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HIGH AQ

The elevated answers blog.
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Selling to the Board

2/24/2022

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The foundation of High AQ is the ability to provide six answers (High AQ Practice 1).  My AQ is a series of articles that feature business executives that provide six answers to important topics and questions.

Jason Langford Brown used AQ to help a 20-year-old big ticket project management company sell to the board of an international resort.  Engineers at the client firm were tasked with presenting to the board, something they were not comfortable doing.  Jason helped his client develop six answers the engineers used to answer pressing why-, what-, and how-questions.  The result... the engineers won the deal and two others from the same client valued at $2.5 million in total fees.  They are also now discussing more than 10 additional projects.

Each answer by itself relates to a specific question. If you take all the answers together, it is the cumulative and reinforcing aspect of the answers that communicate the value proposition of a selling organization. The AQ framework provided the engineers important preparation for a board level conversation as well as a dynamic tool to help them adjust their answers as the conversation naturally shifted to different types of questions.
WHAT is your service?
WHY should we buy from you?
HOW do we work with you?
WHAT is your service?
Concept
Metaphor
Concept
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WHAT is your service?
​It was important to distinguish two key concepts: project management vs. project leadership.

The competition was focused upon project management which involves doing "what you are asked to do."  

Project leadership is being able to adapt to changes and bring expertise to achieve the best possible results.
Metaphor
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WHAT is your service?
​To distinguish themselves from their competitors two metaphors were used. First, the competitors were described as a railroad, good at making sure the trains run on time.

Trains are fine if you know the stations in between and the final destination. But building a multimillion dollar resort is not straightforward and changes occur. 

Instead, Jason's clients navigate the stormy sea. A story sea requires dynamic changes.  This requires leadership.  There will be unforeseen rocks and storms, you need a captain to navigate the seas.

These two metaphors contrasted project management (the railroad) vs. project leadership (the story sea).
WHY should we buy from you?
Theory
Story
Theory
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 WHY should we buy from you?

​The theory is:

Project Leadership → Maximization of Lifetime Value

For example, if $150 million dollars is put in and the investors are not just interested in the value of a project at the end. But the yield throughout the lifetime of the investment is important.  Project leadership, not project management, is required to maximize lifetime value.
Story
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WHY should we buy from you?

The selling organization had many case studies.  The key was to identify those case studies that most closely aligned with maximizing lifetime value by showcasing project leadership.

A half-dozen case studies were pulled out for relevance in different ways (similiar geography, similiar kind of resort, etc).

Having the six examples gave the engineers the initial confidence going into the meeting they would have stories on point.

HOW do we work with you?
Procedure
Action
Procedure
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HOW do we work with you?

The client had a clear 5-step process for ongoing project leadership.

Step1: Envision
Step 2: Clarity
Step 3: Challenge
Step 4: Delivery

Step 5: Future Proof 
(return to step 1)
Action
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HOW do we work with you?

The engineers communicated to the board key actions that differentiated them in the marketplace as project leaders.

For example:
  1. As Leaders they not only challenge the project teams, but also their clients, to deliver on the project goals that are collectively established.
  2. As Leaders they assume the role of advocates of client goals and funds by providing detailed project accounting processes that ensure accurate and transparent reporting.
  3. As Leaders they manage communication of project RISK.  All projects have levels of risk that need to be navigated and directed.  They have weekly and monthly reporting of exposure and risk that keep stakeholders updated.
  4. As part of the Evaluation Phase on every project, as Leaders they visualize the project before they release the design team and execute.  It becomes their commitment to the project stakeholders and a road map to successful completion.
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Featured AQ Articles

9/19/2021

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​Note: this list was created on 9/19/21 and is updated with new articles as they are released.

Featured AQ Articles

  • Title: Every CEO knows how to ask questions - but can they answer them correctly?
    Source: HR Director
  • Title: Three reasons answers are more important than questions
    Source: Mindtools
  • Title: Questions are for curiosity. Answers are for Influence.
    Source: Forbes
  • Title: Have you forgotten how to have meaningful conversations?
    Source: Association of MBAs
  • Title: Transform you leadership style with better answers
    Source: Decision
  • Title: AQ 101: Simple tips to help you get better at answering questions!
    Source: Irish Tech News
  • Title: Four lessons in leadership from Star Wars
    Source: Forbes
  • Title: Five things you need to be a highly effective leader during turbulent times
    Source: Authority Magazine
  • Title: All the tools you need to give the best answers
    Source: We Are The City
  • Title: The psychology of questions and answers for sales reps
    Source: ASLAN
  • Title: All the tools you need to get the best answer
    Source: London News Today












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Featured AQ Podcasts+

9/19/2021

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​We created a list of all AQ podcasts, webinars, and other recorded events that feature Dr. Glibkowski talking about Answer Intelligence (AQ)™.
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​Note: this list was created on 9/19/21 and is updated with new events as they occur.

