Page 44 - Kindness - No Forward

Ask Questions to Aid in Concentration

In person-to-person communication, the individual who asks the most
questions usually controls the conversation.

Questions cause the speaker to pause for an answer while giving the
person asking the question time to think, reflect, and regroup for further
conversation.

However, effective questioning can also improve one’s ability to
concentrate on the speaker. It reflects that you are listening to what is
being said and interested in knowing more.

In a sales seminar, attendees were asked to role play and practice their
questioning skills.

The results were interesting.

While the seminar participants were fairly effective in their questioning
techniques, the questions they asked didn’t probe or take the presentation
anywhere. In other words, the questions were just filling space, using time.
They added nothing to the dialogue or the participants’ mutual
understanding of the issues. But by asking relevant questions, they could
have learned more about each prospect’s need and enhanced the
communication. As it was, they were simply taking up time.