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Plan your rescue question
It was rush hour and I was travelling on a packed intercity train and in the opposite seat was a young couple with a toddler who was causing all sorts of commotion. The poor young couple were very embarrassed. The carriage was stony quiet except for the toddler and everyone was staring at the young couple.
Along came the conductor to check tickets and to the rescue she came. She soon realised how uncomfortable the couple were so offered to head back to the buffet car where they had some special toddler packs containing colouring pencils and picture books. The couple were even more self-conscious being asked a question until the elderly chap next to me said “Oh can I have one as well please?”
He laughed followed by everyone else and the icy tension quickly thawed.
He had rescued the situation with some quick thinking and humour.
This made me think about sales meetings and the need to have one or two questions up your sleeve as rescue questions. When the situation gets tricky – maybe your customer has said something that completely throws you or your laptop crashes right in the middle of the presentation – most of us can’t think quickly enough to come out with an appropriate response so have one pre-prepared. It’s here that you can use your rescue question to get you out of the tricky mess.
Here are a few ideas:
* “That’s a good point – can we park that and come back later”
* “Tell me about your year so far”
* “What major changes are you implementing this year?”
So memorise some rescue questions just in case – you never know when they’ll come in handy.
And the toddler? Sure enough the toddler pack did the trick but only for ten minutes. I felt very sorry for the couple but reached for a 21st century gadget to get me out of bother – my iPod and drowned out the noise.
Along came the conductor to check tickets and to the rescue she came. She soon realised how uncomfortable the couple were so offered to head back to the buffet car where they had some special toddler packs containing colouring pencils and picture books. The couple were even more self-conscious being asked a question until the elderly chap next to me said “Oh can I have one as well please?”
He laughed followed by everyone else and the icy tension quickly thawed.
He had rescued the situation with some quick thinking and humour.
This made me think about sales meetings and the need to have one or two questions up your sleeve as rescue questions. When the situation gets tricky – maybe your customer has said something that completely throws you or your laptop crashes right in the middle of the presentation – most of us can’t think quickly enough to come out with an appropriate response so have one pre-prepared. It’s here that you can use your rescue question to get you out of the tricky mess.
Here are a few ideas:
* “That’s a good point – can we park that and come back later”
* “Tell me about your year so far”
* “What major changes are you implementing this year?”
So memorise some rescue questions just in case – you never know when they’ll come in handy.
And the toddler? Sure enough the toddler pack did the trick but only for ten minutes. I felt very sorry for the couple but reached for a 21st century gadget to get me out of bother – my iPod and drowned out the noise.
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