Pinks Practical Tips for Clarity

Daniel Pink pulls out 5 points to be able to gain some clarity with his customers. I am going to talk about 3:

1. Clarify others motives with two irrational questions
   • A very common assumption that people make are that all questions are equal. People will rank questions in their head based off of what they find important, and there are ways that you are able to figure out what questions are important to your client. Ask these questions:
     1. Use a “On a scale of 1-10” question
        • This method allows people to be honest and accurate while giving you as a salesperson a better judgement of where your client stands on the topic. This could also allow you to be able to better judge a No as a Maybe.
     2. Ask “Why didn’t you pick a lower number?”
        • This gives the prospect to talk about some reasonings why they are feeling that way on the topic
2. Try a Jolt of the Unfamiliar
   • Sometimes people get too comfortable in situations and that unintentionally they get stuck in a rut. Try and intentionally introduce a change that could possibly lead to better comparisons that could than lead to bigger and better results. One way that you can introduce change, is to physically change the elements that you are surrounded by during a sale. Go to a coffee shop or go play golf. Sometimes by changing one thing in a situation can change your take on the situation.
3. Learn to ask better questions
   • Tune in to your effectiveness in any sales context conversation, whether you are sales-selling or non-sales-selling. Your success will greatly be determined by your ability to ask the right questions so that you are able to get the answers that you need to appease your prospect. Pink recommends an intentional question-oriented preperation that includes:
     1. produce your questions – make a list that set it all out
     2. improve the quality of your questions – are they closed or open ended questions?, are they strong or weak?, will the question lead to an even greater oppurtunity?
     3. prioritize your questions – start with your top 3 to be able to look at your list and decide what is really necessary and what is not

Pinks reasoning for these is to emphasize the importance of clarity in sales. Sales clients are looks for business partners that are not trying to treat them just as another sale, but as a friend or a forever connection.