Every time you or I decide to buy a service or a product, somewhere in the back of our minds a dialogue takes place. Most of the time if the purchase is small or a commodity we often buy, we don’t even recognize the “self talk” that is going on. But, when it comes to making a major investment that might impact our bank account or our future, the chatter get very loud. And, it usually comes down to one question that we ask ourselves; “does the value of what we are buying outweigh the investment?” Being a visual person, I often think of the old fashioned beam and balance scales when making a major monetary decision. And then visualizing, I put the cost on one side of the scale and what I perceive the value to be on the other. And, the value had better outweigh the cost.

Your customers and clients do the same thing when you ask them to purchase your product, your service or even your ideas. They must perceive (because perception is reality) that what you are offering has enough value to offset their investment. Too many people try to “sell” someone on their ideas without ever having created enough value in the prospects mind.

So the question is, "How do you create value?" You begin by asking questions and listening. That’s why we call our sales and marketing consulting program, "Listen First – Sell Later"™. It’s imperative to find out what people believe they want and need. You ask questions that begin with "Who, What, Why, When, Where and How." Sometimes these are called interrogative questions. I call them Value Development Questions. Or, you may have heard them described as “The Six Honest Serving Men.”

I always hesitate to use the term interrogative because you definitely don’t want to interrogate people. In last months newsletter we talked about the importance of relationships and trust in any kind of sales process. By developing the relationship first, you can maintain a conversational tone while building value. Also, by asking questions and creating value, you will have created enough "weight" on one side of the scale to outweigh the costs and any possible objections. And, remember, never start “selling” and offering solutions until you have really listened and gotten all the answers you need.

By the way, this will work for you whether you are selling multi-million dollar products, professional services, or selling an idea to your children.

The Six Honest Serving Men were memorialized by Rudyard Kipling. Part of a longer poem, these lines comprise part of the epigraph to Kipling’s short story, The Elephant’s Child.”


So, please remember to focus on providing value for your clients by using the Six Honest Serving-Men. And, if you need help in formulating your own Value Development Questions, drop me an email at and I’ll send you some tips on how to create them specifically for your own needs.