There are few negative consequences to asking lots of questions

At what point do we get scared to ask questions?

We just finished binging "Silo" on Apple TV, and I was struck by a quote near the end: "There are consequences to asking questions."

To be fair, the show is set in a dystopian world, and the consequences in question were negative (OK, fatal). But let’s talk about the generally positive consequences of asking questions unless, of course, you’re asking those questions in an inappropriate tone for the situation.

But asking questions and knowing what to do with the answers (particularly if multiple customers or prospects are asking the same questions) are skills too few people demonstrate on a regular basis. To quote sports agent and negotiations guru Ron Shapiro, “To get what you want you have to ask them what they want.”

What are the positive consequences of asking questions?

Maybe you learn more about the needs of your customers and prospects. Maybe you identify broken or flawed processes. Maybe you understand why employees prefer remote work and no 45-minute commute over fresher snacks in the kitchen (so you may need to work a bit harder to explain why you’d like them back in the office).

Here's a scary statistic: 77% of B2B purchasers told a Gartner Group unit they would not even speak to a salesperson until they had done their own research. That means they're relying on a website (yours or someone else's) and a search engine to answer their questions. Do you show up on the first (or maybe second) page of the search results if someone asks Google a question in plain, simple language?

This is a good time to sit down with the people who talk to customers and prospects (sales and customer service in most cases) and ask them to list the 5-10 most frequently asked questions they get. Ask how they answer those questions (are the answers consistent and accurate and do they put your company in the best possible light?). Then, go look at your website and see how many of those questions are answered in a way that will encourage prospects to keep you top-of-mind during their research. And finally, develop content to address the gaps.

Start with WHY

I’ve helped clients with the FAQ discussion and then created web content and standard responses for salespeople. That might include objection planners that help them avoid "overanswering" the question, or it might include a blog post that addresses topics Marcus Sheridan calls “the Big 5” (Cost, Problems, Comparisons, Reviews, Best) in his book, They Ask You Answer. You also may want a facilitator who brings a fresh perspective without the Curse of Knowledge you sometimes see with internal facilitators, but this is something you can do on your own, regardless of company size.

You should kick off any project like this by defining a compelling WHY? statement to explain why you’re all in the room (or on the Zoom). WHY matters because everyone on the project team needs to understand (and be able to explain) the reason the organization is pursuing a venture or resolving a problem. A compelling WHY statement aligns everyone’s efforts and improves the chances of success.

WHY? should lead to WHAT? as in:

• What must we preserve?

• What must we improve?

• What must we transform?

• What do our customers need or want (those pesky pain points)?

• What can we do to help prospects focus on us as they look for the “perfect” partner?

You have to ask these questions because there are consequences to NOT asking.

I publish a twice-monthly newsletter called Frictionless that uses original and curated content designed to help you ask better questions in your work and personal life. Here’s a link to the archive. If you like it, you can subscribe at the end of any issue.