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Start Someone
Thinking
Questions that ask
for someone's opinion are a great source of information.
Asking for people's opinions also tells them you are
interested in them and what they have to say. For
example, when negotiating the salary for a potential
employee, you might ask, "When you think about a great
company to work for, what attributes come to mind?"
The more you can get your counterpart to talk, the more
information you will have for planning your strategy.
Bring Attention
Back to the Subject
Some counterparts
have a tough time getting to the point. Maybe they are
intentionally avoiding a sensitive topic. Appropriate
questions can help keep the conversation moving along and
heading toward your goal
Salespeople are
often taught to find out something personal about a prospect
and use this information as a starting point for their
presentation. Talking about the personal side is fine,
but eventually you will need to change your questioning
pattern and get answers for the real reasons you are
meeting. This requires asking questions that focus
attention back on your desired subject? For example:
"Can we get back to the salary issue and benefits package
once again? Is it possible to increase the starting
salary by five thousand dollars so I can maintain parity
with my current benefits package?"
Reach Agreement
Questions can serve
as a test to determine your counterpart's true aspirations
or readiness to confirm agreement. Suppose a seller is
asking $250,000 for his house. Because it needs
landscaping and a new roof, you ask whether he is willing to
take $240,000. The value of this type of question is
that the answer lets you know how far apart your goals are
from your counterpart's.
Increase
Reception To Your Ideas
It has been said
that people like your ideas a lot better when they feel they
have come up with those ideas. In other words, giving
your counterpart the opportunity to tell you that something
needs to be done is a lot better than your saying it needs
to be done. For example, we recently had a client call
to say a lot of managers in her company were struggling with
difficult employees. We asked, "Do you think the
managers would benefit from a training session on coaching
for improved performance?" We were convinced that this
would be beneficial but posed the idea as a question to give
the client the opportunity to advocate the training.
Reduce Tension
Negotiations can
become tense. When things go wrong, asking questions
to gain further information about your counterpart's
viewpoint can be helpful. The added information may
enable you to restructure the negotiation. For
example, if you are meeting opposition when discussing the
idea of mandatory drug testing for all employees, you might
say, "Every time we talk about mandatory drug testing for
all employees, you seem adamantly opposed. Can you
share a little about why?"
Another type of
question that reduces tension is one that introduces humor
into a situation. Recently a friend was trying to
negotiate an extra two days of paid vacation a year.
When her boss gave her a blunt "no," the room became thick
with tension. Her timely response, "Uh-on, does this
mean I should cancel my European tour?" when accompanied by
a smile, helped everyone relax.
Give Positive
Strokes or Build Rapport
Simply put, a
positive strokes question says, "I want to make you feel
important." Sometimes you even know the answer and
still ask the question. The expression of caring that
you give your counterpart is what matters. Suppose
your counterpart has received three phone calls from
complaining customers and had two employee interruptions
during your fifteen-minute meeting. You might ask,
"Are you having a tough day?" Or "With all those
interruptions, isn't it amazing that you get anything done?"
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