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“Why Should We Hire You?” Your Answer Impacts Client Acquisition

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As you’ve figured out by now, an interview with a prospect who you hope will become your next client, is a sales pitch. In this scenario you, Freelancer friend, are both the product and the service. When you are being considered for a Freelance consulting assignment (or if you are an employee searching for a new job), the mission is to sell yourself—your brand—to the decision-maker(s) by demonstrating you are best in class. IQ/hard skills as evidenced by your education, professional expertise and experience and EQ/soft skills demonstrated by your work ethic, communication ability, teamwork skills and values when viewed together can predict with a high degree of confidence that project deliverables will be produced on time and within budget and, as well, contribute to a positive team experience that encourages productivity and camaraderie.

When hiring managers interview candidates to discuss project specs, a common tactic is to ask “Why should we hire you?” The question is quite helpful for decision-makers; they listen as the candidate basically sells him/herself and reveals who s/he really is. The insights that decision-maker(s) receive is known to promote selection of the right candidate. Prominent information that “Why should we hire you?” brings out includes:

  • Does the candidate grasp the importance of the project to the organization?
  • How might the candidate’s understanding of the relevance of his/her work contribute to realization of the project mission?
  • Which competencies and characteristics make the candidate stand out?
  • Might the candidate’s values and work habits be a good cultural fit with the project leader and team members with whom s/he will interact?
  • Does the candidate display enthusiasm and passion for the project and mission?

“Why should we hire you?” is usually one of the last interview questions asked, which means you can use your answer to sum up why you are the ideal candidate. Moreover, you can use what decision-maker(s) have said during the interview to your advantage. To that end, pay attention to competencies and qualities seemed to be especially important to the decision-maker(s) and as you reply to the big question, link your skills and experience to what matters to them. What do you say if “Why should we hire you?” is asked early in the interview? HR specialists recommend that you deflect and ask for more information about the role and include their language and priorities while describing your expertise, experience, work ethic and other factors that the decision-maker prioritizes.

Prepare for the question before the interview

Freelance consultants know that you are much more than a hired gun who operates with a narrow, “just the facts” mindset. It will be wise to obtain a big picture view of the project and gain an understanding of how the company will benefit from and utilize the project deliverables. Also search or inquire while in the interview the company’s history with this or or similar projects? The more you know, the more persuasive your answers and the more impressive you look to decision-maker(s).

Your best source for info that references the importance of the project and its mission to the company is certain to be the project specs. Give the document another read and pay attention to must-have and preferred professional skills and experience, as well as the expected project deliverables and/or outcomes. Item Two of your search could be “About Us” on the company website and Item Three might be the organization’s most recent annual report.

You will be much more authoritative and persuasive when you learn how company leaders visualize and measure achievement of their project mission. Don’t shy away from using their words to describe your own skills and values—chances are, they’ll love to hear it! Read on to learn how to compose a winning answer to a powerful, and common, interview question: “Why should we hire you?”

Elevator Pitch

A good elevator pitch is so useful. You can drop it in here and let it be the opening statement of your response to the Big Question. Remember that you get to sum up your qualifications and overall suitability and explain why you deserve to win this coveted assignment. Presenting your elevator pitch as the intro to your response sets the stage for a succinct and powerful statement that details your qualifications and experience and defends your ability to successfully produce the project deliverables.

Review and rehearse your pitch to ensure that your message will effectively reinforce your candidacy. Your pitch should be a 30-45-second well-articulated story that gives a brief introduction and overview of you and your work that tells decision-makers you can be trusted to deliver results and make them look good.

Competencies and success stories

When answering the question, link the project’s purpose, goals and desired outcomes to your ability to guide the project to a successful conclusion, as a key component of the strategy to distinguish yourself from other candidates. Lead with your most recent and relevant work to showcase your successes with previous projects that echo the aims of this project. Briefly share specific examples that illustrate why you should be hired. Rehearse your answers to ensure that your narrative is clear, concise and compelling. You’ll likely include some combination of the factors stated below.

  • Expertise. Educational degrees, professional certifications and work experience are proof of expertise. Providing examples of successfully working on similar projects will assure decision-makers that you are a competent and trustworthy candidate who can be expected to successfully produce the deliverables and/or desired outcomes (and make them look good).
  • Unique skills. Highlight relevant competencies and professional and/or volunteer experiences that make you uniquely qualified for the assignment and set you apart from other candidates. Some of your special skills do not need to be strictly job-related—maybe you have a pilot’s license, speak a foreign language fairly well, or sing in a choral group? The decision-makers may appreciate nearly any unique advantage that showcases you as an exceptional candidate.
  • Accomplishments. Communicate your appreciation for business imperatives and give the decision-makers yet another vote of confidence for your candidacy. If, for example, you include in your “Why should we hire you?” response that when you worked on a particular project you showed the client that it will be possible to reduce operating costs by 10%, or your work resulted in a 20% improvement in customer satisfaction ratings. If this was the case, share the good news in your reply.

Your vision of success

Recognize that “Why should we hire you?” is a gift that allows you to help decision-maker(s) visualize you in the role. For sure, it’s worth your while to envision yourself successfully performing in the assignment, so that you can create a powerful narrative that describes how you will bring about that success. Include in your vision narrative a description that is more than a recitation of your skills and education. Paint a verbal picture as well by describing examples of you working with their team, contributing to and supporting the purpose, goals, mission and/or bottom line associated with the project.

