When I was in grade school, I’m not sure how old we were taught about the “W”‘s of telling a story. These consisted of Who, What, When, Where, and Why and also How. These were considered the building blocks of writing a story, especially when it comes to reporting on events and happenings.
If you could provide the answers to these questions and explain those answers, your “reporting” could be done in a very well-rounded story or article. We were also asked to analyze existing articles and pick apart the answers to each of these to discover how the author chose to present the answers to these questions.
If you have been reading this blog, last week’s post was about encouraging your clients to talk about themselves and their situation in order to get to know them better. See: Taming the Relationship.
So how do you do this without it sounding like an interrogation and more of a discussion? I will answer this with the same statement I used last week:
Be Genuinely Curious
Don’t let a statement your client says lie there as a loose end. I have seen where a designer knows their client wants a new space and understands what they want, but not why they like it, or where they got their inspiration from. Be an investigator and investigate further, dig deeper, and be curious. By doing so, you will most likely discover reasons why you might suggestions one product or brand over another.
In author Lee Salz’s most recent book Sell Different, he calls this asking “Vertical Questions” vs. asking “Horizontal Questions.” Horizontal questions tell you the “What”, but not the “Why”.
In the Kitchen Design world that I am a part of, many designers are focused on “forward” questions, such as:
“Why are you redoing your kitchen?”, “How long do you plan to stay in your home?”, “How do you plan to use your new space?”, “What turns you off the most about your current kitchen?”, and a very important question also (but sometimes forgotten), “Is there anything you specifically like about your current kitchen?” These questions will all help you to uncover your client’s motivation behind their wish to remodel. You will find out what drives them the craziest about their space, some of the elements they may want to keep, and sometimes that they just feel their space needs a “facelift”.
Sometimes though, designers shy away from the deep dive questions that will help them determine the best choices for their client. The information you need to better accomplish this can typically only be discovered through “backward-looking” questions. This is where your genuine curiosity will pay off. “Have you ever remodeled a kitchen in the past?” If yes, what was the experience like? Did things go smoothly, what was the experience like?
When you strike upon a topic that you feel is unique or that can be insightful for the project, to find out more, simply ask for more. “That’s really interesting, tell me more about that.”
It is also not that hard to present these questions conversationally so it doesn’t sound like an interrogation. All this takes is a little practice. For example, if my client says they have been in their current home for anything less than 10 years, I always like to ask where they lived prior to that. “Oh really, did you like living there?”, “That must have been an interesting place to live”, etc. When I get the answer to this, if they didn’t include it in the answer, I ask what inspired them to move.
It is simple conversations like this that can help you to understand the perspective of your client. You will discover many things about your client and their life that can help guide you in making recommendations and justify why you believe them to be best.
Thanks for reading, please subscribe and share.
As always, your comments and thoughts are welcome!