Page 112 - engage workbook

Q&A

How you respond to questions is often more important in determining your chances of
success than any presentation you may make.

When answering questions, the first thing to remember is to try and pause before
responding and organize your thoughts. A properly structured response always scores
over a muddled, rambling one.

Also, aim for three part responses along the lines of

"I can think of three reasons why a move should be good for the business.

First, you've said that speed to market is important, and moving to new premises at
this location will bring you much closer to your key market.

Second, any costs of relocating should be offset by reduced transportation costs.

Finally, you said before that it is hard to recruit staff as people are not keen to work
"out-of-town". Moving closer to the city should help with this challenge."

Think about it:

• 1 part answers – reactive.

• 2 part answers – contrasting, adversarial.

• 3 part answers – considered, comprehensive, persuasive.

• 4 part answers – are you still with us?

In a group setting, there is often a single person who receives the questions.
That person should be careful not to answer all the questions, giving time for
the rest of the team to demonstrate their competence too.

A good approach is for the person receiving the question to announce who
they will pass the question to, before adding a few of their own comments,
thus giving their colleague a few moments to think.

e.g. “Juan is probably best-placed to answer that question, but my thoughts
on it are…”
[then pass over to Juan]

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