If you’re presenting, the accepted wisdom is that you start with a question. Get your audience engaged by prompting them. Stimulate them to think about the topic you’re about to talk about. Even the influential self-development guru Simon Sinek suggests this. If it’s good enough for him, I’m happy to go with it.
Problem solving
Years ago, I remember being introduced to the idea of turning a problem into a question. So for instance, if you’re struggling with staff retention, you simply type a question at the top of your screen “how could we improve staff retention?” The theory is that it makes it action orientated and as soon as you start to address the question, you are coming up with solutions, rather than getting stuck on the question. Makes perfect sense to me. Try it. It’s a good technique.
Customer service
It may be that you can’t give the customer everything they’re asking for. Again using a question may help. “Whilst I can’t do that for you at this time, can I talk through some options with you?”
Questions often feel more consensual than simply ‘telling’ a customer. It implies that the situation is something that can be worked through together. Try it, see if it works.
Selling
Sales situations nearly always work communication-wise in the same way that customer service situations do. That’s why I specialise in training both types of teams! Apart from which, where does sales start and customer service finish? There is considerable overlap. If you offer great customer service, then you are selling your services and your business – making it more likely that the customer will buy from you again. By the same token I often think that good selling is about making it easy for the customer to buy. That is good customer service. When you say to your customer “we have that in 3 specifications, let me show you each of them from our range” is that great selling or great customer service? Surely it’s both.
In a sales situation, it’s a great idea to sell against the situation the customer is currently facing or the improvement they want to see. Again a question is a great way of leading “what level of output do you want?” Or “how much have you got to reduce your budget by?”
Communication skills
The thing most people are interested in is themselves. You can use that to your advantage when you’re building customer relationships – rapport. Asking people you meet about them is a powerful way to build a relationship you can develop. I’ve always found that asking people about thoughts, feelings and opinions is a great way of encouraging them to communicate with you. And it gives you information that you can build on. “That was interesting that you said xx had happened to you. The same happened to me a few years ago.” Or maybe, “it’s interesting that you grew up in so-and-so. I went to secondary school just down the road in blah-blah.”
You find out useful information about people and this helps develop the relationship.
Use questions liberally in your communication with people in any situation : social, work and anything in between.
It’s the key to unlocking information from them and it displays interest. Which they’ll like.
If you want to develop the questioning skills of the team you’ve got, this and other relationship building techniques are included on the core 2-day masterclass course on offer to businesses and organisations across the East and West Midlands. Post some details on our contact form.
Plus, if you want to learn more about the questioning skills module there is an audio product to support this on our products page.