Putting Question Trees Into Daily Practice

When Rachel asked me to write about question trees, I could hardly contain my excitement. No, seriously. I have found question trees to be one of the most important skills I have learned in my career.

I am not sure who taught me about question trees, but I do know that they have practical applications in all matters of life. Whether for business or personal use, using the question tree methodology makes you better prepared and more logical. Thus, for any high-stakes conversation and for conversations that I am likely to have multiple times, I use question trees.

GETTING STARTED WITH QUESTION TREES

I do a question tree every day. Typically, I do them within the first hour of waking.

To select the question I am going to work on, I look at my prep journal for the day (this is the book where I write down the three most important things for each meeting), or my calendar, and choose a meeting I have that day or in the next few days where the stakes are higher than normal. This could be with a new prospect I really want to land, a down-funnel prospect, a negotiation, an employee discussion, or really anything where the outcome of that meeting can have an outsized impact.

Once I pick the scenario, the information I want to get to, and the question, I write down the best version of the question I currently know (I say “currently know” because deep thinking about a question often yields better versions). Then I get to work.

I start with the three most common answers I have heard when I have asked the question or a similar one. Even though those are common answers, I will still work through them. I want to be as prepared as possible and uncover any new potential paths that arise from common answers.

After writing down the three most common answers, I like to write down two outlier/unexpected answers. These are always going to be the toughest parts of the tree. Why? Because I, and I imagine most, get caught up in the uniqueness of the answer and lose sight of why I was asking the question in the first place. This can get you stuck in a “no-impact” question loop, which is when you are asking questions that really don’t lead anywhere, because you have lost your footing or direction.

WORKING QUESTION TREES ONE BRANCH AT A TIME

Working a branch (each answer) can be as simple as thinking of what the next question would be that you would ask. Example of a question tree for the retail industry:

Q: When do you need this by?

Question Tree Answer: Specific known date in the industry (e.g., Sept 30)

Q: What is driving that date?

A: We are in a budget freeze for the last quarter of the year.

The above is a good branch that can lead to many additional opportunities to gather information.

You can add complexity to question trees by not just doing the above (thinking about the next question) but by thinking through the risks of each question and answer.

Example:

Q: When do you need this by? Risk: The question poses a significant risk of misinterpretation and misalignment. “Need this by” can mean many different things. Are we trying to understand when they need to purchase or implement? Reframe the question.

Q 2.0: When would this need to be fully implemented as part of your team’s workflow?

By working the first question over, I have reduced the risk of misalignment. (Curious, what new risks do you think I may have introduced?)

A 2.0: If we don’t have it implemented by September 30th, we will not be able to implement it until after the holidays.

The new question has gotten us very important information. We now know the tech must be implemented and functioning by September 30th. If our tech will make an impact during the holiday season, we can work backwards from that date to create a decision date.

We have also identified an additional piece of information that would need clarification to help us have better conversations about urgency with the prospect. In their answer, they say “until after the holidays.”

Statements like this are risky for us salespeople. Why? Because we are familiar with the term from our day-to-day lives, we might assume what they mean by it. Thus, we should work through this branch of the question tree to clarify this term before heading back to the original line.

I will continue through the branch until I have reached my information goal or I reach a natural stopping point where an additional question would not add value.

HOW TO BECOME A PRO AT QUESTION TREES

My advice to anyone who wants to get good at question trees is:

1. Do them every day (even weekends).
2. Don’t try to do them for 30 minutes every day; you will likely not create a habit.
3. Don’t get frustrated. They are tough to master. I still haven’t.
4. If you don’t think you can commit, set up time with colleagues where you work on them together. They can be both your thought and accountability partners.
5. Start with an end in mind. This will help keep you on track.

And finally, don’t be afraid to ask bold questions!

Are you ready to make question trees part of your daily practice? Check out gotensai.com and get started!