Recorded Events

Podcasts

Previously Live Events

The Power of Answers: How to Raise your Answer Intelligence (AQ)
​Dion Leadership Webinar
LinkedIn Live with Mohamed Sharaf Eldin
Answer Intelligence for Leaders - with Dr. Brian Glibkowski
LinkedIn Live with Chris White
Answer Intelligence for Sales - with Dr. Brian Glibkowski

TEDxGeorgiaTech

AQ was introduced to the world at TEDxGeorgiaTech.

"Answer Intelligence: Raise Your AQ" Book Launch

Future Events

Podcasts

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Book Dr. Glibkowski for your next podcast, webinar, or keynote presentation.
Learn more
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The Six Answers of Caring

6/25/2021

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The foundation of High AQ is the ability to provide six answers (High AQ Practice 1).  My AQ is a series of articles that feature business executives that provide six answers to important topics and questions.

Jim Naro is a Predictive Index Partner and Business Partner of Customer Centric Selling. Jim cares about his clients. So often caring is an empty-phrase.  Not for Jim. He has six answers to demonstrate he cares for his clients.

Each answer by itself relates to a specific question. If you take all the answers together, it is the cumulative and reinforcing aspect of the answers that communicate authenticity.

WHAT is caring?
WHY is caring important?
HOW do I care?
WHAT is caring?
Concept
Metaphor
Concept
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WHAT is caring?

​For Jim, caring is a concept that consists of four dimensions:  
  1. Long-term orientation: If you care about someone you want to be there for long-haul.
  2. Investment orientation: Your first instinct is to help others and you provide a lot of support. 
  3. Trust: You can be relied upon by others.
  4. Broad relationships: You care about someone personally and professionally.


Metaphor
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WHAT is caring?

In sales, the metaphor of "land and expand" is used (particularly internally).  Or the metaphor of "hunters" or "farmers" is used.  When you hunt, the herd is diminished and an unaware being is shot dead. This is the opposite of caring. 

Jim's metaphor is consistent with farming: "plant and grow." But, he is passionate about trees, and that is where he locates his metaphor. He has different species in his yard. He likes to see them grow.  The metaphor is authentic.​
WHY is caring important?
Theory
Story
Theory
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WHY is caring important?

​Jim's theory is....

Caring → Job Performance

Caring is important because it increases job performance. Theory is often subtle.  Jim realizes he cares about increasing performance. Connecting caring to a work outcome separates caring from personal life.  Often it is easy for a caring-relationship at work to digress to friendship or enjoyment, and the focus on performance is lost.

Jim is goal oriented, but he does this through developing relationships with customers, not focusing on transactional projects.



Story
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WHY is caring important?

​Jim can tell several stories of caring that demonstrate the importance of caring to those he works with.  

It started on Campus (story): Jim is a college professor at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), where he teaches Sales Leadership. He was working with students to equip them for sales roles in the workplace. In order to help these students he became certified in Predictive Index (PI) so he could use this resource with his students.  He had no intention of selling PI as a consultant.  By servicing his students, it eventually led to learning about PI and ultimately wanting to share PI with his business clients. 

The moral of the story is that caring is at the center of what he does and the solutions he uses in business have others' interests at heart.
HOW do I care?
Procedure
Action
Procedure
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 HOW do I care?

Jim has both broad and specific procedures to care for his clients. The broad journey he goes on with his clients consists of three steps:

 
Step 1: Questionnaire.  He asks questions about the person and the organization.  When you care about someone, you focus broadly.


​Step 2: Boots on the ground.  Many consultants provide guidance only.  Jim cares so he participates on sales calls with clients, and conducts talent strategy sessions.

Step 3: What else can we work on? Often a cliché, consultants want to land and expand.  But, in a caring relationship, getting involved in more aspects of the relationship is a natural outcome.
Action
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HOW do I care?

Actions are used to implement each step of a procedure. 

Jim only provides solutions the client needs.  There are so many layers to complex sales.  Jim starts small and he realizes that a relationship will grow over time (see Procedure step 3).

It is tempting to say every consultant provides what the client needs.  But the reality is that many consultants care more about themselves than the client.
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Interview AQ in the Movie "The Circle"

4/26/2021

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In this scene several aspects of AQ are demonstrated.  First, the interviewee must navigate question-recognition to determine if the question asked is a what- or how-question.  Next, the interviewee must provide the right answer.  When she finally does, she gets the job (spoiler alert). ​
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Transform Leaders into In-House Trainers using Answer Intelligence (AQ)â„¢

3/4/2021

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Why use In-house leaders as trainers?