Your answer is short and sharp

As with all interview questions, deliver organized and concise replies and especially so when responding to this decisive question. Your answer must be easy to follow — not rambling— and presented logically. HR specialists suggest that point out three benefits associated with hiring you and conclude by emphasizing your genuine interest in the role and the company. Furthermore, convey your confidence by modulating your voice and body language in a way that communicates your command of the necessary skills and leadership ability. Speak slowly and clearly and use a friendly, yet professional, tone of voice and mannerisms as you discuss your unique suitability for the project.

Show Enthusiasm

Do not neglect to demonstrate your enthusiasm for working on the assignment. First off, the decision-maker(s) want to see it and second, it’s how you feel. You want this project, whether you’re motivated by the billable hours you’ll receive, the opportunity to work with a prestigious client, or access to an assignment that adds luster to your portfolio.

However you communicate your enthusiasm, make it memorable and personal. If you position this job as your dream job (assuming it is), the decision-maker will recognize and appreciate your enthusiasm (and energy) to take on the role and meet or exceed performance expectations.

Be Humble

A small dose of humility could be music to the ears of decision-maker(s), after listening to candidates tell them about how wonderful they are! When your answers are matter-of-fact and not obviously bragging, you come off as authentic and that’s a quality decision-maker(s) can appreciate.

Happy Holidays and thanks for reading!

Kim

Image: © fizkes/iStock

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Your Business: Get the View From 30,000 Feet

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If you operate a business, you know all too well that your work is never done. There is always a problem to solve, reports to run and statistics to analyze, emails to send, a customer to speak with (remember to take a break every now and again!). Along with the hands-on, task oriented items on your to-do list, there is another responsibility that business owners have, one that’s seldom discussed but is nevertheless a must-do—to think about the business entity and figure out how to make it grow and thrive.

Thinking about your company—where it is now, where it was a year go and where you’d like it to be in 12-24 months—demonstrates the difference between being a leader, who embodies the vision of the entity and a manager, who implements goals that enable the vision to be realized. Freelance solopreneurs must wear both hats—the manager, who prioritizes efficiency and gets things done and the forward-thinking leader, who engages in big picture thinking to contemplate the state of the business and looks to connect the dots between problems and their impact, recognize potential opportunities and plan for the future.

Ulyses Osuna, founder of the sizzling hot PR and personal branding firm Influencer Press https://influencerpress.com/ and protégé of marketing rock star Neil Patel, founder of both Kissmetrics and Crazy Egg https://www.crazyegg.com/ , recommends that business owners/leaders regularly examine your organization to assess what’s happening now and what might happen in the future. To effectively steward your business entity, it is critical that business leaders regularly devote time to think about your organization and observe how it functions in real time. Factors you may examine to supply relevant insights may include:

  • marketplace conditions, including the competitive landscape
  • how the company delivers its products and services
  • perceptions of the customer experience, including customer service, that the company presents
  • top-line and bottom-line sales revenues
  • the inbound marketing conversion rate
  • plans for growth and expansion

For companies large and small, including Freelance Consultants, Osuna feels that devoting an hour or two each week to studying the organization is needed to see and interpret the big picture view from 30,000 feet. Business leaders must do more than grind it out just to stay on top of (admittedly important) day-to-day responsibilities and keep things in motion. Remember what inspired you to create your entity; you want it to be all it can be. To maximize your organization’s potential, first get a warts-and-all understanding of where it is now, so you can recognize growth and expansion opportunities and decide how to prepare the company to pursue those opportunities. Neglect your business leader due diligence and fail to conduct frequent check-ins with the organization you created and you’ll eventually find yourself at the helm of a rudderless ship, tangled in the weeds, as you work hard but remain stuck and unable to achieve worthy goals that were once attainable.

Osuna says he gives his clients thought-provoking, sometimes edgy, questions to answer and you (and your team, if applicable) can do the same. It’s OK to address just a question or two in your brainstorming sessions, so long as you take a deep dive and keep it real. Osuna urges you to move forward and execute quickly when you have an ah-ha moment and discover something that might move the needle—do research thoroughly and plan carefully—because good ideas deserve immediate follow-up.

BTW, Freelance solopreneurs who doubt the wisdom of asking themselves questions and then answering themselves can refer to Consulting Drucker: Principles and Lessons from the World’s Leading Consultant, written by William Cohen, PhD (September 2018), to confirm that Osuna’s brainstorming method can produce useful results. Cohen’s book examines the influence that business consultant, educator and author Peter Drucker (1909-2005), who is known as the father of modern business management, has had on business practices. Cohen and his research team found that asking yourself questions and responding to them as if you are a separate entity, can produce credible answers. Your brain will supply answers, or attempt to, making the practice beneficial for a single individual to contemplate questions that require objective and big picture thinking.

Cohen at al. theorize that the primary reason for this phenomenon is that oftentimes, the facts needed to answer questions and resolve problems are already stored in your memory, even if some information cannot be easily accessed. Asking yourself questions, treating your brain as a separate entity and allowing it to find potentially useful answers, can eliminate many of the biases that may otherwise block you from identifying effective solutions. There is a limit to the phenomenon, however— if you are under a great deal of stress, or the problem is either too big or the situation is too demanding, the brain may not function well enough to identify a workable solution to the question or problem, even when you frame the query as if addressing someone other than yourself.

