A friend reached out to me last week with a problem. He took on a new job a few months ago, but he’s also building his own business on the side and will likely leave in time—something he was clear about with his employer from the beginning. Here’s where things get tricky: He wants to start posting more content about his business on LinkedIn, but he doesn’t want to upset his employer, who may see his posts.

Not long ago, two colleagues and I found ourselves in an online meeting, cornered by three wildly overzealous sales professionals. They were selling a tool my company was evaluating, and their pitch behavior was so bizarrely unhinged, I half-expected Lorne Michaels to walk in and yell, "Cut! Great rehearsal, everyone!"
Imagine two colleagues and me, being bombarded with obvious, leading questions delivered with over-the-top enthusiasm from a group of aggressive salespeople.

Even if you don’t follow politics, you probably know that there is a Presidential Debate this Thursday evening.  Both candidates are preparing for the debate – albeit it differently – and you could say that because the debate will not have a live audience, there are similarities between the debate preparation and the preparation for an important sales presentation to land a big client.

Knowing how much revenue a potential client could generate is helpful when qualifying a sales opportunity. Knowing their sales potential lets you better assess if that company can afford your offer. If you're dealing with an existing client, understanding their total revenue potential can also help you better assess if there might be additional upsell potential. If you're in the market to buy a company, you might also want to estimate their sales.

“If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask . . . for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.” So said Albert Einstein, arguably one of the greatest minds of modern times.

A good leader will question everything. They will look at things from all angles and won't be afraid to ask tough questions in order to make better decisions. So today, I wanted to share some tips on how to ask better questions to grow your business faster and smarter. Asking questions is a great first step, but if you want to get ahead, you have to ask the right questions.

Times of crisis and terror bring out the worst in some and the best in others. The latter are the stories that need telling. No one could reasonably expect these kinds of largess. Most of us might reasonably wonder whether we could summon the generosity and creativity to emulate such acts of generosity. But a word describing this sort of expansive impulse is this week’s addition to the Ethical Lexicon

The most important aspect of making a sale is also a major weakness of every salesperson: Asking Questions.

It’s an enigma to me. Questions are so critical, you’d think it would be the topic of training every week. Yet salespeople are odds on favorites to have never taken one training program in the science of asking a question.

How critical? The first personal (rapport) question sets the tone for the meeting, and the first business question sets the tone for the sale. That’s critical.