With no stop in sight, a trend is to use In-house leaders as trainers.  For example, Merck & Boeing regularly use leaders as trainers (see endnote 1). Merck partners leaders as trainers with academic faculty to co-teach classes, and Boeing vice presidents teach 2+ leadership classes a year.  Teaching the classes is part of the performance evaluation for vice presidents. There are several benefits of using leaders as trainers: ​​
  • Leaders are subject matter experts, and are in the best position to convey important knowledge used on the job.
  • The perceived meaningfulness of the content increases with leaders as trainers by virtue of their standing in the company.
  • Post training transfer increases because leaders as trainers are more committed to the training (because they delivered the content!).  Subsequently, during the important post-transfer period, leaders are more likely to provide opportunities to use learned skills and incorporate the training into ongoing coaching.
  • The elusive goal is to become a learning organization. Using leaders as trainers, the culture of learning is deepened as learning becomes everyone responsibility (not just the L&D staff).
  • Leaders as trainers also can be dovetailed with leadership development to achieve two objectives at once.

Preparing leaders to become trainers is challenging 

According to to the Association for Talent Development (atd) (see endnote 2), it takes 38 hours on average to develop 1 hour of face-to-face training.  The time burden increases in the online environment to 42 hours for passive instruction, and over 110 hours for active instruction that use scenarios for role playing.

Teaching a course is difficult, made more difficult if a leader does not have experience as a trainer. Leaders (as do-ers) have done it, but they may not be self-aware of how they succeeded in ways that others can follow. Or leaders may mistake training as a forum to just tell stories. These and other challenges confront the leader, who is all too often an inexperienced trainer.  To address this inexperience, train the trainer programs are designed to educate leaders on how to be an effective trainer.  The list of topics covered in the typical train the trainer program is long:
  • Facilitation Skills (facilitate a group conversation)
  • Training Design (objectives, learning styles, schedule, agendas)
  • Group Facilitation (involvement and engagement, group dynamics)
  • Presentation Skills (create visual structure and engagement)
  • Learning Theory (adult learning, knowledge, skills, abilities)
  • Experiential Learning (active learning that puts learners in high fidelity experiences)
  • and more…
In summary, transforming leaders into trainers is not easy.  A train the trainer program can last days and dozens of hours at a minimum of a leader’s valuable time.  Not surprisingly, a common push back is that it takes too long. ​

Use AQ to transform a leader into a trainer

If you are like many organizations that have implemented train the trainer programs to develop leaders into trainers, you know time constraints prevent the course you really want to run the leaders through.  Given a premium on leaders’ time, it is important that your train the trainer programs are efficient and effective.

To speed up and make the transformation from leader to trainer, try Answer Intelligence (AQ)™ as a learning framework.  AQ is a new science of answers (story, metaphor, theory, concept, procedure, action) that fully incorporates questions (what, why, how, where, where, who) to reimagine communication.  Put simply, business leaders use questions and answers everyday. The AQ framework codifies an approach toward communicating (and learning) that is fully accepted by leaders.  The framework is simple, (everyone has a basic understanding of questions and answers) requiring minimal time to learn.
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AQ is consistent with well accepted aspects of learning.  For example:

AQ + knowledge. Training is about providing knowledge.  AQ is built upon knowledge.   Specifically, how-questions are associated with procedural knowledge that are addressed with procedure and action answers. What-questions are associated with declarative knowledge that are associated with concept and metaphor.  Why-questions are associated with structural knowledge (cause-and-effect) associated with theory and story.  Appealing to the left-side of the brain, procedure, concept, and theory are associated with objective knowledge (codifiable, exist outside the person).  Finally, appealing to the right-side of the brain, action, metaphor, and story are associated with objective knowledge (often referred to as tactic knowledge that cannot be separated from the experiences).

In sum, AQ is a theory of knowledge that you can use in your next train the trainer session.  For example, you can challenge a leader to distill their theory of “leadership” into a simple cause-and effect diagram. Or encourage leaders as trainers to identify a metaphor to share their experiences into a compact package that others can easily absorb.


AQ + skills. Training is about skills.  Central to skill development is application and role playing.  AQ works very well with role playing exercises.  In fact, question and answer exchange is the heart of most role playing.  Consider a sales role playing, where a sales leader (as the trainer) can ask “Why should I hire you?” or “How does the service work?”  These questions can be answered with AQ.  The application of AQ is a learned skill that relates to 5 High AQ Practices.  For example, Answer Twice is High AQ practice 2 that holds that an important why, what, or how question should be answered twice to make an emotional connection (right-sided answer: story, metaphor, action) and a logical connection (left-sided answer: theory, concept, procedure).  For example, the “How does the service work?” can be answered twice with a procedure and action(s).  The procedure is the steps in a process. Actions are associated with any given step, in terms of best practice or unique actions.  Using the 5 High AQ practices is a skill.  In other words, to Answer Twice requires effective and concise delivery.  

