• Elementary Questions—Often closed-ended, these questions obtain the other person's
basic information.
Elementary Questions often begin with:
"What is...?"
"When do you ...?"
"Who will be...?"
"How do you currently ...?"
• Elaborative Questions—Usually open-ended, these questions ask the prospect to elaborate on the basic information you've already obtained by considering the
significance of that information.
Elaborative Questions may begin with:
"Which...?"
"How do you feel about...?
"What will it mean to you if...?"
• Evaluative Questions—Usually closed-ended, these questions enable you to check
your progress at different points in the discussion.
Examples of Evaluative Questions:
"Does that make sense?"
"How does that sound to you?"
"Have I addressed your concern?"
The Affinity Diagram is a tool for generating ideas, sorting them into related groups, and labeling the groups in a way that displays the essential nature of a problem.
Using the Affinity Diagrams helps to:
identify missing information about problems and their causes
define complex problems, issues, and situations
identify common themes
To complete an Affinity Diagram, a team should:
Determine the problem to be discussed.
Brainstorm all of the possible ideas, writing each on index cards or self-sticking notes.
Group the causes together with those sharing a common theme.
Create a header card or self-sticking note to summarize each set.
Assume that a Customer Service team was grappling with the following issue:
• poor customer perceptions of product technical support
After much deliberation, the Customer Service team brainstormed the following possible causes:
technical support is not up-to-date on new developments
the telephone system is insufficient for the demand
technical support staff show their frustration to the customers
technical support stall have not been properly trained in communication skills
technical support personnel view the Marketing department as promising more than it can deliver
the product has so many glitches
the reference guide is hard to use
customers call and blame technical support personnel for customer service issues
technical support personnel arc not rewarded based on customer satisfaction
no internet-based technical support available
once technical support personnel start to become effective, they leave
How do we get the kinds of results we would use in our Credibility Statements? From our existing clients, of course. They are an undercapitalized resource for us in so many ways. Here are four areas to test yourself and see how your existing customers know you are giving them value.
1. Reaction: What did they say? Were they satisfied? To what extent? Did you exceed their expectations, or just meet them?
2. Solutions: What did they use? What aspect of your product gave them the results they wanted? How did it work? Which problems did it solve or prevent?
3. Changes: What did they see? How are things different now for your client? What opportunities were created? What are their internal or external clients thinking, saying, or doing differently? What has that allowed them to do?
4. Return: What did they earn? How much did their sales increase? In dollars and percentage change? How does this relate to their business objectives?
When you can help your clients answer these questions, you will have stronger Credibility Statements and more loyalty from existing customers.
