Are You Asking the Right Questions?

Alan is at the PopUp Reading Shop to discuss the age old question “How Can I Help You?” and why that isn’t the best question to ask if you want to engage your customers

Note: This transcription has been generated with AI and there may be errors present. 

 

So when you first walk into a retail shop, what does the shop assistant sating? Well, they say, How can I help you? And what does everyone say? They always say, oh, no, I’m fine. I’m just looking. And that’s the first thing. They always say, Well, they say, Can I help you? No, I’m just looking and ends the conversation there. And it’s a really fascinating thing that all of the big shops in shopping centres asked that question in retail, and it tends to end the conversations with their clients. My name is Alan Donegan. I’m from pop up business school. And this video is all about asking smarter questions of your clients, to engage them in conversation, whether you’re in a retail shop, whether you’re running a business, and you’re going in and consulting, it doesn’t matter what it is, if you ask a smarter question, you can engage your client in a different way, and bring them into the conversation. So what could you ask your client when they walk into a shop, so you could ask them how they are, that will get a completely different response to what you’re looking for? You can ask them if they’ve had a good weekend, you can ask them if they’re enjoying the Black Friday sales. You can ask them anything at all that will create conversation. Before you get into what are you looking for? Or is there anything specific you’re after? If you ask a better question, you’ll get a completely different answer from your clients. If you’re in a consulting world, the quality of the question you ask your client will get the quality of answer back. And Simon I have a rule at the pop up business school that the quality of the question you ask is determined by the length of pause the person has, after you’ve asked it. So the question I want to ask you is what questions can you ask your clients whether it’s in a retail store, or anywhere else that will get them thinking and get them engaged in conversation with you. If you ask better questions of your clients, and engage them in conversation, find out about their needs, their problems and what they’re looking for what they’re actually after. You can better serve them and you will get better business. That one retail store. They changed the question they asked clients as they walked in, and increase their sales by 16%. Over the next week. Ask a better question. Get a better result. So we provide videos that give you startup and entrepreneurial advice to help you make money doing what you love. Click subscribe to be made aware of the latest videos and we’ll keep you up to date with how you can build your business and make money doing what you love.