Volume #9

Do you ask Expensive Questions?

“The art and science of asking questions is the source of all knowledge”
Thomas Berger

Around 20 years ago I was making a sales presentation to a sales manager. The sales manager had a team of 30 salespeople and I was telling him about how good my sales training programmes were and how well they worked.

Unfortunately I was in love with own voice at the time and had not taken the time to ask very many questions.

I was talking, talking, talking and my sales presentation was going nowhere fast.

I had a new salesperson with me at the time and I was supposed to be teaching him what to do. However this new salesperson was a lot smarter than me.

He could see I was making no headway so he waited till I paused for breath. Then he asked a simple question to the sales manager.

“Barry, if you were somehow able to improve the sales results of your sales team by at least 10% over the next six months; what would that mean to you?”

The sales manager immediately pulled out a calculator and began to work out some figures. “That would be worth at least $75,000 to me” he said. And for the first time he started to look interested in what we were offering.

In another ten minutes we had a signed order for a large sales training programme for his team. All from the power of one good question that helped the sales manager see the gap between where he was now and where he wanted to be.

And brings us to the purpose of Volume # 9 of Easy Business Success.

In this session we are going to talk about the importance of asking what we call Expensive Questions.

There are two types of questions you can ask any potential new customer or client for your product or service.

You can ask potential clients ‘cheap’ questions or you can ask them ‘expensive’ questions.

Cheap questions are the type of question that 95% of business people or sales people will ask when they meet a potential client for the first time.

Here are some examples of cheap questions:

Imagine you are considering buying a new home and you are talking with a real estate sales person. What are the normal questions they would ask you?

What are you looking for?
What is your budget?
What is your time frame?
What are you interested in?
Do you have to sell first?
What other properties have you looked at?

There are two problems with asking cheap questions like these.

First of all you come across as being just like all the other sales people they speak to in the various real estate offices they go into. (And you and I both know that a potential property buyer will usually visit several different real estate offices.)

Secondly, cheap questions do not add value to a new client and make it easier for them to decide what they really want to buy and why they want to buy it.

That’s why asking ‘expensive questions’ is a remarkably effective marketing strategy.

Let me give you some examples of ‘expensive questions’ you could ask a potential new real estate client you have met for the first time.

You’ve met this new client and instead of showing them some properties or asking them the standard cheap questions they have already heard before you ask them a few ‘expensive questions’.

Here are some ‘expensive’ questions you could ask a new real estate client:

What type of home do you live in right now?
What do you like most about living there?
What are some of the things you would like to change about this home? Why is that important to you?
If you could wave a magic wand and live in the ideal home what are some of the most important things it would have?
How do you mean?

Example:

Imagine that you are speaking with a couple who are thinking of buying a new home.

You ask a number of ‘expensive’ questions and they tell you they live in a four bedroom modern home. They really like that it’s close to some great schools and very convenient to both their jobs. If they could change anything they would like to have a lot more sun, because it doesn’t get as much sun as they would like.

This is important to them as in winter their current home gets very little sun and it’s not that comfortable to be in. Having sun makes them feel better.

Their ideal home would be modern, extremely sunny and also have a lot of privacy. Their current home feels a bit like a fishbowl as one of the neighbours has cut down some of the trees that used to give them privacy. They would also like some more space in the back so their two children can play safely.

One of the keys when asking ‘expensive’ questions is that you are looking for the emotional reasons why things are important to your clients.

If they tell you that one thing they would change in their current home is they would like it to be quieter, you can ask more questions if you need more details.

A great question to ask to get more clarity is this one:

“How do you mean?”

So if your client says that their ideal home would be very quiet, you ask ‘How do you mean?’ or ‘Why is that important to you?’ and you will get a lot more useful information.

The best thing about asking ‘expensive’ questions is that it’s extremely helpful for your clients. By the time they answer a number of ‘expensive’ questions they are a lot clearer in their own minds about the outcomes they want to enjoy in their next home.

And they will know very clearly why these things are so important to them.

When you and your clients are much clearer about the outcomes they want, it makes finding them a suitable property much easier. A great win-win for both of you.

You are now in a much better position to be able to help your client get the ideal outcome they want.

You will still need to find out things like the budget they have, when they want to purchase and many other details.

But the important thing right now is that by asking some very simple ‘expensive questions’ you have positioned yourself as being different from most of the other real estate sales professionals they have met with.

You have also provided a valuable service to your client by helping them get a lot clearer in their own mind about what they really want and exactly why they want it. All from asking ‘expensive questions’

Isn’t that a great way to improve every sales presentation you make?

You can also use expensive questions when you are communicating in writing with potential clients. (Perhaps by email.)
One of the things I often do to attract new clients is give away helpful ideas in the form of special reports. I invite people to email me requesting a special report and I will give it to them free of charge.

Now when I reply to these emails and send the special report, I will occasionally ask a couple of expensive questions at the same time.

I will say something like this in my email.

I’ve had a quick look at your website and see you are in the XYZ industry.

I have a couple of quick questions for you.
1: Whoare the ideal new clients you would like to get for your business?
2:What are 2-3 of the biggest sales and marketing challenges you have right nowthat you would like to solve quickly?

If you can let me know the answers to both these questions I should be able to give
you some recommendations that could be useful. (There is no charge for this.)

I find that by giving a number of businesses useful strategies to improve their sales
a large number of them either use my marketing services or recommend me to
other business people they know. I consider that a good return for investing a small
amount of time to be of help.

What I have done is ask two expensive questions. When a person answers these questions they are now a lot clearer in their own mind about the type of clients they do want and what some of their biggest sales and marketing challenges are. So by asking these two expensive questions I have added a lot of value to this person.

And because I am offering to be of help and not instantly trying to sell them something I develop a great relationship with them right from the first communication we have with each other. I also get amazing amounts of information from potential clients when they answer these two simple questions.

Here’s what one person told me as soon as I emailed her a free special report along with the two questions I mentioned above.

“Wow. That's my response to your email. First of all, taking the time to look at my website, then asking me those 2 questions and offering to give me some ideas just made my day. My whole feeling toward you has now shifted from “what's he going to try and sell me?” to Wow, amazing, what a surprise.” Linda Kaun

Linda is actually a copywriter specialising in the textile industry. She then very kindly sent a note to all her own subscribers describing the amazing impact of me asking her these two simple questions. Linda also said some very positive things about me at the same time.

Isn’t that a great result from asking two simple questions in one email?

Action Exercise:

What are 2-3 expensive questions you could ask potential clients that would add a lot of value to their situation when they answered them?

Practise asking some of these questions when you are next talking with potential clients. You will be astounded at the impact it will have.

Have a wonderful month and I’ll be in touch again soon with the next volume of Easy Business Success.

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You can contact Graham at http://www.twomac.co.nz/

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