Nick Nichols Personal Branding Expert

At a networking group luncheon yesterday, the speaker gave a presentation on the art of persuasion. It was very interesting to me, so much so that I bought his book on my way out. However, at the end of his talk, he asked what I call a “kiss-of-death” question, namely…

“Are there any questions?”

As a society, we are conditioned to say “No” to statements like, “Can I help you?” (in a retail store), “Anything else?” (in a restaurant), and, “Any questions?” (after a presentation at a networking event).

After the speaker asked, “Are there any questions?” there was a deafening silence. To help the guy out, I volunteered a question that the speaker said was “an excellent question.”

Which brings me to the solution to kiss-of-death questions:

When you’re in a selling situation—and when you’re trying to persuade someone to do something you’re ALWAYS in a selling situation—pretend you’re a criminal defense attorney. The defense attorney’s credo is, “Never ask a question to which you don’t already know the answer.” It would be wise to adopt this credo in selling situations, too.

Part of the persuasion speaker’s advice was to attempt to preempt questions on the prospect’s mind by anticipating and answering questions he might have so there would be nowhere for him to go but say “Yes.”

This is fine, but leaves little room for so-called “buying questions” that continue (or in some cases initiate) the interactivity or two-way communication that is essential in closing most in-person sales.

To avoid any awkward moments at the end of a presentation, you might want to try something like this:

“If you’re like most of the audiences I speak to, you probably have questions about how what you just heard can apply to your specific situation. Here are the three most often asked questions.” Then, the speaker would state each question in the form of a problem to be solved, and then ask, “How many of you would like the solution to this problem?”

Do you see the difference between, “Any questions?” and “How many of you would like the solution to this problem?”

Nick Nichols is an expert at helping personal service providers identify their most profitable niche and hone in on the problems that niche has to become the best and only choice for solving those problems.

(0) comments