The list of questions below are written to help you successfully launch weekly or monthly business brainstorming sessions for your entity by focusing on three business functions that Drucker identified as vital: attraction of prospects, customer conversation rate and delivery of products or services. You can choose other questions to ponder, depending on your circumstances, and address them at your own pace. You may take on only two or three per week/month but devote an hour or two in each session to think about your business entity, it’s challenges and potential.

  1. Which systems improvements will make doing business easier, more efficient and/or less expensive?
  2. Which media outlets would best showcase the company and brand and has the company/or I been featured in one or more in the past 12 months?
  3. If I was able to hire one (or more) employees whose salary would be paid by a grant and cost me nothing, in what capacity would it make sense for the person(s) to work and would s/he work?
  4. Do my products/ services optimally fulfill the needs and aspirations of my customers? Should I add an upgrade or a simplified version or should I develop a new service or offer a new product?
  5. If I was given a no-strings gift of $300,000 to exclusively spend on the business, what would I spend it on?
  6. What do customers value most about the company? Where do customers feel the company falls short?
  7. Does the content produced for the company showcase me as a thought leader? In what categories have I (or can I) establish authority? This could involve guest articles, interviews, or speaking engagements.
  8. What do you want the company to look like in one year, two years, or five years?
  9. How do I provide solutions that solve client problems or achieve client goals?
  10. If I could do it over again, would I create this business in the way I have done—what, if anything, might change?
  11. What are the most common objection that prospects give to your sales pitch and what might be the best response?
  12. What is the biggest priority that the company faces now?

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: The Thinker created in 1904 by Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) on display at the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA 2016 exhibit, “Rodin: Transforming Sculpture.” 

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Freelancers Gotta Sell

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Selling is an important function in every industry however for some, the very thought of selling is intimidating and they shy away from it. Nevertheless, every business owner and Freelance consultant will benefit from becoming a competent sales professionals in tandem with their primary area of expertise because—-you went into business to sell your products and services! No matter what you pay an employee, s/he will never be a more passionate and knowledgeable sales person than the company founder or owner.

Selling can be learned like any other skill and just about everyone who tries will learn to become a competent and reasonably confident seller. Read on to get an easy-to-follow recipe that will result in successful sales for you.

Selling is asking questions

For sure, you need to get your prospective buyer talking because unless s/he approaches you directly, and even if that happens, you need to confirm that your product or service is the right solution for the problem and that the prospect intends to buy from you and soon. To do that, you must learn to ask a series purposeful questions. Primarily, your questions must make the prospective buyer feel comfortable telling you about his/ her need or problem and specify the desired outcome or objective that ideally will be achieved.

Successful sales professionals have discovered that open-ended questions are perhaps the most useful sales tool because they are conversation-starters that get the prospect talking about him/herself and what brought him/her to you. Good questions allow you to launch the sales process. They allow the prospective buyer to reveal the objective or outcome that s/he wants to achieve, the purpose of it all. You can come to understand the prospective buyer’s priorities, concerns, timetable and budget. You might also learn about unsuccessful trials with competitive products or services.

Selling is listening

The most important fact to understand about selling is that it’s not about you, the aspiring seller. The act of selling centers on the potential buyer, the prospective customer. Unless the buyer is extremely motivated, has an urgent need for a solution ASAP, you’ll need to persuade the prospective buyer that your product or service will fulfill his/her needs and should be purchased now (or in the near term).

In order to understand the problems and need of a prospective buyer, the aspiring seller (you, Freelancer friend) must listen carefully to the answers to the questions you’ve asked. This can only be done by spending the majority of the conversation listening rather than talking.

Expert salespeople are nearly always very good listeners. Experience has taught them that in order to sell, they must first understand the prospective buyer and personalize their sales pitch to align with the prospective buyer’s needs, objective, priorities, timeline and budget.

Recognizing window shoppers

These are people who are not serious about buying anything in the immediate future, if ever. They may be amusing and great to talk to, but they are not your friend. They are time-wasters and they cost you money by siphoning off your valuable time and energy to engage in a sales process that they will not complete.

These false prospects merely want to see what’s available, how it works and what it costs. They may not yet know what they need, if they need it, or what they can afford. They may have lots of questions and they may not be shy about taking up your valuable time to discuss a product or service that they will not buy anytime soon and if they do buy, they probably will not buy from you,

So how do you handle these people? You ask the right questions during your sales conversation. As you ask questions, be certain that one or two are designed to reveal if the prospective buyer needs/wants the product or service now, or sometime down the road. Asking direct, rather than open-ended, questions to discover when the product or service is needed is appropriate and an essential component of a successful sale. You must confirm the prospect’s motive and understand the urgency.

Uncovering and resolving objections

If a prospective buyer who appears to have a need to buy starts displaying pushback, this could signal that s/he is worried about whether the product or service is a good fit for his/ her needs. If a direct or speculative objection is made by your prospective buyer (“I heard this stuff doesn’t really work.”), I recommend you use a tactic that my colleagues in the sales department invented years ago. We called it Feel, Felt, Found.

