Chapter 8. Asking High-Value Questions

IN THE MUSICAL Fiddler on the Roof, there is a lovely question-and-answer duet. It is an exchange between an older man and his wife, deciding the question, “Do you love me?” Not only are the words a question-and-answer dialog, but the music also has an easily discernable query-response sound. Too often, though, our questioning in our sales calls comes across more like “Dueling Banjos”; a series of challenges where one attempts to outdo another. In a duet, like the one from the musical mentioned here, the two singers soon stop the back-and-forth of separate lines and begin to sing together. They harmonize in perfectly blended voices as they duplicate each other’s words. This is the point you want to get to in your sales calls—harmony and a joining of purpose, which leads to the sale.