Answers Meh, Mesmerisers Yeah
After I posted the other day on winning lines I read an obituary of Britain's cleverest man, reportedly with third-highest IQ in the world at 210, who was almost lost to academia altogether;
"It was a chance encounter with Peter Geach, the distinguished logician and ethicist then at the University of Leeds, which gave [Prof Arthur] Gibson his chance. He recalled asking Geach a memorably probing question during an evening lecture; mesmerised, the professor followed him home and offered to tutor him privately."
How often do our questions 'mesmerise' prospects?
Three decades back a close friend of mine switched from normal pub conversation overnight to only parrot 'why'. On repeat. As he'd just read the then self-help book du jour; 7 habits of highly effective people. Yep, most annoying. It took a while to swap him back.
But Gibson’s question wasn’t a reflex. Pavlovian 'whys' are seldom the answer. It was one only somebody who’d been listening could richly ask.
Yes, there's the 5 Whys technique. But the skill of using that is taking something the prospect just said and framing it in a specific, rounded question for deeper understanding.
Just as I can recall asking classroom questions that grabbed teacher attentions, there's wonderful learning from when a prospect has got stopped in their tracks and we glide onto a whole new plane.
Done well and seamlessly it's also when semi-interrogations can magically morph into a genuine two-way collab event.
"What you gonna spend the extra money on?!" Cheekily was another. After revealing to business owners a whole new revenue stream we could unleash, for instance.
I also remember discussing with another pal back in the day their go-to 'enterprise' front talk opener; 'where you going on holidays this year?' And riffing on turning into a useful trove when better linked with their most recent one. 'What was the vibe?' 'What was a standout highlight?' 'Would you go again?'
There's plenty of trending topics ripe for questions today. Bottlenecks, moat-building, streamlining. To name but three. Such as “Where does work queue up today that you’d rather it didn’t?”
After all, a banger of a question can often be simply one they've only heard first time, from us.
Right now, I'm involved more in my core proficiency of New Product Rescue.
Every senior seller has seen a whizz-bag launch flop in the past. To simply say things are different this time doesn't quite cut it.
'What are you doing that's new with this one?' 'How's the market changed since last time out?' 'When will you know you've had success?'
You'll sense the shift. Their pregnant or subtle pause before answering. Their glance towards a colleague. Maybe even a standalone name mentioned upfront, almost to themselves before continuing.
One very early tip I received as cubrep ahead of a pivotal prospect meeting was, 'when they ask you a question, ask two back'.
Beyond the clear undercurrent that you'd be showing you're really trying to understand them, you get to know which questions make an impression. So maybe a subset of 'winning lines' actually has its own category we ought record separately; mesmerisers.