“Applied Curiosity” Top 4 Best Practices

DEAN: 

 

Yesterday, my mentor Joe and I were on the phone

sharing our learning’s from the past week
and Joe said the most amazing thing:
“Clarity comes from Curiosity.”

Whoooaaaaa… 
That moment when you hear Truth.

As Joe and I talked more we realized that 

every top salesperson we know 
every wildly successful entrepreneur we know
have one thing in common–
they are incredibly Curious.

They are driven to seek the answers 
to an unending series of 
“Why…?” and “How…?”  and “What if…” questions.

 

Here are 4 Best Practices you can use 

to apply curiosity to generate higher sales volumes 

and make more of a difference for your customers:

 

 

If we want to achieve success 

we have a Duty to the people we serve
to be Curious.

Applied Curiosity is the Secret to Making a Difference
…in every area of human endeavor.
Doctors can only cure if they are Curious:
constantly seeking the answers to “Why?” and “How?”

Nowhere is this truer than in Sales.
Your level of success in sales 
is directly proportionate
to your level of Applied Curiosity. 

 

No matter the product or service being sold

The more you learn about your customer

the bigger the difference you will be able to make.

You must acknowledge this fact:
You have Permission to be Curious

Explicitly Give Yourself and your Team 

Permission to be Curious.

 

Curious does not mean “pushy.”
Curious is defined as:
“a strong desire to know or learn something.”

 

I spent last week in Amsterdam with my daughter, Devon

and learned that Vincent van Gogh 

only sold one painting in his lifetime. 
Which was bad for him.

But it is good for us–because his brother Theo 

kept the other 200 paintings together;
and those paintings now form the basis 
(with all of Vincent’s letters to Theo)
of the VAN GOGH MUSEUM. 

 

 

Vincent’s big discovery (as told through his letters) was this: 

Color is not about the color you paint;
Color is about the color you paint next to that color.
(This concept also has direct application to sales

check out my 1-min video on Perceptual Contrast)

 

Vincent was intensely curious as to how to make 
his colors more brilliant than those achieved 
by any other Artist.

And people were shocked by what he created.

His yellows look more yellow because of the color 

he placed next to that yellow. 

Vincent’s blues are a different blue than any other artist
had ever created because of what he put next to that blue.

 

By the way:

The last van Gogh painting that came up for sale

sold for $90 Million.

Be Curious: 

All great achievers are curious. 

Great artists. Great leaders. Great Vistage Chairs.
…in every industry what they have in common 
is an unending curiosity. 

 

 

“Why? Where? When? How?” are all Discovery Questions.

Consultants and Attorney’s call the most important part 

of their process “Discovery”.

What a wonderful word: “Discovery”.
Think of each client as a New World of their own.

Every inbound call is a New World.

Every problem to be solved is a world to be discovered.

We have all been referring to questioning 
in the sales process as PROBING. 
Who the hell wants to be PROBED? 

(I turned 50 yesterday, Not Me!) 

Discovery allows things to be REVEALED. 

Everyone sits up when asked a question that begins 
“Can I ask you something… because I’m curious…“
(They are INTERESTED in me! What a Compliment!)

 

“I’m curious, can you share with your Team 

why you thought I might be able to help to them?”

Curiosity allows THEM to say it.
Curiosity allows YOU to go DEEPER.

Curiosity is the difference between 

Top Performers and the Mediocre Performers 

on every sales team I have analyzed.

The Greatest Curiosity questions cause 

the person you’re asking to be curious themselves.