AQ + Learning Styles.  Answer With Style, High AQ Practice 4, holds that every teacher and student has distinct communication styles that impact learning.  Specifically, there are three styles: Relational (preference for story + metaphor), Analytical (preference for theory + concept), and Practical (preference for procedure + action).  If a trainer knows the style of the students, questions and answers can be anticipated and responded to.  Additionally, the teacher should know their own style to amplify strengths and guard against shortcomings. For example, if a teacher has a relational style, a potential gap is avoiding practical or analytical answers needed for learning.
(1) E. Betof, L. Owens, and S. Todd, "The Keys to Success in a VUCA World," T+D (July 2014), pp. 38-43.
(2) R. Defelice, "How Long to Develop one Hour of Training? Updated for 2017" (January 9, 2018) from www.td.org/insights.
If you found Answer Intelligence (AQ)™ an interesting framework, please share this post with others.  Also, try our FREE AQ test to gauge your AQ.
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Personality (DISC®) and Communication: Distinct but Overlapping Circles

2/23/2021

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Tracy L. Baumann is Director of Marketing at The Brooks Group, an award-winning Top 20 Sales Training Company.

This article is part of the High AQ Interview Series where executives, academics, and thought leaders discuss elevated answers.  The following interview is edited for clarity.

DiSC® and Communication

DiSC® is a personality framework that identifies four basic personality types:
  1. Dominance (D): Individuals that overcome the environment to achieve results
  2. Influence (i): Individuals that use enthusiasm and persuasion to shape others
  3. Steadiness (S): Individuals that are dependable and sincere
  4. Compliance (C):  Individuals that are accuracy and quality oriented
 
Dr G: “How do you think DiSC® is related to Answer Intelligence (AQ)™?”

Tracy Baumann: “DiSC® provides a personality profile for others that you need to keep in mind when communicating.  When you speak with a High-D, you want to keep communication short and to the point… No emojis.  In contrast, the High-I wants emojis… they want to use feelings to connect with others. The High-C wants practical and evidenced based information such as charts and graphs.” 

Dr. G: “In contrast to DiSC®, Answer Intelligence (AQ)™ is a communication framework with implications for traits.  Specifically, Answer with Style (High AQ Practice 4) holds that individuals have distinct communication preferences.  The practical style is associated with a preference for procedure and action answers to achieve results.  The analytical style is associated with a preference for concept and theory answers to explain and predict in a complex world.  Finally, the relational style is associated with a preference for story and metaphor answers to emotionally connect.  A big difference between AQ and DiSC® is that with AQ, only 1 of the 5 High AQ practices is focused upon traits, and the other 4 High AQ practices are focused upon question-and-answer principles you can apply across personality types.  For example, if you are asked “Why should I hire you?”, High AQ practice 1 holds you have six answer types to choose from (concept, theory, story, metaphor, procedure, action) and that either a theory or concept answer is most important.”

Tracy Baumann: “I agree.  Regardless of the questions being asked, the AQ styles make sense based upon my experience of how individuals prefer to communicate regardless of the specific questions being asked.  Then, there also is a recognition that every conversation has unique questions that must be effectively answered by all personality types.”

Dr G: “Leaning into the personality core of DiSC®, can you explain how The Brooks Group uses personality as you consult with your sales clients?”

Tracy Baumann: “We use DiSC® to hire the right people for the right positions.  We use it as a reliable source to narrow down the pool of applicants.  Certain personality types fit better for certain roles.  For instance, in sales the typical seller is a High-D and High-I (friendly and relationship oriented, but dominant).  We rarely hire someone in a sales role at The Brooks Group that is not the established benchmarked DiSC® profile. We have made mistakes in the past hiring the wrong person for a role.”

Dr G: “So if you hire on personality traits, how does any given communicator adapt to the unique questions and answers that flow in real time during a conversation? For example, I did a workshop for a sales organization selling enterprise software. In DiSC® terms, you could describe the sales reps as D-I types. In AQ terms, the D-personality related to practical answers (procedure and answers) they would prefer to provide others.  The I-personality related to story and metaphors the sales reps like to use to connect to others.  The problem, as underlined by the sales director at the workshop, was that many of his reps were being asked “why-questions” by senior executives, and the executives wanted strategy answers (theory in the AQ framework) and the sales reps were missing the mark. Often, they would default to answering the why-question by doing a feature and function dump (procedure and action dump in AQ vernacular).  Not responding with the right answer was a big problem.”

