Business Opportunities Weblog

August 20, 2006 by Rich Whittle | 1 Comment

Seth Godin:

You need to ask questions every time you interact with a consumer, a job applicant, a co-worker with a great idea or even someone sitting next to you on an airplane.

John Sawatsky of ESPN knows how to ask questions, here’s his seven rules of what doesn’t work:

1. Asking a question with no query. Examples: “Your neighbors don’t like you.” “Some people think you killed your wife.”

2. Double-barrelled questions. Like: “Is this your first business? How did you get started?” You’re unlikely to get answers to both. One question at a time.

3. Overloading. Ask: short, simple questions. “What is it like to be accused of murder?”

4. Adding your own remarks. Again, this is not the time or place to say that you hate Chryslers… You’re not being interviewed.

5. Trigger words. One famous example of this was when TV reporter John Stossell asked a pro wrestler about the “sport” by volunteering this about the fighting: “I think it’s fake.” The pro wrestler hit him twice. “Was that fake?” he demanded.

6. Hyperbole by the questioner. Overstatement typically causes the interview subject to counterbalance by understating…

7. Closed query (Yes or No question). If the question begins with a verb, its most likely a closed question — and will generate a one word answer.

In Ideas | 1 Comment
Tags: Customer Service, Employees, Networking, Psychology, Strategy, Tools