As a business owner, your main goal is to close more sales and generate leads.

You’ve been taught to avoid pitching immediately in the DMs and that asking questions can lead to uncovering pain points and needs.

So you start asking questions that probe, help you to learn more, and spark interest in who you are from the very beginning.

Enter….. “What are your business goals?”

From a Sales perspective, here’s why it’s not effective:

1. You haven’t established connection. Finding common interests using non-business conversations and being human is vital in establishing connection and thus, trust. When you jump right into business talk, it makes you feel less trustworthy. And when you’re less trustworthy, a lead is less likely to say yes to working with you.
   

2. It sounds like you’re probing, agitating their pain points, or asking for market research. Your intention speaks louder than you think. Sometimes it can even come across as being sleazy or manipulative because it feels deceptive and misleading.
   

3. Makes the other person feel uncomfortable. Asking, “What are your business goals?” is personal and therefore, uncomfortable to answer to someone you’ve just met. If someone is uncomfortable, they are less likely to listen to you, open up, trust you, or be willing to work with you. That first impression is very important.
   

4. They won’t perceive you as an expert. If you jump right into business talk, that means you’ve likely spent little to no time establishing rapport, building authority, or gaining their trust. When you haven’t spent time getting to know someone, it demonstrates (unintentionally), that you’re interested in making money and not in them as a person or future client. From a client perspective, it’s also really hard to ask for help (or to open up) to someone you don’t perceive as an expert.

Instead, try this:

• Be honest about your intent! Not being open and honest about it is what makes it feel sleazy, deceptive, and manipulating.

• Ask - “How did you get started?” or “What are you working towards in your business?” They both open the conversation and show that you think of the other person as being intelligent and you never know how their answers can spark an idea for you or create a meaningful conversation.

• Have non-business related conversation. Some ideas include: weather, travel, hobbies, coffee, movies, home, family, etc.

• Be yourself

Establishing rapport = comfort = trust = close more sales!

People don’t remember what you said, though they sure will remember how you made them feel. Those first impressions, first questions, and connecting from the very beginning influences this.

I’m curious to know - is this a question you ask future clients or have you been asked this yourself? How did the interaction go and how did it make you feel? Tell me in the comments.