Ask the right questions

Never, never, never, on cross-examination ask a witness a question you don’t already know the answer to… Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

My Father used to tell the old joke about accusing someone of being argumentative. It goes something like this. 

“You’re argumentative you are. Next you’ll be telling me that you’ve seen a one man band. Have you seen a one man band?”

It doesn’t matter how you answer the question, it can be spun to make it sound like you are argumentative.

“Yes, I have seen a one man band”.

“No, I haven’t seen a one man band”

What’s the point of this story? The point is that the way you phrase questions can lead the respondent to give the answer you want, or not. Ask the wrong question in the wrong way and you may well get the answer you don’t want. 

How does this relate to Contract Renewals? When calling your Customers don’t give them the easy ‘out’ of saying “No”. For example, don’t ask:

“Would you like to renew your contract?”

This gives them the option to say “No, thank you”.

Instead make it a “Yes/Yes” question:

“Would you like to give me the PO Number for the contract renewal now or should I give you my email address so you can send it later?”

Or, steer the conversation to an enhanced support contract:

“I’m calling to arrange the renewal of your support contract. While you’re creating the PO Number for me, can I share with you some of our enhanced support offerings that might be of interest?” 

The best part of this approach is that worst case, you’re fixing the upper level price point so at the very least the Customer feels like they’re getting their renewal at a good price. But, best case, you may well be creating a lead for an enhanced contract.

The best advice is to think about the language and phraseology that your Renewal Team uses. Don’t leave it to chance that they’re asking the right question in the right way.