Every entrepreneur knows that they will face a multitude of questions throughout their journey. Whether he is subjected to the constant scrutiny of business angels, bankers or juries, he must be able to respond with precision. Conversely, he is also the one who asks the strategic questions to obtain key information and act wisely. He also knows that he must choose the right moment so as not to receive uninteresting answers.
The key circumstances of the art of questioning
An entrepreneur constantly finds himself in two positions:
- Looking for information and information:
- To define the status of your business, analyze your market, manage delivery, understand your customers or create your website.
- When meeting with colleagues (job interviews, team meetings, conflict management), to understand how to involve and motivate your teams.
- During commercial negotiations, to discover the decisive arguments in order to convince a client.
- In a position to respond:
- To requests and requirements from shareholders, bankers or financial partners.
The question and the answer are indissolubly intertwined in professional life. The entrepreneur must learn to anticipate them in advance. To do this, identifying the different types of questions and their mechanisms will serve as a lever for reflection.
1. Open questions
Like a journalist, rely on the method QQOQCP (Who, What, Where, When, How/How much, Why).
For example, before going before a jury when creating a business, the entrepreneur must anticipate the flow of questions and prepare his answers. Conversely, if he is part of the jury himself, he must have prepared his questions to highlight the strong points and weaknesses of the candidates before granting his investment.
Examples of QQOQCP questions:
- Who ? : Who are you ? Who is your team?
- What ? : Who are your target customers?
- Or ? : Where will you sell your products or services? On the internet?
- When ? : When do you plan to file your articles of association?
- How ? : How will your products be distributed?
- How much ? : What is your budget? What resources do you have?
- For what ? : What is the benefit for customers to buy your product?
Pay attention to the question “Why?” »: It sometimes has a negative or inquisitive connotation. In certain contexts, it is better to replace it with a more open formulation such as: “What do you think?” ».
2. Closed questions
They bring a restricted response: a “yes”, a “no”, a number or a proper name. The goal of closed questions is not to create an in-depth dialogue, but to collect specific, factual information.
Examples:
- Do you have competitors? (Yes / No)
- How much savings do you have? (Numbered amount)
- Who is your main partner? (Name)
- Can you come to our meeting? (Yes / No)
3. Partial questions
They already contain part of the answer or guide the interlocutor’s remarks. They allow you to channel a monologue or interrupt a digression.
Point of vigilance: These questions can become leading if they influence the answer too much. They then risk being perceived as manipulative.
Examples:
- Are you saying that in relation to…?
- Are you hesitating because…?
- Do you understand that…?
- Don’t you think…?
- What bothers you is the price?
- No questions?
4. Bridging questions
They allow you to respond immediately and require clarification. These are key questions to articulate and streamline the dialogue.
Examples:
- That’s to say ?
- What criteria do you base yourself on?
- What allows you to say that?
- To what extent? / In what sense? / In what case?
- For example ?
- What do you mean by that?
5. Mirror questions
Directly linked to reformulation techniques, mirror questions are based on a active listening. They consist of repeating all or part of what the interlocutor has just said in order to get them to provide more details, while checking and validating what you have understood.
Very often, the simple fact of hearing one’s own idea expressed in another way helps resolve stuck situations.
💡 Tip: List your questions and answers
Before any interview, business meeting or strategic meeting, take the time to list and prepare in advance both the questions you want to ask and those you may need to answer.
