Asking the powerful questions

It was great connecting with so many people at BNI meetings, various workshops and FACCI events recently.

Something kept coming up in those conversations: a challenge that I see in almost every small business I work with, regardless of industry.

Welcome to The Growth Brief. I'll be dropping into your inbox every month with one practical idea to help your business have better client conversations and win more of the right work.

Why good conversations don’t always turn into new business, and what to do about it

Whether it’s you, a team member, or anyone in your business who talks to potential clients, there’s one habit that makes a bigger difference than almost anything else.

It’s asking better questions before jumping to solutions.

Most people, especially those who know their product or service well, naturally want to explain what they do and how it helps. It comes from a good place. But it often lands before the other person feels truly understood.

The result? The conversation goes well, but nothing moves forward.

Signs this might be happening in your business

• People give great meetings but struggle to convert them into next steps

• Quotes or proposals go out and then… silence

• Conversations feel good in the moment but don’t lead

  
  

  anywhere

• It’s hard to pinpoint why a potential client chose someone else

Three questions worth trying in your next client conversation

These work whether you’re the business owner, a customer-facing team member, or somewhere in between:

• “What’s prompted you to look into this now?”: Gets to the real reason they’re talking to you, and understand how critical is the problem.

• “What have you already tried?”: Shows you’re interested in their journey and help you anticipate the objection they might raise later.

• “What would a great outcome look like for you?”: Means everything you offer from here speaks directly to what they actually want.

These aren’t sales tricks - they’re just good conversation habits, the kind that make people feel heard, and make your business the obvious choice.

Be genuinely interested in the answers and speak less!

Something to reflect on

Think about the last time a potential client didn’t go ahead. How much did you actually know about what they were really trying to solve for the organisation and them personally?

Often the gap isn’t in your offering, it’s in how well the conversation surfaced the impact of the problem to them.

That's it for this edition, I hope it's a useful one.

If any of this resonates, or if there's a specific challenge you're navigating with how your team talks to clients, I'd love to hear about it. Just hit reply or visit Propelion for Small and Medium Businesses. And if you know someone who'd find this useful, feel free to forward it on.