 April 21, 2010 Vol. II, Issue 20 Published the 2nd and 4th Thursday of every month. You are on our list because you signed up for this ezine. To change your subscription, see link at the end of this email. Sign me up for this ezine.In This IssueWelcome to the ezine for women leading direct sales teams. - A Note from Marcy Please add mstahl-ezine@aweber.com to your whitelist or address book in your email program, so that you have no trouble receiving future issues! Problems viewing this in your email program? Read it online. Note from Marcy To hold the book in my hands and feel the stiff glossy cover - it's heaven! I've always wanted to be a writer, although my original goal was to write something like Nancy Drew mysteries - I loved her blue convertible and her housekeeper. Now my childhood dream is being realized, in a different way, and it feels pretty darn good! We co-authors will be doing a series of calls to support women in direct sales; more details to follow on that. Best wishes for YOU to live out your dreams! Marcy Stahl Upcoming Events4/26/2010, 2pm ET - Ever notice how your energy level affects your mood and your productivity? Join Lynn Smith and Debbie Schroeder on the f*ree Becoming Considerably Huge telesummit, as they speak on You've Got to Feel Your Best to Achieve Your Best. Register at http://www.becomingconsiderablyhuge.com/ 4/29/2010, 2pm ET- April's f*ree monthly teleclass is "The Invisible Referral: How Your Customers Can Attract New Customers for You, Without Even Realizing It!" Register at http://www.marcystahl.com/teleclasses/ Feature ArticleAre You Asking Powerful Questions
You ask powerful questions.
You ask powerful questions. Let's look at how to use powerful questions with prospects, customers, or team members. The same principles mostly apply to you and your personal relationships, with the important caveat that your loved ones may not want you to be in a coaching role with them, so personal conversations need to be framed differently. Let's assume a team member is having a problem, or perhaps a prospect is wondering how to move forward with their goals. How tempting to jump in and rescue them! You are a helping person, with experience, and quite possibly you KNOW the answer. Instead, this is a great time to help your conversation partner grow and expand their abilities and feel the joy that comes with developing a little more self-growth muscle! Successful leaders help their team members develop their own abilities; they don't act or think for them. The same goes for coaches as well as parents and spouses. Take a step back, so you are observing and guiding, not acting. Check your mindset. Get very curious. Realize that you may not know the answer. Be a learner, not a judger. Drop out of the teacher mode and into a co-creator or observer mode. Aim to speak less than your conversation partner, and when you do speak, to ask more questions than you make statements. First, ask questions about WHAT they're trying to do, so both of you are both clear about their objective. Next, it's often useful to revisit WHY they want that. What's the bigger picture around this objective? What is it going to create in their life? What does it allow them to do? This may have 2 or 3 layers to it, as they expand from the ACTION to the BENEFIT, from the most literal level to a deeper, more intimate emotional level. What got in the way? What are the alternatives? Sometimes they don't have enough information about how to do something, which often happens around technology. Great questions: What are some ways you can find that information? Who do we know who knows about that? Where can you go to find out more? Sometimes, it's a relationship issue; they're having problems with another person who's involved in the objective. What are some possible reasons for the other person's behavior? Those answers often lead into possible solutions. Is there a way to move forward whether or not the other person is involved? Sometimes, your conversation partner is stopping herself. Look for limiting beliefs and old stories here. Start by asking questions about how it feels where they are. How do you feel now, when you think about your current situation? There needs to be some awareness of the pain of being stuck there, because that's going to give them energy and resolve to move forward. What are the alternatives? How would it feel if you were in the opposite situation? Again, this may have multiple layers worth exploring. For example, if you're recruiting more and have more money, what would you do with it? What would change for you? The answer may be about financial security, about family, or about personal development. Whatever it is, it needs to be something that is personal and specific to them, and connects with one of their core values. With your team, modeling problem-solving and how to get unstuck by using questions helps your team members learn a powerful strategy they can use with themselves AND with their own recruits. That's a win-win! When you guide prospects and customers through their own question and answer process, they sell themselves. They have aired their concerns and then convinced themselves about what they want to do. Great questions are open-ended; they can't be answered with a yes or no. Unlike a spelling test, there may be multiple "right" answers. I recently heard an entrepreneur describe the question that created his business. He had been successful in sales, then he went on a deep spiritual journey, and years later, asked himself: How can I integrate spirituality into sales? What a powerful question! His answers led him to create his current business. More examples of great questions, which work whether the subject is I or YOU, include:
When you ask powerful questions, you help your conversation partner have an "aha" moment, where they discover the answer and they feel it. This is 100 times more powerful than you telling them the answer. What a wonderful gift to share with someone! Call to ActionTry this approach with at least one person, every day, for a week. Keep track of the response you're getting from each conversation partner. And keep track of how you feel at the end of the conversation. I'm confident good things will happen!If you're looking for ways to connect more powerfully and deeply with prospects, so that they actually become your client, instead of just thinking about the idea, I'd be happy to discuss your system for converting prospects into clients. We can easily set up a complimentary 30-minute Success Strategy Session for you. We'll discuss your business goals, what's getting in your way, and how to move you forward starting right away.Just email info@marcystahl.com and we'll schedule a time that's good for both of us. About MarcyMarcy Stahl is an entrepreneur whose purpose in life is helping women entrepreneurs achieve world domination, by earning more money and creating more decision-making power. Because the world will only be a better place when more women are in charge! She effectively guides her clients to move from struggle and lack, to abundance and ease, by creating effective systems and marketing strategies. She uses this same powerful success system to help direct sales consultants improve their recruiting and leadership skills. To learn more about her services, visit http://www.marcystahl.com/contact-marcy.html and sign up for your free 30-minute Marcy Stahl Success Strategy Session (and get great free resources, too!) Your FeedbackI’m always interested in your feedback on the topics in this ezine. I’d be delighted to hear from you about your experiences as they related to any of our ezine topics, your thoughts on the ezine itself, as well as topics you’d like to see in future issues. Send an email to ezine@marcystahl.com and let me know what’s on your mind. I appreciate your perspective. If you know other women entrepreneurs who want to THRIVE, instead of simply surviving, please forward this newsletter to them. I respect your privacy and do not give out or sell our subscribers’ names or email addresses. Copyright © 2010 Marcy Stahl |