Asking The Wrong Questions

Posted on April 15th, 2007 by Jon - SmartWealthyRich

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Asking The Wrong Questions When you browse through blogs, forums or do some basic research on google, you find a ton of people asking questions, we all have unanswered questions, so why not just ask? But sometimes we ask the wrong questions, and what happens, is that the answers we get are most often than not innaccurate or not exactly precise, or simply not even related to our original question.

Do you sometimes ask the wrong questions? Of course, if you do ask the wrong questions, you probably don’t even know it (if you have a truck load of unanswered questions, and can’t seem to find answers…maybe you are asking the wrong questions) Reason why it’s so important to develop good communication skills if you want to make yourself heard, get your message across, and want people to understand what you want or what your asking.

Here’s a basic list of things you might want to keep in mind when you are discussing with others, be it with business partners, coaches, friends, spouse…etc… A communication is only successful when both the sender and the reciever understands the same thing. Please feel free to add to this post by leaving a comment with your own tips and tricks, that could definetely be benificial to others.

Rephrase in your own words - make sure there is no ambiguity

Keep control of the conversation - avoid getting too much into the details, stay concise and precise

Make good use of moments of silence - people can’t stand silence, and if you stop talking they will keep on talking to make sure you get their point, so you don’t have to ask. (the wrong questions, that is)

Use open and closed questions - of course keep in mind the other points, but asking closed (answered by either yes or no) and open questions (answer should be explanations, details, story) can help narrow down your search.

Be patient, ask the right questions - if you ask the wrong questions you won’t get the answers you’re after (unless that’s what you want hehe)

Conclusion

Those tips can help a lot when dealing that big (or small) contract, it helps getting rid of some of the ambiguities, develop better negociation skills, and can lead to more interesting business, better relationships with the people that hired you, since everyone knows what to expect and it’s all clear and precise. Those can also do real good in personal relationships (where it’s all about good communication skills), when used correctly and appropriately.

Tips and tricks welcome! Do you sometimes ask the wrong questions? Maybe you don’t even know! ;)

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Tags: Business, Life, MLM, Online Business, Relationship, Self-Improvement //

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6 Responses to “Asking The Wrong Questions”

Robin Bal // Apr 15, 2007 at 11:14 pm

Another good one Jon. Answers to questions depends on the questions themselves, if a questions too open you get a two page answer.

I have learnt that the best way to answer a question is with a question itself. For example someone asks, “what happens if this happens?” and my answer would be “what exactly would you want to happen?” this technique helps me to answer to the point.

However there are situations where you have to ask open questions, particularly in a sales call when you need to make the client talk. My favorite open questions is “tell me about yourself?” and he rattles on. Most people think that a salesperson needs to be a good talker but its actually the other way round, he needs to be a good listener.

Cheers mate and take care
Jonathan-C. Phillips // Apr 15, 2007 at 11:20 pm

Hey Robin, letting the other person talk is a really good way of gathering informations (and prepare for closing the sale or something). It shows you have lots of experience with customers bro!
Carol // Apr 16, 2007 at 2:31 am

Been there, done that, and still doing it!
Another great post Jonathan!
Jonathan-C. Phillips // Apr 16, 2007 at 2:35 am

Hey Carol, thanx for replying!
You’re still doing it? asking the wrong question?

From what i know and what i read, you ask pretty good questions! ;)
Shane // Apr 16, 2007 at 3:56 am

Good question Jon, so I Googled “confusing questions”. Here’s what I found:

Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavoring, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons?

I’m not sure I asked Google the right question :)
Jonathan-C. Phillips // Apr 16, 2007 at 4:01 am

haha, well actually you didn’t ask google a question, you entered keywords. But still if you enter your question about the lemon juice thing in google, you can find an answer :) lol