  • I agree that there are some who’ve heard about our service but haven’t tried it themselves but they might feel that way.
  • Some of my best customers once felt the same way as you do now. They had doubts and questions.
  • But when they focused on the benefits they knew they could receive from the service, they found that what concerned them would not happen as long as they used the service according to our guidelines.

Confirmation and close

Once you’ve addressed the objection(s), confirm that the prospective buyer has dropped all doubts and now trusts your product or service (“Do you feel comfortable about using the service now, or do you need more information or maybe a demo, so you can see it in action?”). You cannot move forward with the sale until and unless you’ve resolved any objections and reassured your prospective buyer that your product or service is safe and effective. Once you’ve done that you’re able to either continue the sale, or invite the prospective buyer to fish or cut bait—-do the deal or look elsewhere.

Find the courage to ask for the sale! Get there by helping the prospective buyer envision the process by —tah- dah!—asking a few more questions as the sale draws to a successful close:

“Would you like to have the concierge service option, to make your life easier?”

“Do you like the blue or do you prefer the green?”

“Is the 20th of the month a good delivery date for your team, or will the 18th be more convenient?”

“Would you like to put this on a credit or debit card now, or do you prefer to write a check?”

“If you’ll be kind enough to sign in this line, we can seal the deal.”

After sale service

Avoid one-and-done syndrome and lay the groundwork for repeat business by extending customer service beyond the sale. Support the buyer who has now become your customer by answering questions or resolving problems that may occur after the sale. You want to take steps to make doing business with you a rewarding and pleasant experience. You want to be referred to your new customer’s friends and family. You want glowing online reviews and testimonials. You can use every sale to enhance your reputation and build your brand.  

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: © Annie Sahlin, photographer. Courtesy Palace of the Governors Photo Archives. Hopi Artist Elsie Talahytewa at the Santa Fe Indian Market in Santa Fe, NM, 1991 

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On Becoming an Expert

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Can we agree that competition for the eyeballs, ears and wallets of prospective customers in both the B2B and B2C sectors has resulted in near-intolerable noise in the marketplace? As a result, the 70% or so of Americans who are Freelance solopreneurs or small business operators face an uphill battle to get noticed by those who might become your customers. So the big question is—-what strategies might you employ to persuade prospects that you are The One? In the B2B sector, perhaps the most effective way to gain trust and sign contracts is to present yourself as an expert throughout the buyer’s journey and particularly in decision-making conversations.

To win clients, Freelance consultants have to be the smartest ones in the room, or at least make everyone think they are. On the other hand, you can’t look like a smart-aleck know- it-all because diplomacy matters. Just keep in mind that successful Freelancing is about inspiring trust and confidence and building relationships. Everything you do must support those objectives, which are the pillars of your business. Let’s look at some pivotal moments in a sales conversation where you can reveal your expertise and win over prospects.

Problem-solver not sales rep

Rule #1 of sales is to sell the customer how s/he wants to be sold. The way that prospective customers, especially in B2B, want to be sold is to first, connect with a problem-solving expert who’ll listen and learn what s/he needs to achieve and then recommend potential solutions that are tailored to the prospect’s objectives. High pressure sales pitches have no place in the scenario and are best left in scary memories of the 20th century.

Question, listen, diagnose

Think like a doctor and listen well to accurately diagnose the problem or objective the prospect must resolve or achieve. Ask open-ended questions that encourage the prospect to open up and talk. Your questions should aim to uncover the frustrations associated with the problem, the importance of achieving the objective and the impact of either on the prospect’s business. Ask questions to also discover if the customer has attempted to “self-treat” and attempt to solve the problem in-house. As the prospect tells the story, you’ll envision potential solutions that your organization can provide.

BTW, if you realize that you’re not a fit, it will reflect well on you to make a referral to a colleague or even acompetitor. Do that and you’ll enhance your credibility and brand. You might even get some business from this prospect in the future, either directly or through a referral.

Share experiences, show empathy

Let the prospect know that you are an seasoned problem-solver who has successfully resolved knotty problems before and helped customers achieve mission-critical, high profile goals. As an expert, you have valuable industry experience that prospective customers will be reassured to hear. A short, well-told war story or two will increase your perceived value. Moreover, your anecdotes will help the customer to feel more comfortable to spill the tea and tell you what’s really going on. Plus, it’s a great relationship- building technique.

Talk just enough

Another sales rule is that the seller talks just 15% of the time. In a sales meeting, the floor belongs to the prospect. You’re there to ask the right questions, share a good war story or two to give the prospect confidence in your abilities and judgment and then suggest a couple of possible solutions.

Through your questions, you will control the conversation and the sale. Follow this rule and prospects will respect you as a trusted expert, one with whom they’d be happy to do business.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

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Questions that Move a Sale Forward

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Well cha-cha-cha! You were able to resurrect a pre-COVID conversation you were having with a potentially good prospect and not for anything, you need to consummate this sale. Selling a prospect is like a dance and s/he who is selling must learn to lead with style and grace.

Step 1 is to understand what the prospect needs and the job specs, the specific work that must be done. Step 2 is to confirm that you’re able to do the work within the requested timeframe and allotted budget. Step 3 is to convince the prospect that you have mastered Step 1 and can achieve Step 2.