Tracy Baumann: “When we teach IMPACT Selling, something we do is teach sellers that whatever your style is, you should approach your prospect or client in neutral and adapt to the person you are communicating with.  In your example, the executives may have preferred analytical communication [theory and concept] and sellers should go to neutral and communicate with answers the executive buyer prefers.  More generally, of course, your point is that personality is not the same thing as communication.  Personality frameworks, like DiSC®, and communication frameworks, like Answer intelligence (AQ)™, overlap, but have distinct implications that stem from their vantage points.

Applying the AQ lens to other aspects of sales and marketing, I’m reminded of buyer personas.  You must have an understanding of the buyer to make sure you are communicating products and services to address their pain points.  Our research department regularly examines the current challenges of sales leaders.  These challenges could relate to questions and answers the buyer and seller exchange in a conversation.  In other words, personas could be mapped to specific questions and answers they provide.  Second, buyers are more educated now, and earlier in the sales process—they have more answers.  There is more of an emphasis in getting the conversation right, right away, or else you are out as a seller.  AQ provides a lens to inform personas.”

Dr G: “Your extension of AQ to personas underscores the general point we have been discussing—different frameworks (personas, DiSC®, Answer Intelligence (AQ)™) each hold different assumptions, principles, and practices about the world that inform unique, but partially overlapping, perspectives about the world.  Personas and AQ are distinct but can inform each other.  In similar terms, DiSC and AQ are distinct, but can inform each other.  DiSC® is a personality framework, first and foremost, and a communication framework second.”

Implications of AQ (a communication framework) for DiSC® (a personality framework)

To close this article, Dr G and Tracy Baumann compiled a short list of communication implications of Answer intelligence (AQ)™ that could inform our understanding of DiSC®.  The purpose of this list is not to provide solutions, but simply to suggest how AQ (a new communication framework) can push our understanding of DiSC® (a personality framework).  If these AQ implications are wrestled to the ground, the effectiveness of communicating to distinct personalities can be improved.

1. Which question types (why, what, how) are most associated with each DiSC® type (Dominance (D), Influence (i), Steadiness (S), Compliance (C))?

2. Which answer types (theory, concept, story, metaphor, procedure, action) are most associated with each DiSC® type?

3. How are questions and answers sequenced over a conversation depending on the DiSC® profiles of the conversation participants?

4. How do the 5 High AQ practices inform our understanding of communication for each DiSC® profile?
​This article suggests at least one High AQ Takeaway.

High AQ Takeaway: Business frameworks are based upon distinct assumptions.  Ultimately, DiSC® is a personality framework with implications for communication.  To better understand DiSC®, it can be combined with Answer Intelligence (AQ)™, a communication framework.  Effective consultants, coaches, and trainers will use multiple frameworks in combination to meet the needs of their clients.  It is important to understand how each framework can inform the other framework, as well as the limitations of any existing framework.
If you found Answer Intelligence (AQ)™ an interesting framework, please share this post with others. Also, try our Sales AQ free test to gauge your AQ.
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Get Sales Role-Playing Right using Answer Intelligence (AQ)â„¢

2/16/2021

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Richard Harris is the Founder of the Harris Consulting Group. Richard teaches salespeople how to earn the right to ask questions, which questions to ask, and when. He is a 5x top 25 inside Sales Professional and strategic advisor.

This article is part of the High AQ Interview Series where executives, academics, and thought leaders discuss elevated answers. The following interview is edited for clarity.

Sales Role-Playing

Dr G: “You are known for your use of role playing during sales training.  How do you conduct role playing?”

Richard Harris:
“There are three steps: First, I teach a key concept. Second, I role play as a salesperson.  Third, the trainees role play as the salesperson.”

Dr G: “It is interesting you start with concept.  I interviewed theatre directors and my stated objective was to better understand the procedures and actions actors used to prepare for their roles and to perform on stage.  To my surprise, the directors shifted the focus away from procedures and actions to concepts.  In short, effective actors need to have an indwelling into concepts that formed the identify of a character.  For example, a character could be “jealous”, a “martyr”, or “honorable.”  It was the actor’s job to understand their character’s motivations and harness that motivation into a performance visible to the audience (as procedures and actions in AQ terms).

Can you give us an example of concepts relevant to a sales role play?”


Richard Harris: “Yesterday I was working with a global organization.  The topic of a difficult negotiator came up.  The client always wants 50% off.  These are sizable deals; each one is worth $200K to $300K.  The client organization is a Fortune 500 brand that has been a client for years.  The buyer is new to his role…. Let’s role play this.”

