Benefits of Interrogative Self-Talk

The last couple classes have been focused around Pink’s concept of “interrogative self-talk”. In sales, rejection is unavoidable so learning how to cope and move on is a necessary skill for a good salesperson. Interrogative self-talk is a primary example of how salespeople can prepare themselves before a conversation even begins. Most people naturally use declarative self-talk in order to “hype” themselves up before something of importance. They make statements like, “I can do this” for motivation. While this kind of positive thinking has value, asking yourself questions is more effective, especially in sales. Questions force us to think deeper and look for real questions. Instead of saying something like, “I will make this sale” asking, “What needs to happen to make this sale successful” makes us more strategy focused and understanding of the buyer. Interrogative self-talk is also a helpful tool used to uncover motivation. Asking questions shifts your mindset away from the product and onto the customer. This type of thought has been consistently brought up throughout class and is a good sign of becoming a better salesperson. This also brings up other subjects we have covered like asking open ending questions. From the buyer’s point of view this helps us make a genuine connection. Interrogative self-talk changes how we (as salespeople) approach our job. It turns selling into problem solving rather than something that is pressured and performance based. By first asking ourselves better questions we can become better listens which translates to better communication skills during a sales setting. People don’t want a product pushed onto them; they want their problems solved. Changing into a more critical thinking and problem-solving mindset helps us focus on the real issue at hand, which is the buyer’s pain. Interrogative self-talk is one way we can better understand our client’s pain as salespeople.