Why did you call me?

If you want people to call you - and I do, because I'm terrible at selling - this is the most important question you can ask any potential client who calls you: "Why did you call me?". It lets the client help you learn what marketing efforts are working, and in the process, also sell himself/herself on the reasons why you are the right person to be calling at that time.

Don't let it go with a simple answer, though. Many people who call say "I read your book.", which is cool, but I also get a lot of "I googled you." Now, this tells me my web marketing efforts must be having some effect, but to really get the most out of my marketing work, I need to know which efforts are working. A good follow-up question is "What, exactly did you google?". You might also ask what else your prospect found, since that will give you a good idea of the competitive group you are playing with.

Frankly, since I'm so bad at selling, I'd rather have lots of conversation about these questions. It tells me so much about the need that is in the caller's mind, and helps me connect dollars and hours spent on marketing with the resulting call.

Yes, I know a lot of my sales expert friends will point out that this is a great selling technique, but for me, it's really a marketing technique, since my real aim is to get the information necessary to get lots of potential clients calling me, rather than the other way around!