​Dr G:
“I’m game.”
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​Seller (Richard): “Hi Brian, good to catch up with you.  The goal is to answer your questions regarding your concerns. I want to answer them directly. You have been with us for 10 years.  We want to keep the partnership going. We are going to talk about commercial terms. Is there something else?”

Buyer (Brian): “Thank you, Richard. I know we have had a great relationship. I want to be sensitive to your time.  I really need to get a better deal. We've invested a lot of time and energy in this relationship. I don't want to look elsewhere. I don't want to put this out to bid.  Can you work with me?”
​
Seller (Richard): “The challenge is 50%.  We want to keep working with you. The challenge is that 50% does not feel fair.  I can appreciate your need to be treated fairly.  My question to you…Are you stuck at 50% or is there flexibility?”

Buyer (Brian): “50% is my number.”

Seller (Richard): “I would hate to have you go out to bid.  When you think about going out to bid, have you been able to justify this need in the marketplace?” 

Buyer (Brian): “It’s been over 2 years and a lot has changed, so I really don’t have a good sense of where pricing is at.”

Seller (Richard): “Our pricing is dictated on what the market dictates, not a finance person with spreadsheets. I'm stuck to trying to justify 50%.  How could I do that?”

Buyer (Brian): I'm assuming you have taken a look at the marketplace… can you share the prices with me in the marketplace?  I know you’re trying to get the best deal on your side. I'm trying to do that on my side.  That’s business.”

Seller (Richard): “Yes, business. Not personal. We’re so embedded in 16 depts in your organization.  How long will it take you to scope the project and write the bid, not just bid it out?”

Buyer (Brian): “It will take 4 months, if I'm being realistic.”

Seller (Richard): “Would it just be you, or 3 others from other areas?”

Buyer (Brian): “It would be a few on my side and an analyst devoting a few weeks of work.”

Seller (Richard): “5 people.”

Buyer (Brian): “That is realistic.”

Seller (Richard): Just to scope out the bid, my guess there is more than 40 hours of work per person, 200 hours.  Is that reasonable?

Buyer (Brian): “Yes.”

Seller (Richard): “Then you have to get 3 bids.”

Buyer (Brian): That is our standard practice.

Seller (Richard): “Do you do 1 meeting with each person? Or multiple meetings, including a security review, among others?”

Buyer (Brian): “There will be multiple meeting layers; of course.”

Seller (Richard): “In terms of meeting times that is 10 hours (10 meetings with each vendor).  3 persons on your side with each of these calls.  Every meeting is 30 hours of time.  Then there is another 30 hours after the meeting. We are quickly getting to 500 hours even before we talk implementation.  When we do this, there are 6 months of install (hundreds of hours), and then hundreds of hours (un-installing our solution).

​At this point I broke character because I felt the pressure as my character; the economic impact wheels were spinning in my character’s head. I could sense, in a visceral way, the implausibility of my position as the buyer character. We proceeded to debrief the role-playing exercise.

Richard Harris: “It is all about economic impact.  In the role play, the buyer had a list of 10 things, and his team has 10 things.  All the projects get delayed.  What is the impact of that?  This is the opportunity cost.”

Dr G: “You’re framing the conversation in unobjectionable terms… As a seller, you could have said we can save you $X, but that is not believable (every seller can make these out-of-thin air promises), you have put the costs in terms that the client can see.”

Richard Harris: “That is part of it.  It is not costs, it is opportunity costs and economic value.  In the buyer’s eyes, if things don’t go well, he is on the line. It is a 10-year project.  I’m painting the buyer into a corner.”

Dr G: “This is fascinating.  In AQ terms, which concepts are important to this negotiation?”

Richard Harris: “There are a couple of important concepts.  First, in the setup we discussed a “difficult negotiator.”  It takes two to negotiate. If we start with the seller, we can understand important ideas that are holding the negotiations back.

The seller’s organization had a mandate to ‘never walk away’ from a deal.   This is recipe for disaster. Classic negotiation theory would suggest this is a lose-win orientation [Yielding]. Using the role-play, it illustrated a win-win approach [Problem Solving] by a seller.  Also, the role play demonstrated how to move a buyer from win-lose [Dominating] approach to a win-win [Problem Solving] approach.”
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Dr G: “In AQ terms, you’re pointing out key concepts to avoid, such as Yielding by a seller, and the importance of shifting the seller and buyer both toward Problem Solving.”