Since the shutdown, the ground has been quaking beneath our feet. Business owners and leaders are in various shades of panic, searching for answers and in need of reliability and support from their Freelancer colleagues. The need to establish trust cannot be overestimated. Your prospect must believe that you will not disappoint.

If you have not worked with the prospect before and the discussion will take place over Skype or other video platform, establishing the familiarity and comfort level that are the ingredients of trust will be more of a challenge. Turn up your listening skills and empathy because you’ll need those qualities more than usual. See my post https://freelancetheconsultantsdiary.wordpress.com/2020/07/14/what-scientists-know-about-virtual-meetings/

The 12 questions below are designed to 1. Display your empathy and ability to become a trusted resource; 2. Confirm the prospect’s intentions; 3. Specify the work you would perform; 4. Learn if your prospect is the decision-maker; and 5. Get an estimated starting date. At the conclusion of the conversation, the prospect should invite you to submit a proposal. If that does not occur, I would follow-up with a thank you email and then put this company on the back burner.

“In light of the new business environment, how has your process changed?”

“What are you doing that’s working well right now?”

“What’s hardest for you now?”

“What can you still do that you were doing before the shutdown?”

“Do you see what seem like good opportunities on the horizon?”

“Are there plans or intended projects that have been cancelled or put on hold?”

“Confucius said that a journey of 10,000 miles begins with the first step. What first step can I help your organization take?”

“Is the project we’re about discuss today something you planned to do before the shutdown, or is this a new initiative?”

“Is there something that is blocking you from taking the next step forward, or causing you to hesitate ?”

“What is the solution that would give the most impactful long-term benefits to the company?”

“How can I be a good resource to you and help you move forward?”

“If you were the only decision-maker, what would be your preferred start and completion dates?”

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Photograph: Kim Clark. Dancing to the music at the 2019 Tito Puente Latin Music Series at Villa Victoria in Boston’s South End neighborhood.

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5 Genius Questions for Your Customer Survey

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Every business owner or leader must study his/her customers (or potential customers for those in start-up or new product launch mode) and gather as much potentially useful information about them as possible. The first and greatest commandment of business is “know thy customer” and the research must continue for the life of the business. We can never stop learning.

The important matter of measuring customer satisfaction and customer loyalty became the life’s work of Frederick F. Reichheld, now an Emeritus Director of the Boston, MA consulting firm Bain and Company, also the founder of its Loyalty practice and author of The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth (2006). Reichheld reported that it took two years of studying customer satisfaction and customer loyalty survey responses and correlating those responses to actual customer behavior—i.e., purchases and referrals made and then linking customer behavior to growth—to discover that a single survey question can reliably predict sales revenue growth.

The big reveal question does not directly address either customer satisfaction or customer loyalty. Rather, it simply inquires about customers’ willingness to recommend a product or service to someone else. While other factors besides customer loyalty play a role in driving a company’s growth—economic or industry expansion, a product or service line that reflects the needs and tastes of current and prospective customers, good financial management and so on—repeat business and good word of mouth are indisputably two of the most important drivers of sales revenue growth and in general, no company can be profitable without them.

Loyal customers talk up a company to friends, family and colleagues. Their recommendations are among the truest demonstrations of loyalty because the customer puts his/her own reputation on the line when making them. Customers will risk their reputations only if they feel intense loyalty.

The customer experience is, I am certain, another significant factor in a customer’s willingness to recommend a business and many actions contribute to that experience. Marketing Departments point survey questions toward metrics they control, such as brand image, pricing and product features and benefits. But a customer’s willingness to recommend a business is also connected to how well the customer is treated by the front line employees—are they friendly (but not intrusive)? Are they helpful?

According to Reichheld’s findings, customer loyalty differs subtly but substantively from customer satisfaction. Gauging loyalty by way of the usual customer-satisfaction survey questions is not helpful. His research indicates that customer satisfaction lacks a consistently demonstrable connection to customer behavior and growth. Reichheld says it is difficult to identify a sufficiently strong correlation between high customer satisfaction scores and outstanding sales growth. “The question ‘How satisfied are you with (company X’s) overall performance?’ is a relatively weak predictor of growth,” he says.

One of the main takeaways from Reichheld’s research is that companies can keep customer surveys simple. The most basic surveys, providing that the right questions are asked, can allow companies to obtain timely data that is actionable. Reichheld goes so far to assert that a customer feedback program should be viewed not as “market research” but as an operating management tool. Below are five of Reichheld’s survey questions.

  • How likely is it that you would recommend (company X) to a friend or colleague?
  • How likely is it that you will continue to purchase products/services from (company X)?
  • How strongly do you agree that (company X) makes it easy for you to do business with it?
  • If you were selecting a similar provider for the first time, how likely is it that you would you choose (company X)?
  • How satisfied are you with (company X) overall performance?

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Photograph: (l-r) Phyllis Povah, Rosalind Russell and Joan Crawford in The Women (1939). Sales girl Crawford is showing her customers the fictitious fragrance “Summer Rain.”

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6 Questions to Ask a Prospect

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Woo-hoo, you’ve got a live one here! You’ve stumbled upon a prospect and you do not want to screw up and lose what might be an opportunity to get paid. You want to keep this fish on the line and figure out 1.) if s/he is serious about hiring a Freelance consultant to work with and 2.) if the project is something you can handle. A series of easy-to-remember questions that help you to encourage the prospect to open up and tell you what s/he needs and also move the process toward a commitment for further discussion are essential. Your goal, of course, is to obtain a project that will both enhance your revenue and if possible, enhance your CV as well.

