“Why?” may be the most common interrogative in modern speech. From the day they learn to speak, children are asking “why?” In the hands of a wary sales person, asking “Why?” in the right way may just be the key to getting through to the customer and identifying the real problem at hand. IDEO offers a process to ask the right forms of the question why and how to use it to your advantage without appearing annoying. In following the process, being by asking “Why?”, and in response to each reply, ask another why. For example,
- Why are the sales lagging?
- Why do you think that is the case?
- What is the root of it?
- There must be something behind that?
- Who do they blame for this?
While all of these questions involve asking why, they are phrased in way that gets closer and closer to the core issue and as a result will uncover more about the prospect and his true needs and issues. Asking the right questions can be the difference between making a successful sales call and facing defeat. However, sometimes the most simple question “Why?” is the best of all.
BoweryJE22
It is interesting that as children, we are always ready to ask this question–eager for insight and understanding. But as adults, as we have acquired the ability to learn and understand on our own, many of us have some level of foundational perception that actually keeps us from true understanding. Pridefully, we think we know the answers to “why,” but so often our misunderstandings keep us from truly finding insight into our prospects” problems.
amy, that is a very interesting perspective, maybe it has to do with the “because I said so” response