The power of questions in negotiations

Asking questions is an art of its self, many years ago, as a young salesperson I participated in a 3 day sales training, at the start of the training I was asked to formulate a series of questions, that simulated a sales meeting, As a young sales rep I moved straight to bottom line or “closed” questions, thinking that driving the customer to where I wanted him to be, would accelerate the sales process and drive a speedy closure, well I was of course wrong and got my world completely turned around by the instructor #TonyMoriss! In negotiations even more then in sales, we are looking to build trust and a relationship with the other party and to discover mutual interests that can be addressed and agreed on. This can only be accomplished by using open-ended questions, that drive a discussion and exploration of interests.

These are some of my favorites.

• How do you see this unfolding?

• With whom have you discussed this position with?

• Can you help me understand?

• How does the process look like from your perspective?

• Can you share your internal challenges?

• What other issues do you want to discuss?

• What do you want to accomplish?

• If you had a blank page what would you write down?

So next time you enter negotiations even if it’s with your spouse or kids, try some open-ended questions, you will be surprised by the power of this simple technique.