Shannyn Lee from Win Without Pitching discusses the importance of the “Dan Sullivan Question” in uncovering a client’s desired future state during qualifying conversations. By asking, “You and I are sitting down three years from today, and you’re really happy. What’s happened in those three years to make you so happy?” early in the conversation, sales professionals can better understand client needs and position themselves as strategic partners. This approach facilitates more productive, client-focused dialogues, helping to identify potential obstacles and decision-making dynamics.

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Transcript

You and I are sitting down three years from today, and you’re really happy. What’s happened in those three years to make you so happy?

Hey everybody, great to be back with you today. I’m Shannon Lee, the Managing Director at Win Without Pitching. Today, I want to talk to you about uncovering your client’s desired future state. There is a question that we teach our clients to ask in the qualifying conversation. It’s called the Dan Sullivan Question. Let’s give credit where credit is due: he is the founder and leader of an organization called Strategic Coach. The question is in a book called The Dan Sullivan Question that I would encourage you to pick up and read more about. It will take you an hour, and it’s just gold. There’s a lot of great thinking in there. We started using this question in our own sales calls a number of years ago, and it was a game changer. So, here’s the question:

You and I are sitting down three years from today, and you’re really happy. What’s happened in those three years to make you so happy?

Now, I want you to ask this question early on in the qualifying conversation. This is the question that’s going to help you uncover your client’s desired future state. What do I mean by that? Your client comes to you with a need. For example, they need a new website, but there’s a whole lot more behind why they need that new website and what they likely really want—their desired future state. When you ask that question early in the qualifying conversation, you learn so much more about how you might be able to help that client and what their vision is. If, in fact, you can add value in helping them achieve that vision, it sets you up to be seen as strategic early in the conversation. It gets the focus off you and onto the client, which is what we want to do when we’re qualifying. We want them to be doing more of the talking; we want to be doing more of the listening and asking smart questions.

It also sets you up to be able to ask follow-on questions that are really important. What are the obstacles that might get in the way of you achieving this vision? You can ask more frankly about decision-makers: Is everybody on the team on board with this vision that you’ve outlined? What might stop you from making it happen? What assets do you have in place that might help you make it happen? When you ask it early in the conversation, it really sets the tone and creates a more productive, transparent, client-focused, value-focused qualifying conversation when you’re assessing fit.

So, think about it, play around with it, try it, and let us know how it goes. As always, please reach out and let me know if you have any questions you want me to answer on our YouTube channel. It’s great to be with you today. Have a good one out there, everybody. Cheers!