Getting to the heart of the matter

So you’ve secured the appointment, but it wasn’t easy. Your prospective customer was reluctant about meeting with you, feeling their current way of handling things was working fine. Once you’re in the appointment and gotten past the getting-to-know-you, how do you get them to open up?

Here’s a great question to ask:

“Joe, the fact that you were willing to meet with me today says things aren’t working exactly the way you’d like them to be. So, what’s wrong?”

This question gets to the heart of the matter quickly. Of course, as you say this, your most sympathetic body language comes out, you show genuine interest in the person, and you wait patiently for an answer. It’s not a question you ask in a forceful or aggressive way. It’s asking the person to come clean and share with you his or her feelings about why they wanted to meet.

The great thing about this question is it’s asking for a full story: how things are handled currently, where the breakdown is occurring and why, and even starts the person thinking about how circumstances could be better.

Ask this question of individuals you had difficulty securing an appointment with, and you’ll start a true problem/solution dialogue.