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​Richard Harris: “Unless you do role-playing, the salespeople don’t connect in a deep way to things they should change.  Never walk away from a deal [an action in AQ terms] is connected to Yielding [a concept in AQ terms].  To a person, the sales organization might say we don’t engage in “lose-win” negotiating, but that is exactly what they are doing when they have a tunnel-vision tactic like never walk away.  Only in a role play, does the big gap [disconnect between action and concepts in AQ terms] become real to the point they realize they need to change.

Also, I want to point out that as a seller you have to not only be focused on important concepts like Problem Solving, but the most effective sales people will help orient the buyer toward concepts they need to be successful as a buyer, in this case, Problem Solving.   In other words, both the buyer and seller need to focus on Problem Solving.

From my perspective, customers don’t know how to buy.  Customers must be guided and instructed on how to buy your product and service.   In this role-playing, you as the buyer, became oriented toward problem-solving, a key concept.  Thoughtful selling extends beyond concepts associated procedures and actions [answers in AQ terms].  For example, it is not just what you do, but how you do it.  In the prior role play, I painted the buyer into a corner.  But, in terms of how I did it, I could have pulled many other tactical levers.  For example, I did not get into legal costs associated with going out to bid.  So on and so forth, the effective seller gets the actions right.

Finally, I want to make one last point regarding role-playing. I think there is a difference between ‘having a script’ and ‘sounding scripted.’  You want to have a script, but you want to remain authentic.  This means that role-playing forces the conversation to be natural and for the seller to find their own voice.”

High AQ Takeaway: Those with High AQ get role-playing right.
The following points are a summary of what makes for an effective role play in AQ terms.
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  1. Concepts: First and foremost, theatre directors and Richard Harris (a sales expert) both point out that actors embody their characters when they understand key concepts (such as problem solving or yielding) during a negotiation. The purpose of the role play is to surface these concepts and connect them in a meaningful way during a training.
  2. Performance: Skills are applied as a performance art. Accordingly, sales role-playing puts individuals in a position where they must perform. In AQ terms, all of the answers (story, metaphor, theory, concept, procedure, action) must be put into action. This gets to Richard Harris' point of not being "scripted." Each answer must be put into each sellers' own words. Additionally, getting the lines right, timing, and delivery all matter. This requires role-playing and practice.
  3. Context: Although not foregrounded in the prior discussion in AQ terms, Context matters. In the set up for the role-playing, these are important context details that must be established for role-playing to be effective. Additionally, Richard Harris suggests role-playing by discussing an upcoming sales opportunity. When a real-prospect is focused upon (as opposed to a hypothetical prospect), it brings to bear context knowledge -- about the buyer's firm, the buyer herself, and more -- all of which make role-playing conversations realistic and meaningful learning experiences. See High AQ Practice 5 (Answer in Context) for more information.
If you found Answer Intelligence (AQ)™ an interesting framework, please share this post with others. Also, try our Sales AQ free test to gauge your AQ.

Additionally, you are encouraged to learn more about
N.E.A.T. Selling™, a philosophy developed by Richard Harris that is consistent with the role-playing examples discussed in this article.
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Separate the Lies From the Truth During Sales Conversations

2/11/2021

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Tony Cole is the Founder & Chief Learning Officer at Anthony Cole Training Group, LLC. For 27 years, Anthony Cole Training Group has been helping organizations close their sales opportunity gap by helping them sell better, coach better, and hire better.

This article is part of the High AQ Interview Series where executives, academics, and thought leaders discuss elevated answers.  The following interview is edited for clarity.

​All prospects Lie and/or lie

There is a Lie with an upper-case-L that is barefaced and hurtful.  Then there is a lie with a lower-case-l, a lie that is not hurtful, hateful, or deceitful.  We associate the AQ answers (story, metaphor, theory, concept, procedure, action) with the lies (upper + lower case) or truth prospects communicate.  A sales rep can ask, “Why did you agree to this meeting?” The prospect may return with a white lie (withholding a house-on-fire story), or not acknowledging a vendor off-stage (perhaps a capital-L lie).  Of course, lies exist on a continuum between upper-case and lower-case lies.

The following discussion centers upon lies during conversations with prospects and how Answer Intelligence (AQ)™ can help separate the lies from the truth.

Dr G: “There are a lot of question methodologies in sales.  How does AQ add value?”

Tony Cole: “I just conducted a three-hour workshop on the art and science of question asking.  We teach about the importance of effective questions to get the answers you want, but it is great to have a simple visual of questions and answers that can orient a sales rep for their next important conversation.”

Dr G: “Can you give me a specific example of how the AQ framework can help sales reps?”

