A couple weeks ago in class we focused on practical tips that can help bring clarity to conversations both in sales and daily life. While I have not found myself in any traditional sales conversations in college, I have seen these practices improved my day to day conversations that I have with those around me.
One of the most impactful tips that we discussed was to ask better questions. I’ve always struggled to come up with better questions to ask in order to continue the conversation and discover more about what their thoughts and opinions are. However, as I’ve improved my question asking skills, I have seen a lot of crossover between what I learned to do and what we learned in class. The first preparation step was to pre-produce a list of questions to ask so that you do not have come up with them on the spot. While I don’t have a pre-planned list of questions to ask in conversations with my friends, I have spent more time to consider what I will ask them and how to gather more information through the discussion. This tactic has brought a new depth to my conversations and clarified their intentions and desires regarding the topics we were discussing.
Additionally, the concept of asking five whys has allowed me to discover more of my friends opinions and the way they think about different situations. While I may not be sitting in a conversation asking my friends five ‘why’s in a row, asking follow-up questions, specifically ones trying to get at a deeper issue, has given me a deeper understanding of the way they think. This method promotes intentionality in conversations, by forcing you to not be satisfied with a surface-level answer, but desire a truer response.
Through both of these clarity tactics, I have seen a connection to ways I’ve tried to improved when communicating to my friends. In addition, I’ve also been given inspiration as to how to further improve and get to know other better.
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