What’s the first question you hear at a networking event? “Waddya do?”

And if you ask that question, tell the truth, don’t all the answers sound the same today?

“I help your business drive results.”

“I help you develop your business to its fullest potential.”

“I help you increase your bottom-line.”

OR

“I help you get unstuck.”

“I help you learn how to love yourself.”

“I teach you to reach or dreams.”

I say:  Toss the pitch! Chat first.

When people ask me that question, I say, “Could I ask you a quick question first?” They always say, “Sure.”

I make an instant judgement call. If the person sounds like he/she could be the shy type, I might say, “Tell the truth, do you ever get a little nervous or even really shaky when you have to speak in front of a group?”

Answer: I hate it!

Jan: Feels terrible, right?

Answer: Yes, it’s so embarrassing,

Jan: Well, I fix that.

Answer: How?

Jan: I have what I call a Fox Talks Speak Tweaks System that can help cure your jitters. It’s really fast, and I never even have to say the word, ‘confidence’. I promise you’ll end up a BOLD speaker.

Answer: Wow! How much?

SOLD!  

My other snap judgement might come when a confident appearing person is asking. It may go like this: “I can tell right now that you do NOT need one of the things I do.”

Answer: Really? What’s that?

Jan: I’m a speaker coach and you don’t sound like you need one. Am I right?

Answer: I can always use some fixes.

Jan: Great. I specialize in Quick Results Speak Tweaks. I have a system that works every time.

Answer: How do we do it?

Jan: We book a time. I listen to you chat. I ask you to tell me a story. You do, while I shoot a little video on my camera. We look at it and, right away, YOU will see what we need to tweak.

Answer: Wow! How much?

SOLD!

I can usually tell by the name tag or by how the person introduces him/herself by a business name and a title, so that requires a different approach.

Jan: Let me ask you a quick question first, what exactly does your business do? (Be prepared to give the person a good listening to and don’t interrupt.)

After the long answer, Jan: Do you have a sales or business development team?

Answer: Sure.

Jan: Do you wish they could sell more or make quicker connections?

Answer: Absolutely!

Jan: That’s what I do. I teach your teams simply to speak more BOLDLY and get to the close more quickly. I was on TV for a hundred years, so that’s what I offer: my BOLD SPEAKER SYSTEM. By simply improving their speaking skills or learning to tell compelling business stories, they increase their numbers. I’ve seen it happen over and over again. The last time, it was with…

Answer: Wow! How do you work and how much?

SOLD!  

No matter what your business or specialty might be, you can learn to ask a question that makes the listener step right into your client file:

• An agile IT company to a gov’t contractor: Do you ever get stalled or stymied when trying to push through big projects?
• A personal business coach: I bet it’s hard to keep the pipeline full, isn’t it?
• An image consultant: Do you ever look in the closet in the morning and hate everything you see?
• A clutter cleaner: Do you walk in the house or office every day, and say, “I gotta clean this mess up?”
• A huge International firm to a smaller firm that needs bigger systems: my title is too long and totally boring, but let me ask this….

Finding the question is easy. What problem do you fix? Simply guess that they have that problem. Ask about it in a way that makes your company the solution to that problem. No long lists of features and benefits needed. The right question gets your sales conversation started!