Tony Cole: “We teach about the importance to know that prospects lie (not hurtful, hateful, or deceitful).  The prospect will provide an answer to meet their objectives as a buyer.  You must understand the motivation of the buyer.  When a prospect agrees to a meeting, it might be because the prospect has a new boss and was asked to investigate the seller’s solution.  The prospect’s intention may not be to buy, but to interpret the seller’s solution using a hidden compare-and-contrast to a favored solution.  Ultimately, although possible to overcome, the outcome on the scales is tipped toward a no.  The prospect ultimately wanted to report back to her boss that she checked out the solution, and her alternative was better.

In this scenario, AQ is valuable because it connects questions to answers so a seller knows which types of answers to expect and how to navigate those answers.  For example, we teach drill-down questions.  Therefore, we could drill-down into a story or procedure [both answers in AQ terms] to get at the truth.”

Dr G: “This is interesting.  It reminds me of the 5-Whys associated with Japanese management approaches.  You ask Why five times and by the 5th time (or sooner), you get to the root cause. Therefore, in AQ terms, if a story is provided by a prospect, a seller can ask Why multiple times to understand it.  In similar terms, if a metaphor answer is provided a seller can ask What multiple times; or a for a procedure answer that is provided a seller can ask How multiple times.”

Tony Cole: “It is important to note that the drill-down can’t be mechanical.  You correctly point out, you may stop after 2 drill downs, but a sales rep that is acting mechanical would always ask 5 drill down questions.  Or, if a seller is provided questions to ask, too often they go through the list of questions in a check list style manner…. What is keeping you up at night?  Why did you contact me?  What is your budget?...  Question fatigue will set in.  This is an example of what we mean by the art of question asking.”

Dr G: “Interesting. Your drill-down questions remind me of the Five High AQ practices and techniques that can be used to gauge the veracity of answers.  For example, High AQ practice 3 is to provide complements. Every given answer can be complemented by adjacent answers.  For example, if a prospect tells a story, a seller can ask a follow up question, “Can you explain the underlying logic of your story?” this would represent a theory answer (in AQ terms).  Or as a seller can paraphrase the buyer’s story as a metaphor.  Both theory and metaphor are adjacent answers, and they help you triangulate the truth of the seller’s answers.  Or you can pivot to any answer type.  At the extreme, if all six answer types (story, metaphor, theory, concept, procedure, action) are covered, which is referred to as the strong form of complementary answers, then you have a complete sense of their true answers.  Lies or half-truths are difficult to maintain across multiple answer types, and naturally give way to true answers as you begin to triangulate all the answers together.”

Tony Cole: “This makes sense.  Also, the AQ framework can be connected to open vs. closed questions.  We discourage closed questions that yield yes, no answers; these are conversation killers.   The six AQ answers are associated with open questions, where you would anticipate a story, metaphor, or any of the six answer types.”

Tony Cole: “What type of answer should a seller be looking for from a prospect?”

Dr G: “Great question. The AQ framework suggests there are 5 High AQ practices, and each practice suggests a different answer type(s) to focus upon. For example, High AQ Practice 1 focuses upon identifying the best answer to a given question. Therefore, if a seller asks, “Why did you take my meeting?” the seller may be interested in a story or a theory as the best answer.  Perhaps, the seller wants a story and its associated richness to start the conversation. High AQ Practice 3, as discussed prior relates to providing complementary answers. In that case, if a story answer is provided by the seller, the buyer would be looking to steer the conversation toward a theory and/or metaphor answer.  Finally, one more example, according to High AQ Practice 4, Answer with Style, a seller would try to identify the answer style of a buyer—relational (preference for story + metaphor), analytical (preference for concept + theory), or practical (procedure + action)—and try to steer the conversation toward the preferred answer preferences of the buyer.

Each of the 5 High AQ answers provides a partially overlapping approach toward identifying the target answer types of a buyer.  Related to your prior point, choose which one of the 5 High AQ practices to focus upon at each point in the conversation, and over the entire conversation, get into the art of communication.”
​
Tony Cole: “There is a place for this. The whole idea… of asking questions in and of itself is a challenge.  AQ makes it easier, when you ask a question, only some categories of answers are possible. The two things, questions and answers, come together in one framework with AQ.”
​This article suggests at least one High AQ takeaway.

High AQ Takeaway: Seller conversations often involve white lies or unfortunately barefaced lies.  Using AQ and the 5 High AQ practices, it is possible for the seller to steer the conversation toward the truth, saving everyone time, building relationships, shortening sales cycles, closing more deals, and perhaps first and foremost just making conversations with prospects more enjoyable.   
If you found Answer Intelligence (AQ)™ an interesting framework, please share this post with others.
​
Try our Sales AQ free test to gauge your AQ.
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    Dr. Brian Glibkowski is the author of Answer Intelligence: Raise your AQ.​

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