Bernie Cornfeld was the founder of one of the earliest and most successful mutual fund companies. His famous question, one that he loved to ask investors was, “Do you sincerely want to be rich?”

It’s more than a nice question, or a clever one.

It’s what I call, a “perfect question™”. PQ’s are exceedingly powerful, and it is worth all of the energy that you can muster to develop them.

They’re nothing less than super shortcuts to sales.

Usually, you’ll need an entire scaffold of questions in a sales presentation to support the following propositions:

(1) The client has a need;

(2) The need is important; and

(3) The client should choose you to fulfill it.

PQ’s tend to produce these three perceptions all at once.

Consider Cornfeld’s masterpiece: Do you sincerely want to be rich?

First, it asks if the person wants riches, the “sincerely” word probes how much, and the entire package encourages the listener to prove his eagerness, to say, “Heck, yes!” as in, the sooner the better!

This makes the salesperson’s job a lot easier. All he has to do is show the person how to get what he wants.

You’ve probably stumbled upon PQ’s without knowing it. Typically, a client who has heard one will stop in his tracks and say, while mulling it over, “That’s a good question!”

In future articles I’ll share more examples, some of which have worked beautifully for my clients, and for me.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman © 2006

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service. A frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide, Gary’s programs are offered by UCLA Extension and by numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. Gary is headquartered in Glendale, California. He can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com

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