“If we reduce the amount of words that we use and the questions we ask, we can ask simpler questions and get to the root of what it is that people are actually thinking about and maybe even thinking about, but not saying out loud.” – Jacquelyn Nicholson & Mike Simmons in today’s Tip 1380
How do you simplify the questions you ask?
Join the conversation below and learn more about Jacquelyn and Mike!
Jacquelyn Nicholson on LinkedIn
Jacquelyn Nicholson on Sales Success Stories Interview
Mike Simmons on LinkedIn
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2022 Sales Success Summit
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Transcript
Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today I’ve got another dual-threat tip to follow Camille and Jack’s tip yesterday. Here are Jacquelyn Nicholson and Mike Simmons:
Mike Simmons: We just talked about clarity. What about simplifying things? How do you simplify the questions you ask?
Jacquelyn Nicholson: That’s a good one. I used to get really burned on that. I had a boss of mine who is amazing. It’s amazing woman, Jess. And her thing with me was concision. She’s like, Jacqueline, I have three tips for you. I said, Oh, Jess, what are they? Concision. I was like, Okay. Okay. Second, Concision. And guess what the third one was? Concision.
Mike Simmons: I have no idea what concision is. What is that?
Jacquelyn Nicholson: Being concise. Being concise.
Mike Simmons: Okay.
Jacquelyn Nicholson: And the act of being concise. And I really struggled with that for many years. So where I really was able to dive into that was thinking about simplifying things. I saw something on LinkedIn the other day that really got to the heart of the matter in terms of bringing a laser focus to the customer, in terms of why something might want to be solved now. And it was this great question is like, what if you don’t solve it now, are you going to regret not solving in six months? I was like, that is a really simple question that is really going to spark a lot of conversation. So sometimes it’s a question that is very simple. Look, we’re here to learn how to sell better, right? And so selling is solving a problem. So what better way to put it than to say, like, what problem if you don’t solve it, are you a regret in six months? Boom. That’s a simple one.
Mike Simmons: Super simple. It doesn’t have a lot of jargon in it. It doesn’t have a lot of industry knowledge or industry lingo. It’s just basic to the root. What are people considering? And when I think of simplifying, the first thing I think about is what’s complex? How do you create complexity? You create complexity by adding things to it. So if you create complexity by adding things, you simplify by removing things. What words can I remove from the question that I’m asking? I can ask what or what does that mean or why or how? And some of those are going to if I ask the why question in the wrong context, it might get people defensive. So how can be a better question. But if we reduce the amount of words that we use and the questions we ask, we can ask simpler questions and get to the root of what it is that people are actually thinking about and maybe even thinking about, but not saying out loud. And then the coolest response I like to see is the one where you ask the question that someone is thinking about that’s in their head, but they’ve never been able to articulate it that way.
Jacquelyn Nicholson: That’s a superpower. Right there, that’s a superpower.
Mike Simmons: You can only do it if you do the work, right? You can only do it if you do the work. And that was a theme at the Sales Success Summit, how much work everybody who was on that stage went through to get to where they are. The process they went through to get to where they are. So if you’ve not listened to them yet, go watch the videos from the Sales Success Summit. I believe those are available now through the sponsorship of Gong. I’m sure Scott will include some links.
Jacquelyn Nicholson: Absolutely.
Scott Ingram: I don’t know about you, but I learned a new word listening to this. Now the videos from the Summit that they referenced aren’t quite ready yet, but you can get access to them when they are if you just fill out the form at Top1Summit.com, and of course, we’ll have a link to that and links for you to connect with Jacquelyn and Mike at DailySales.Tips/1380.
Once you’ve clicked over there, be sure to click back here for tomorrow’s tip from Jeff Bajorek. Thanks for listening!