Awhile back, I had lunch with a dear friend who I used to work with many years ago.
I’ve often told her the story about when I first met her, I tried to avoid her.
Why?
Because I thought she was nosy and asked too many questions.
She asked me about my family.
She asked me about my work.
She asked me probing questions that required me to give more in-depth answers than I had the time for.
Turns out, she is a people person and is naturally curious. She wanted to get to know me on a deeper level beyond “How are you?” Who could fault her for that, right?
Asking questions is a running theme of my year so far.
Why you should ask more questions
Last week, I listened to Brooke Castillo’s podcast on Super Thinking where she challenges you to seek the answers within yourself by asking questions (you have more answers within you than you realize).
Her podcast led me to Tony Robbins’ book, Awaken the Giant Within, where he has a whole chapter devoted to “Questions are the Answers.”
Asking leads to listening, serving
And then in my weekly coaching session, my coach, went over the importance of asking the right questions. By asking questions, he said, it forces you to think, and the more you think, the more answers you are able to come up with for yourself. He also stressed that asking questions puts you in a listening and serving position to serve yourself and your customers better.
As you serve your members and audience, are you asking the right kind of questions to deliver answers that address your customers needs and challenges? As my coach suggested, start with the end in mind (that point reinforces one of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective by Stephen Covey. Habit No. 2 is Begin with the End in Mind).
So this week, I created a checklist of questions to ask a client before beginning any project or creating any content to help create a more thoughtful, effective and quality process. If you’d like a copy of those set of questions, contact me, and I would be glad to share them with you.
And as I learned from my friend, by asking great questions, you get more meaningful answers and build deeper connections with you audience.