Picture this—you and the prospect have each given the meet’n’greet (short) versions of your elevator pitch and the prospect is showing an interest in your offerings and would like some details. You’re asked if you’ve ever worked on a particular sort of project, or provided a solution for a certain kind of challenge or problem. Presented below are questions designed to make it easy for your prospect to share information and allow you to position yourself as a good candidate for hire if a project actually becomes available.

  1. How can I help you?

“A customer’s time is valuable, so that first question must be impactful while still respecting their time,” advises Eng Tan, Founder and CEO of Simplr, a customer service and customer experience start-up. ‘How can I help?’ is open-ended enough to invite feedback, but also show that the customer comes first.”

2. What is the problem or pain point?

You cannot jump into a sales pitch until and unless you hear the prospect describe the matter that must be resolved or challenge that must be overcome. Only then can you determine if you have the expertise and resources to provide the desired solution. Allow your prospect to tell you what s/he would like you to do.

3. What is your goal?

Get the prospect to articulate the purpose of the proposed project and what the resulting deliverable means to the organization. Determine if this is a mission-critical goal and the date that the deliverable must be received. It is to your benefit to understand why the prospect feels it’s worth paying outside help to get the project done. The proposal you write and your pricing structure, if negotiations get that far, will be impacted by this information.

You must also understand what will happen if the client does nothing (and nothing is precisely what most of them do anyway, am I right?). So do your best to find out what it all means to the prospect and the company and how the proposed project fits into important goals.

BTW, not every project that gets funded is tied to a meaningful goal. I know someone who probably makes 3x what I make in a year by producing an ultimately ridiculous vanity-driven deliverable for well-known for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. Enhancing reputations can be big money, it seems.

4. Have you done anything about it so far?

With this question, you’ll learn if the prospect has worked with a competitor. You can follow-up and ask if there was dissatisfaction with the competitor’s deliverable, price, or customer service. If the matter has so far been handled in-house, you can follow-up and ask why outsourcing looks like a good option now. In short, you’ll learn why your decision-maker or stakeholder/ decision-influencer prospect is motivated to talk to you about the problem and inquire about how you might resolve the problem or produce the deliverable.

5. Is it you who decides how this matter gets resolved?

At this point in the conversation, it is both prudent and politic to ask who makes the decision to bring in someone from the outside, i.e., a Freelancer. You will have earned the right to know if the individual with whom you are speaking has the authority to green-light a project on his/her own, or in concert with a select group of stakeholders. You need to get a sense of how superiors, colleagues, or stakeholders feel about bringing in a Freelancer and I recommend that you get an answer before proceeding with the conversation.

It is possible that your prospect is alone in thinking that an outsider should be brought in to manage the project and his/her opinion may or may not prevail. Now is the time to get a sense of whether outsourcing this project is wishful thinking or a possibility.

6. What would you like to see happen next?

With this question, you invite the prospect to commit to follow-up, be it a face-to-face meeting, an email, or a telephone call. The prospect will be able to reconfirm his/her confidence in your capabilities as s/he shares more information about the proposed project and digs deeper into the how and why your product or service can address pain points and facilitate realization of the company’s goal.

This conversation will determine whether you are considered a serious candidate for managing the project and if the company is serious about hiring a Freelancer. You could very well be invited to submit a proposal and if that is the case, it is a big vote of confidence (but alas, still no guarantee).

If asked upfront about pricing, you might like to respond “What’s your budget?” If it’s smaller than you hoped, work with the prospect to provide the project must-haves, minus the too-expensive extras, at a price the organization can afford. Then again, they could surprise you and appropriate more money. You just never know!

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Photograph: The Fuller Brush man visits a prospective customer (circa 1950)

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Ask Better Questions

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“Be a good listener,” Dale Carnegie advised in his 1936 classic How to Win Friends and Influence People. “Ask questions the other person will enjoy answering.”  Effectively asking questions is a big part of a leader’s job. Good decision-making is based on information we obtain by asking the right questions. Making a sale, including handling objections, is also supported by effective questioning.

Many of us hesitate to ask questions, unfortunately. Sometimes it’s because we don’t want to be perceived as intrusive. Other times,  we worry that our questions may be viewed as silly and make us appear incompetent.  On the other hand, one might assume that more information is not necessary.  In every instance, an opportunity to obtain valuable information is lost.

Alison Woods Brooks, an Assistant Professor at the Harvard Business School who teaches Negotiation and is affiliated with the Behavioral Insights Group and Leslie K. John, Associate Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, understand that effective questioning is a skill that can be honed to make our conversations more productive.

The two offer guidance on the best type of questions to ask, tone of voice to use, the sequence of questions and how to frame the questions.  The best approach for a given situation depends on the goals of those in conversation.  Is the discussion  cooperative (e.g., relationship-building or accomplishing a task together) or  competitive (the parties seek to uncover sensitive information from each other or serve their own interests), or some combination of both? Brooks and her research team employed human coding and machine learning to identify four types of questions:

  • Introductory questions (“How are you?”)
  • Mirror questions (“I’m fine. How are you?”)
  • Full-switch questions (change the topic entirely)
  •  Follow-up questions (solicit more information)

Follow-up

Although each question type flows naturally in conversation, follow-up questions have special power. Follow-up questions signal to your conversation partner that you are listening, that you care and that you want to know more. People interacting with a conversation partner who asks lots of follow-up questions tend to feel respected and heard. According to Leslie K. John, “Most people don’t grasp that asking a lot of questions unlocks learning and improves interpersonal bonding.” Plus, follow-up questions don’t require much thought or preparation and usually come naturally to the questioner.

