Sharon Drew Morgen - Buying Facilitation

Originally Posted by sharondrew when i hear 'my partners aren't ready right now to make a decision,' for example, it might mean: i am happy but can't get those bums to move, or i am unhappy and blaming others, or we have a huge initiative going on and we can't take our eye off of the ball, or there is a political/personal conflict going on, etc. and we have no way of knowing , but it's obviously stopping the decision process. the FQ i would ask here is: 'what would you and your decision partners need to be doing differently to be ready to align behind a solution?'

Couldn't you also ask a clarifying question (("What does that mean?")) and get the same result?

Originally Posted by Marcus Couldn't you also ask a clarifying question (("What does that mean?")) and get the same result?

Remember that at the top of the the Funnel - the Buying Decision Funnel - NOT the Product Decision Funnel - you are NOT gathering data.

when you ask 'what does that mean?" you are asking for clarification. you absolutely need clarification on the product placement/problem solving/needs analysis end.

at the Buying Decision end, you need NO clarification at all , as there is nothing you need to know. THEY need to know.

go back and look at my FAcilitative Question, and imagine having a mess in your group/company, and see what that question does for your brain in re discovering it's own criteria and what needs to shift.

when you ask an information-pull question like you suggested, you are asking for info on a decision already made. this is VERY important to understand.

Facilitative Questions do NOT pull data: they direct the brain to seek criteria, choices, changes, etc. in those areas that would be responsible for managing change. that's why my programs are so small: teaching people to NOT have information=based, content-based curiousity but to think in systems thinking terms about how decisions get made.

go to my site and have a look around.and somewhere on the site here jeff has put up a pdf file on concepts, etc. of Buying Facilitation. again, when you're asking the question you're asking, you're still gathering data and doing problem solving. i'm suggesting an entirely new skill set is necessary.

thanks for the question.

sd

Originally Posted by sharondrew i have a pdf file that i think jeff just put up that you can print off (3 pages) that lays out the model. it's a decision facilitation tool that is unbiased and uses systems thinking; i've also sequenced the way decisions get made (brain function, etc) and use that to help buyers unravel what needs to happen for them to decide, using their own criteria.

The 3-page PDF File can be found here: Buying Facilitation: Features, functions and benefits

Sharon Drew Morgen is one of the most advanced thinkers and strategists in the field of selling.

If you are ready to act rather than contemplate; if you are ready to take a giant step in your career, instead of baby steps, learn from her.

In the interview step what is the desired outcome of using facilitative questions? Is it to have the customer reevaluate their thinking?

Can you plz let me know what you mean by 'interview step'?
Who is interviewing who? and for what reason?

All of Buying Facilitation (and remember, it is used before conventional sales models are used) is about helping the buyer make the necessary internal decisions to figure out how to align and manage the people/rules/roles/politics/history that got them where they are now and that might potentially need an additional resource.

Since Facilitative Questions are posed to help the brain expand possibilities, they never 'interview'. They are actually a decision support tool. So it's the different between: Who are your vendors now? and How will you and your decision team know when it's time to add a new vendor to the resources you are currently using?

So it's not to reevaluate their thinking but to help them align all of the elements that would need to go in to the decision to do something new/different. Remember that everything within their current system (the people, rules, relationships, politics, etc.) conspire to maintain their status quo and will continue to do so until something changes. We can't know what that 'something' is as we are outsiders. But we can sure help them figure it out much more quickly than they would doing it on their own.

They have to figure stuff out before they buy your product or face internal disruption if all of the necessary 'powers that be' aren't on board. They can do this with you or without you. Facilitative Questions are tools that bring the decision elements together. So in the above question in re vendors, it brings together the decision team, the new necessary choices, the criteria that will need to be developed or decided upon, the juxtaposition of a new vendor vs an established/known/loved vendor.

Normal questions seek data on decisions already made. They don't move the client forward in their decision, just extract data for the use of the seller. Facilitative Questions teach clients how to make their best decisions.

Hope this helps. It's a different concept, I know... but it works.
sd

Originally Posted by Sharon Drew Morgen Can you plz let me know what you mean by 'interview step'? Who is interviewing who? and for what reason?

Prior to presenting a solution I sit down with customers and ask them questions to get an idea of what it is they want and how to help them get it. That is the interview step for me.

Originally Posted by Sharon Drew Morgen Normal questions seek data on decisions already made.

This is close to what I was thinking. If you ask for the answer then that's all you get but if you ask a question that gets them to rethink or reformulate the answer you might do better.

Very close, Houston. Even more amazing, the Facilitative Questions actually teach them to THINK THROUGH all of the issues they may not have been aware of.

Conventional questions just pull data from a decision already made.

Facilitative Questions teach them how to organize all of the 'bits' that need to go into their next decision.

cool, right?! but it's necessary to take care and have no bias. That's why I developed the sequence to how decisions actually get made.

You might want to get my book Buying Facilitation: the new way to sell. It's explained there... the sequence is based on how their brain thinks and the route the brain takes to make new decisions.

sd

Originally Posted by Sharon Drew Morgen Very close, Houston. Even more amazing, the Facilitative Questions actually teach them to THINK THROUGH all of the issues they may not have been aware of.

Are the facilitative questions created on the fly or do you have a model for creating the questions or are the questions pretty much predetermined?

Hi again, Houston (and, since I live in Dallas, it's fun addressing you as Houston..):

Since I never know how someone will respond, or where they need to make their next decision (and every Facilitative Question leads to some sort of decision as the brain goes from one decision point to the next on the way toward a final decision), it's impossible to make scripts. Not only that, the FQs are interspersed with Presumptive Summaries and Agreements....

The FQs are part of my entire Buying Facilitation Method process.
I teach people how to formulate them in a classroom and coaching. That's what I do for a living.

Once folks learn how to listen through a Systems filter rather than a Content filter, they are easier to formulate but still need practice. And OH, do i wish it were easy. But think of it as learning to play tennis, or learning a new language. Just takes a few weeks of practice and then you've got it.... Difficult mainly cuz we've never been taught to think that way.

So - yes, on the fly, they follow the sequence of decision making, and never scripted, and can be learned.

The book Buying Facilitation will get you to understanding how to listen, the explaining the system behind them, and that's a good start. Won't get you all the way there (i cannot get you there without coaching/training any more than you could learn a new language totally on your own) but it will make a good start.

Good luck, Houston. Let me know if i can help you learn.
sd