answers.

Rebecca Jenkins is the founder of RJEN and the 2020 Winner of Best Business Growth consultancy firm - Europe and leading provider of Transformational Business Coaching Programmes Europe.