Yet be advised that no one likes to feel interrogated. Furthermore, closed-end questions tend to yield one-word answers. Open-ended questions counteract that effect and for that reason, they can be particularly useful in uncovering information or learning something new. In fact, they are wellsprings of innovation—which is often the result of finding the hidden, unexpected answer that no one has thought of before.

Sequencing

If the goal is to build relationships, opening with less sensitive questions and escalating slowly seems to be most effective.  In a set of studies (the results of which went viral following a write-up in the “Modern Love” column in the New York Times), psychologist Arthur Aron recruited strangers to come to the lab, paired them up and gave them a list of questions.  Participants were told to work their way through the list, starting with relatively shallow inquiries and progressing to more self-revelatory ones, such as “What is your biggest regret?”

Pairs in the control group were asked simply to interact with each other. The pairs who followed the prescribed structure liked each other more than the control pairs. This effect is so strong that it has been formalized in a task called “the relationship closeness induction,” a tool used by researchers to build a sense of connection among the participants.

Tone

People are more forthcoming when you ask questions in a casual way, rather than in a terse, official tone. In general, an overly formal tone is likely to inhibit people’s willingness to share information.

Group dynamics

Conversational dynamics can change profoundly depending on whether you’re chatting one-on-one with someone or talking in a group. Not only is the willingness to answer questions impacted by the presence of others, but members of a group tend to follow one anothers lead. In a meeting or group setting, it takes only a few closed-off people for questions to lose their probing power.  Conversely, if even one person starts to open up on a topic, the rest of the group is likely to follow suit.

Art of the response

Conversation is a dance, a mutual push-and-pull. Just as the way we ask questions can facilitate trust and the sharing of information so, too, can the way we answer them. Answering questions requires making a choice about where to fall on a continuum between privacy and transparency.  How should I answer this question? Assuming that I answer, how forthcoming can I afford to be? What should one do when asked a question that, if answered truthfully, might reveal a less-than-flattering information, or put one in a disadvantaged strategic position?

Each end of the spectrum—fully opaque and fully transparent—has benefits and pitfalls.  In negotiations, withholding sensitive information (e.g., that your alternatives are weak) can help you secure better outcomes. At the same time, transparency is an essential part of building meaningful connections. Even in a negotiation context, transparency can lead to value-creating deals; by sharing information, participants can identify elements that are relatively unimportant to one party but important to the other—the foundation of a win-win outcome.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Photograph: The Dating Game, 1965- 1973 (ABC-TV)

 

 

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The Post-Speech Q & A

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Everything has gone swimmingly with your presentation. The room is full, you held the attention of audience members and your timing was spot on. There are 10 minutes left for the question and answer session. You think you’ve won, but you have no idea how vulnerable you are.

Speakers often don’t realize it, but those brief minutes in the post-speech Q & A session have the potential to become your Achilles’ heel. The post-speech Q & A is un-mapped territory. You don’t know what’ll be thrown at you. The Q & A is a variable that few speakers prepare for, because they assume they can’t prepare for it and so they wing it and figure they’ll muddle through. Not!

As Tesla CEO Elon Musk now knows, winging the Q & A can be a grave mistake. At the conclusion of a May 2018 investor’s meeting speech, Musk had a heated exchange with a financial analyst who asked a couple of apparently incisive questions. Musk didn’t come out of it looking good. You may have heard that Musk has recently said “lack of sleep” and “stress” have been wearing him down. Sorry, it’s a weak excuse.

Executive Coach and speaker John Millen points out that when speakers mishandle post-speech or other questions, they can appear uninformed, hostile, or even dishonest. “How leaders answer questions is enormously important in building trust. If you come into a high-stakes situation talking to investors, employees, regulators (or a potential client) and you don’t communicate properly, there can be huge problems.” So let’s consider tactics that can bring you through your next post-speech Q & A with flying colors.

PREPARE

Take all precautions to avoid being perceived as clueless, shady, or defensive. If a question is posed for which you don’t have an answer, say “That issue is under review and I don’t yet have enough information to answer.” You can also turn it around and ask the questioner “Why is that important to you?” The answer may open your eyes to aspects of the subject that you had not previously considered and can be a teachable moment for you.

Start the process by thinking your subject through so that you can anticipate questions that could be asked. Next, do some audience research and ask the program organizer if there might be audience members who could oppose your goals or point of view, so you can rehearse answers designed to neutralize a campaign to undermine you.

CALL IT OUT

Be mindful of aspects of your speech that could potentially seem controversial to certain audience members. A good defensive tactic is to proactively address a possibly sensitive matter in your speech, preferably toward the end or in your concluding remarks. Acknowledge the elephant in the room.

