Power Questions: Build Relationships, Win New Business, and Influence Others

Suggestions for How to Use This Question
“What do you think?”
“Many a man would rather you heard his story than granted his request,” wrote Philip
Stanhope, the Fourth Earl of Chesterfield. Make those around you feel heard by asking
the superb question: What do you think? You will open up a floodgate and become a
sponge soaking up information.
Then listen. Listen aggressively. Listen attentively. Listen to the silence. Listen with
your eyes. Listen!
You may not like what you hear when you ask the question. That's the risk you take.
Just remember the seeds of progress are rooted in the unhappy person. It's the pebble in
the shoe that causes you to take notice.
When to use the question
Whenever you are discussing a dilemma or planning a course of future action.
After you have shared your views or presented a proposal.
When someone comes to you with a problem.
Alternative versions of the question
“I value your opinion. Can I get your reaction to this?”
“Would you be willing to share your views?”
Follow-up questions
“What has influenced your thinking about this the most?”
“Are there any other perspectives I ought to be aware of?”

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4
When the Sale Is Stuck
Dean Kamen is an extraordinary inventor. He has more than 100 patents to
his name. He developed an insulin pump, a portable kidney dialysis
machine, an electric wheelchair, and dozens of other innovations. He's
backed by the wealthiest, brightest venture capitalists in the world. Few can
match his record of success.
It's December 2001. Kamen is launching a new product that he says will
completely revolutionize transportation around the world. He has been
working on it in absolute secrecy for a decade.
It is the Segway, a battery-powered personal transportation device. The
market? Six billion people. It is heralded with tremendous fanfare. In
anticipation of its unveiling, Newsweek predicts it will be one of the most
important inventions of the century.
Kamen claims that within a year, his spanking new factory will be
churning out 10,000 Segways a week, with a price tag of nearly $5,000
each. According to Wired magazine, Kamen figured that “Executives at
companies like FedEx and American Express would behold his high-tech
superscooter and wonder how they'd managed all these years without it.”
Actually, the factory ended up shipping about 10 Segways a week, not
10,000. A decade later, 50,000 have been sold rather than the tens of
millions that were predicted.
Ride a Segway to work? To school? Not really. People had cars, buses,
trains—and their two feet. No one felt a need that had to be fulfilled by an
electric, upright scooter. Individuals didn't. Corporations didn't.
Governments didn't.
Segway could not affirmatively answer the first question that determines
whether someone will buy: Does the buyer have a significant problem or
opportunity that the solution addresses?
No need? No sale.

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Nearly 25 years earlier, on April 17, 1977, President Jimmy Carter is on
national television. He gives a dramatic speech about the energy crisis.
He explains that Middle Eastern nations have raised the price of oil. The
United States is dangerously dependent on foreign energy supplies. He asks
Americans to sacrifice, to conserve. Shaking his fist, he calls the challenge
“the moral equivalent of war.”
Carter is absolutely right about the energy crisis. He is prescient, ahead of
his time. But after the speech, his popularity plummets. The public does not
buy his message, his plea. Not at all. Some even mock him. Why?
In 1977, Americans didn't see that they were responsible for the energy
problem. They perceived it as caused by foreign suppliers of crude, as well
as the big energy companies and large corporations. It wasn't their personal
issue.
The public refused to buy President Carter's energy program because he
could not affirmatively answer the second question that determines whether
someone will buy: Does the buyer own the problem? The buyer must be
able to take action. They must feel responsible—and, in an organization,
empowered by their leadership to deal with the problem.
No responsibility and ownership? No sale.
During the 1970s, when Carter was president, a high-fidelity revolution
was sweeping living rooms across the country. The development of the
transistor, and then the integrated microchip, laid the foundation for a new
generation of stereo equipment. Speaker companies like Bose began
manufacturing truly superb speakers that vastly enhanced the listening
experience.
Consumers loved these improvements. Soon, even college dorm rooms
sported great-sounding turntables, amplifiers, and speakers. This quality
explosion put previous generations of equipment to shame.
Stereophiles were now very, very satisfied with their listening experience.
Then, someone had the bright idea of Quadraphonic sound. That's right,
instead of two speakers there would be four, with four distinct sound
channels. If stereo sounded like a live performance, Quadraphonic sound
would be like sitting in the middle of a performance stage with the players
on all four sides. Huh?

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Quadraphonic sound was a humongous flop. It was expensive. There
were almost no recordings that could take advantage of it. And most
important, consumers were highly satisfied with their already-great stereo
equipment. The Quadraphonic audio system soon joined the dustbin with
the Edsel car and 3-D glasses.
Quadraphonic sound could not affirmatively answer the third question
that determines whether someone will buy: Does the buyer have a healthy
dissatisfaction with current offerings or with the rate of their improvement?
No dissatisfaction? No sale.
Dubai Ports World's acquisition of British company P&O in 2005
illustrates the perils of failing to meet the fourth condition for someone to
buy: Trust that you are the right person for the job.
Dubai Ports World is owned by the government of Dubai, which is part of
the United Arab Emirates. P&O had the contracts to manage port operations
in 22 major U.S. ports around the country. Even though P&O was a non-
U.S. company, no one raised any objections to their management of such
important national assets. The company was largely British-owned, and
Britain is a staunch U.S. ally. Dubai Ports World was a different story,
however.
Politicians quickly picked up on the fact that many U.S. ports would soon
be under the management—albeit indirectly—of a Middle Eastern
government. The acquisition came under fierce attack. There was fear-
mongering about terrorists infiltrating the United States. Dubai Ports
World's potential ownership of the port management contracts was
portrayed as an extraordinary risk to national security. The U.S. Congress
threatened to block the deal. It was a cause célèbre in the Capitol.
Under enormous pressure, Dubai Ports World gave in and eventually sold
P&O's U.S. port management business to a U.S. company.
Dubai Ports World could not affirmatively answer the fourth question that
determines if someone will buy: Does the buyer trust that you are the best
person for the job?
No trust? No sale.
No matter what the circumstances, when you are trying to convince
someone to buy, these four conditions must exist. You might be selling a
service to a corporation or, perhaps, presenting a proposal for a new
initiative to your boss. It doesn't matter.

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When the sale is stalled, you must ask:
Does the buyer have a significant problem or opportunity that the
solution addresses? (Why would they hire you to solve a problem they don't
think exists, or buy a product that doesn't address a distinct need?)
Does the buyer own the problem? (Can they take action? Are they
responsible? If not, you're talking to the wrong person.)
Does the buyer have a healthy dissatisfaction with current offerings or
with their rate of improvement? (People will buy only when there is a gap
between current performance or current offerings and their desires).
Does the buyer trust that you are the best person for the job? (I can have
a problem, I can own that problem and be empowered to act, and I can have
a healthy dissatisfaction with current offerings—but if I don't trust you or
your company to do the job, there won't be a sale.)
If you want to sell anything, you must determine whether these four
conditions exist. In the end section of this book you will find a series of
additional questions to ask a potential buyer. These will help you determine
whether it's a “yes” or “no” to each of these conditions.
A sale—of a service, a product, or an idea—requires an investment of
scarce time and resources. You must be determined and commited.
Before you exhaust yourself trying to get the sale, you must ask the
question, “Are they ready to buy?”