Asking the question

 
I've been thinking about all the lessons my old mentor taught me when I was in Sales and realise what he was teaching me were really life skills.

My buddy Barbara says I should write some of them down.

One of the most obvious is 'ask the question'.

That may seem stupid, but when I first started as a sales designer, I used to design drop dead kitchens, everyone loved them and I would walk away feeling very proud of myself. Then, the customers would take my design and, using everything I'd worked out with them, would buy from the next salesman who 'asked for the order' If I had just said, 'So, we've got everything right for you? Yes? Brilliant, let’s get the paperwork done and we'll get your new kitchen fitted in the next couple of weeks.'

So, I started to ask, because I was told to, and as my mentor used to say to me, don't think, just do it, they can only say Yes or No.

What I found was that, the asking of the question, 'Do you want this?' focuses the mind and if they do want it, they'll say Yes.

If they say No, it may be because there's a reason, one that you can address, and then they'll say Yes, but if you don't ask, you'll never know!

This is a sales scenario, but it applies to everything.

The young boy who would really love to ask the girl down the road out, he smiles at her, he watches her from afar, but he never asks.

She likes him too and wishes he would, if he did, she would say Yes.

Or she doesn't, and she would have said No.

We'll never know, because he never asked !

If he had he would have started to learn how to ask, because every time he tried he would have been more confident and if you ask nicely, lots of people say yes.

The more you ask, the more chance you have of someone saying yes.

If you never ask there's no chance at all !

The main reason most people won’t ask is because they have a fear of people saying no to them, the fear of rejection. I was scared, but what I found was that the more you ask, the easier it gets.

Keep it simple.

How many opportunities are lost for the sake of 'asking the question'?

Is this your best price?
Would you come out to dinner with me?
Do you want to join my team?
Would you love to be successful/wealthy?

These are all direct questions, yes or no answers.

If the answer is yes - result, if it’s no - what have you lost for the sake of asking?