“That way, when it comes up again from the audience you could say ‘Right. As I said earlier…,’ Millen advises. “Then you are reinforcing your answer and it feels more truthful and honest.” Also, you’ll avoid allowing an angry questioner to set the tone. “You can get it out there on your own terms,” Millen notes.

CHERRY PICKING

Sometimes a speaker is hit with a multi-part question and when that happens, the recommendation is to answer that part of the question you can answer most adroitly, the part that reinforces your viewpoint or supports your goal. Speakers can usually get away with this tactic because audience members may not remember the entire question and in fact, they may have little patience with a complicated question. So cherry pick those parts that you want to answer and slide away from what you are unable or unwilling to answer.

NEUTRALIZE OPPOSITION

Unfortunately, there could be an audience member who doesn’t so much have a question, but an axe to grind or s/he is in search of attention. Jo Miller, founder and CEO of Be Leaderly, a professional development training consultancy based in Cedar Rapids, IA, cautions speakers against getting defensive when encountering such a questioner. “The best way to deal with those questions is to maintain a confident and unapologetic posture,” she says. Miller suggests that adopting a tone of amusement can help get the audience on your side. She adds “Respond as if you are enjoying a game of intellectual ping-pong.”

EXPERT HELP

If you are a company leader who will speak to employees, investors, an important client, or others with whom you must build trust and meet or exceed expectations, bring along two or three ranking team members and have them ready to step in and answer questions aligned with their areas of expertise. In other words, defer to the experts, share the spotlight and promote leadership skills development as you do.

End the Q & A on an upbeat, positive note and if possible, after you’ve given a well-received response to a question. If you are asked two or more challenging questions, Millen recommends that you
“Tell them they’re asking the right questions, then bring it back to your overall message. They (the audience) shouldn’t leave with a bad taste in their mouths.”

Thanks for reading,
Kim

Image: Cesare Maccari 19th century fresco depicts statesman, lawyer and orator Cicero (January 3, 106 BC – December 7, 43 BC) as he excoriates Senator Lucius Sergius Catilina (108BC – 62 BC) in the Roman Senate for Catilina’s role in the conspiracy to overthrow the Republic and, in particular, the aristocratic Senate. Courtesy of the Palazzo Madama (Rome).

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5 Customer Survey Questions That Work

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Every once in a while, it makes sense to address your client feedback metric, so that you will receive some lived-experience insight into your operation’s strengths and weaknesses.  You need to learn what can be done better, which service delivery or other operational processes might be simplified and what clients would like to see more of.

The smartest way to begin the client feedback process is to decide what you want to know and what purpose that information will serve.  Are you trying to develop new products or services, so that you’ll be able to give clients what they want before they know they want it? Or is business dwindling and you’re in damage control mode, attempting to win back clients?

Some market research questions are best explored through the eyes of clients and others around the conference table with your leadership team (or maybe your front-line staff, who have loads of on-the-ground experience that they’d love to share). Let’s examine when it makes sense to query your clients and when you’ll learn more from in-house research.  Given below are five standard yet very clever survey questions, some that apply to clients and others that apply to you and your team:

  1. What are the challenges that clients (in a given industry or category) are facing?
  2. Which of these problems is our organization equipped to address?
  3. What solutions are we offering now and what can we/should we add, re-tool, or quit?
  4. How effective are our solutions—what do clients most often hire us to do?
  5. What do we do next?

Note that questions 1 and 4 would best be put to your clients and that questions 2, 3 & 5 involve business strategy and would be addressed in-house, once you’ve spoken with selected clients to figure out questions 1 and 4.

How you conduct the client survey deserves some thought, as well. It might be best for Freelance consultants and small business owners to run a low-key survey by setting up an environment that enables comfortable and candid conversation.  Consider making the process informal and perhaps even seemingly impromptu.  Larger companies may feel comfortable running a formal focus group, perhaps facilitated by an outside market research firm.

Question 1: What are the primary challenges facing your client’s organization?

Whether the client comes to you or you go the client, start by asking a “how are things going in your office” question, or inquire about the next big project or objective (whether or not it would involve your organization). Find out what’s going on and let the client talk.

Questions 2 and 3: Which challenges do you want to solve? How will that be done?

Given the expertise and resources you have, coupled with the client’s inclination to contract for the necessary billable hours, which additional client challenges might you be asked to take on (or what can you cleverly propose to be hired to do)? Can your organization successfully deliver the desired outcomes, or will you need to subcontract some portion? Can you learn how clients are managing these responsibilities now? Is there a competitor who gets hired to do that work , or is nothing being done because the client isn’t sure what to do, or lacks the budget to complete the job?

Question 4: Have our solutions satisfactorily resolved the clients’ challenges?

What project did the client hire you to do? What are the projects that your organization is most often hired to do? How does do clients feel about your performance—is your expertise and ability to deliver the service trusted and respected by clients? Does it seem that you’ll receive more business from several of your clients, on a similar project or another type?

Question 5: What do you do next, based on client responses?

Now here is the judgment call for you and the team. The essence of the process is interpreting the data compiled.  What can you realistically do, based on the responses from clients in questions 1 and 4 and the opportunities and strengths within your organization, as noted in questions 2, 3 and 5?

Remember, it is most likely possible to beta test a new or re-tooled service  with a trusted client who would receive a reduced project fee in exchange for helping your organization to perfect the business model.

Thanks for reading,

Kim