Business Success - Avoiding the Stupid Questions

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Avoiding the Stupid Questions

Art Sobczak

Greetings,

Once again I've got a sales observation for you from the street. The street is Broadway. Times Square. New York City.

I'm here attending, and also speaking at the yearly convention for the National Speakers Association. (Next week I'll share some of the ideas I presented, which were on How to Sell at Full Price.)

Somewhat similar to Mexico, which I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, Times Square is a sales scientist's Disneyland. Here, pretty much anything that you can attend, or goes on you or in you (products, food, services, events, and humans) can be bought, or, uh, rented, up and down Broadway.

You have the street vendors, set up on their makeshift tables and rolling carts, the closet-sized stores, the huge international brand stores like Gap, and others, all lit up by blocks and blocks of five-story tall animated HD TV screens.

Every day is like you see on TV on New Year's Eve when they drop the ball, just with fewer bodies. But there still are thousands milling about at all hours.

Some of those people on the sidewalks are the ones I was most interested in. You can't step more than a few feet without someone stuffing some type of promotion in your hands: bus and boat tours, reduced-price theatre tickets, adult attractions, and more.

Then they try to engage you in a conversation to sell you on their event.

One guy with a handful of coupons (for a comedy club) had an approach, that, at first I thought was brilliant. Then I realized it was not good at all. It caused resistance.

He would make eye contact, smile, and then say, "You like to watch comedy, don't you?"

I thought, "Wow, what a great question! Everyone but the biggest dorks like comedy. Of course people have to say YES."

Thoughts raced through my mind of writing a Tip about asking questions that people must answer the way you want, since there really isn't any other logical answer.

But, as I stopped and observed--and apparently was clogging up foot-traffic, evidenced by the number of times I was called various names for body parts--it struck me that this was not a good question or method at all to engage people in this situation.

Some passersby ignored him. He'd yell, "It's OK to say yes!" Others said yes, but then kept walking, trying to avoid eye contact or conversation. Others would decline in a smart-ass way, saying something like they were allergic to comedy--ironically proving it by their lame attempt to perform it.

I realized that this question actually caused a natural reaction: resistance to being sold.

We all possess it. As so many of us teaching this stuff say, everyone likes to buy, but no one likes to be sold.

So, when faced with a situation where we feel that we're about to be pitched, and are not in a frame of mind where we are looking for something, the natural defense shield rises.

When I went to the dentist a few weeks ago with excruciating tooth pain, I WANTED his recommendation and was ready to buy. When I was walking through the shopping mall the same day I avoided the guy in the kiosk who tried to grab me and pitch some herbal nutritional supplement. In the first situation I was buying, in the other I was being sold.

Anyway, this got me thinking about the concept of what I call "Are you stupid?" sales questions and statements.

These are similar to the comedy-guy's question, in that it forces a person to answer the way the questioner wants, otherwise it makes the person feel stupid if he does not respond in that way. And, of course, that is not conducive to selling, instead putting the person on the defensive.

There are many variations. You've probably heard, and maybe have been taught some. And they all should be avoided.

For example,

Stupid Question: "Of course you want to save money, don't you?"

What is really heard: "Of course you don't want to be stupid, do you?"

Stupid Question: "If I could show you a way to save money, of course you'd want that, wouldn't you?"

What is really heard: "If I could show you a way to avoid being stupid, of course you'd want that, wouldn't you?"

Stupid Question: "What, don't you want to save money?"

What is really heard: "Are you stupid?"

Stupid Question: "You like to save money, right?"

What is really heard: "You like not being stupid, right?"

Stupid Question: "How important is money to you?"

What is really heard: "How important is it to you to not be stupid?"

Stupid Question: "Now I know you're a person who wants to save money, right?"

What is really heard: "Now I know you're a person who's not stupid, right?"

I could go on and on. You might remember one I mentioned in a previous Tip. While picking up some books at Barnes & Noble, the clerk asked if I wanted their discount frequent buyer card, and I declined.

He then said, "What, don't you like to save money?"

What I really heard:

"What, don't you like not being stupid?"

The main point here is that using stupid questions is, well, stupid.

What to do instead? Go back and look at how these stupid questions are used. Come up with alternatives to accomplish your goal.

For example, if we're trying to point out someone will save money, we need a series of questions to help us, and them, see the problem, the costs of the problem, and the result of the solution. (Go back and check past Tips for a more in-depth discussion).

Because, of course you don't want to use stupid questions, do you? (Oooopps! There's one!)

*About the Author: Art Sobczak works with thousands of sales reps each year helping them get more business by phone. He provides real world, how-to ideas and techniques that help salespeople use the phone more effectively.

Visit Sobczak's Web site.

This news arrived on: 08/25/2008

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