I never get hired for the answers I give.

I heard this quote at the SIOR Global World Conference where Lisa was a keynote speaker and wrote it down. It sounded true—for the future.

But back home over the following weeks, I realized that we were winning Clients based on asking the right questions right now. Yes, I (typically) knew the answers to the questions—I know the marketplace, so I know parts of their business, where they should locate, who the partners should be and (sometimes) which buildings would work.

And I knew that Clients didn’t want to / weren’t ready to hear that. First, they wanted to be heard and to participate in a process for them to discover the answers. Second, they wanted a partner who understood their situation and could fill in the gaps on the additional information they needed.

Questions convey that. Not just questions, but the right questions. And I’m still learning. The more I learn the better my questions get.

What are some of the right questions you use/have heard?