Small Business Today Magazine JUN 2014 MASTERWORD SERVICES INC | Page 31

EDITORIALFEATURE

Unexpected Questions
By N.D. Brown

T

rying to open a hoped for dialogue with a question, especially in advertising, has always driven me nuts. If you see an
ad with a question headline “Do you suffer from ....?” or “Do
you care about ...?”, it is too easy to immediately answer
“NO!” and move on. But surely there are ways to ask unexpected
questions that intrigue and draw in a customer. An ad is a passive
environment so it is easy to say “No”. Prospects flying through
your interactive website (it is isn’t it?) or trying to slip past a cold
call are different.
One of the benefits of being in the small business world is that
it should be easier to engage because there are fewer layers for
a prospect to peel away. Make sure you go through your phone
tree to discover for yourself what a prospect has to go through
to be engaged. Often, it can be a painful process but answering
questions can be the key to a successful conversation.
Recently, best selling marketing author Seth Godin sent out a
blog discussing how easily opening questions can incite conversations with the most reluctant potential customers. Like free-thinking author Malcolm Gladwell, Seth Godin’s mind runs against the
wind, tacking toward the obvious angles most overlook. If you
have not read either Godin’s or Gladwell’s books I highly recommend them and I suggest you sign up for Godin’s daily blog as
well. You will get a very short comment that will make you think
and even amuse you.Try it. It can’t hurt.The neat thing about the
internet is unsubscribing really isn’t that hard.
Mr. Godin explained that a very successful Girl Scout avoided
the traditional sales opening which had been suggested by the
national organization. The suggestions from headquarters were:
Tell them who you are and tell them all the good things the
Girl Scouts do in the neighborhood. Wait a minute! You have
just been stopped on the street, are on the way in or out of
the grocery store, or you have been pulled from the TV and
opened your front door to a stranger. Hearing about the good
deeds and value of the Girl Scouts is not what you wanted to
be interrupted with.
Now that you have the picture of the young girl in uniform
stepping into your thought train, imagine your reaction to:
“Hello, I’m Becky and I want to know what your favorite
cookie is?”

You were all set to say “Thanks but no thanks” or some other
brush off. But wait a minute, my favorite cookie? Hmmm, let me
think. That stream of consciousness you were so engrossed in
has now been pleasantly broken.The package in front of you is a
young girl in a clean uniform depicting a known brand and she is
asking about something we all like…cookies.
Instead of trying to move her out of your important life, she
has now shifted your brain to cookies. Admit it. Right now the
portion of your brain that pops up images is scrolling through
the cookies you like. Synapses are firing all over your brain pulling
up images of cookies as you recall the fresh baked smell and first
bite taste. Simultaneously, you have a young girl with pleading eyes
waiting for the answer. How can you not answer the question?
And BANG you a