who asks the right questions gets the decision—not the one who tries to
dazzle with features and benefits. How many times have you seen a client
nodding but not signing? What you are witnessing is the “distance between
agreement and action.” When people nod in agreement, it means that
their intellectual or rational agendas have been met. When they sign their
names, it means that their emotional agendas have been met.
Remember that the distance between agreement and action is exactly
18 inches—the distance between the head and the heart.
GETTING YOUR CLIENT’S STORY
“Every man is, in certain respects, (A) like all men,
(B) like some other men, (C) like no other man.”
—C. CLUCKHOM AND H. MURRAYIntelligent inquiry, or emotional archeology,is like mining. We explore
the recesses of the clients’ memory banks and emotional storehouses, look-
ing for veins with which we can legitimately connect. Classic sales training
breaks the sales process into three categories: discovery, presentation, and
closing. For some reason, whether because of impatience or imprudence,
many sales professionals pay token observance to the discovery process
and, instead, put all their chips on their ability to wow the customer with
their presentation.
The payoffs of intelligent inquiry go far beyond discovering why clients
might buy our products and services. There are far-reaching relational div-
idends that we experience by asking the uncommon question and digging
deeper into the thoughts and opinions of clients.
THANKS FOR ASKING
- People like being asked.
- People like to talk about their opinions, ideas, and lives.
- People respect you for asking.
- People feel more important because you asked.
One sales professional told me that she asks questions of her clients
until she can find something to “respect and admire” about that client. At
this point, she feels she makes a personal connection.
188 SELLING WITH EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE