Table Of ContentContents
Cover
Praise for Power Questions
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
The Power Questions
Chapter 1: Good Questions Trump Easy Answers
Chapter 2: If You Don'tWant to Hit Bottom, Stop
Digging the Hole
Chapter 3: The FourWords
Chapter 4: When the Sale Is Stuck
Chapter 5: Mission Isn't Important. It's Everything
Chapter 6: Get Out of Your Cave
Chapter 7: Begin at the Beginning
Chapter 8: Start Over
Chapter 9: You Can Overcome Anything If You
Understand Why
Chapter 10: In a Hushed Moment
Chapter 11: Is This the Best You Can Do?
Chapter 12: No Gorilla Dust
Chapter 13: Bury the Clichés
Chapter 14: Don't Let Anyone Steal Your Dreams
Chapter 15: Silence Can Be the Best Answer
Chapter 16: The Greatest Teacher
Chapter 17: Push Open the Flood Gate
Chapter 18: The Essence of Your Job
Chapter 19: A Tempest-Tossed Topic
Chapter 20: The Road Taken
Chapter 21: Who Do You Say I Am?
Chapter 22: That Special Moment in Life
Chapter 23: Your Plans or Their Plans?
Chapter 24: Never Look Back Unless You Plan to Live
ThatWay
Chapter 25: How to Stop the Snorting
Chapter 26: Dig Deeper. Deeper. Still Deeper
Chapter 27: Always Faithful
Chapter 28: I Used to Be Indecisive—But Now I'm Not
Sure
Chapter 29: Blah Blah Blah
Chapter 30: Why Is This Day Different?
Chapter 31: Never Too Late
Chapter 32: Take Stock of Your Life
Chapter 33: The Heart of the Matter
Chapter 34: Capture the Moments
Chapter 35: The Awe andWonder of the Power Question
Not Just for Sunday
293 More Power Questions
About the Authors
Praise for Power Questions
“We all strive to create genuine human connection with clients, friends, and
family. Power Questions is a tremendous, practical guide to constructing
and using the powerful questions that help you do this. Read it now, take it
in deeply, put it into practice, and it will transform your conversations and
perhaps your life.”
—Steve Thomas,
President of Global Sales, Experian
“What did FDR, Socrates, Shakespeare, and Jesus have in common?
According to Sobel and Panas, they all knew how to ask ‘power questions.’
Read this book and you will too!”
—Marshall Goldsmith,
Author of the New York Times best-sellers MOJO and What Got
You Here Won't Get You There
“Power Questions is a fresh, incisive, and compelling guide to achieving
success in our personal and professional relationships and activities. The
book methodically maps out the route to employ carefully chosen questions
that will elicit the most helpful responses and achieve the most desirable
outcomes. It's a must-read!”
—The Honorable Joseph P. Riley,
Mayor, Charleston, South Carolina
“Congratulations. The name says it all. It is a powerful book. Power
Questions is a must-read for anyone who cares about customers, employees,
and investors. My recommendation to everyone is to pick up a copy now
and read it.”
—Robert L. Dilenschneider,
Chief Executive Officer and Chairman,
The Dilenschneider Group, Inc.
“Power Questions provides the vital building blocks to successfully
understanding the needs of your customers and clients, your spouse or
child. The book describes the necessary skills needed to ask the right
questions in the right way. A masterpiece. The book is compelling.”
—Robert Milligan,
Past Chairman, United States Chamber of Commerce
and Founder and Chair, Nature's Variety
“Asking clients good questions leads to great conversations, and the result
is trusted client relationships. Power Questions is a terrific read full of
captivating examples. It will help readers develop deeper, more valuable
relationships in both their professional and social lives.”
—James Bardrick,
Managing Director and Banking
Co-Head for Europe, Middle East,
and Africa, Citigroup
“Power Questions is an amazing book about having real power in your life–
power to solve problems while developing deep relationships with others
and also a better understanding of yourself.”
—Cal Turner,
Former Chief Executive Officer
and Chairman of the Board,
Dollar General
“Why should I care what you think until I know that you care? I learned
these words of wisdom from a very successful man. Now, Panas and Sobel
answer the question, “How do I show that I care?” It is by asking
thoughtful, powerful questions and listening carefully to the answers. You'll
learn, you'll care, you'll build trust and understanding. Power Questions is
outstanding.”
—B. Joseph White,
President Emeritus,
James F. Towey Professor of
Business and Leadership,
University of Illinois and author
of best-selling The Nature of Leadership
“I found Power Questions so relevant I am making it required reading for
all of my employees. Andrew and Jerry remind us of the vital importance of
listening intensely. The book gives us the tools to get invaluable and
rewarding information. This is a resource for life.”
—Aristotle Halikias,
Chief Executive Officer and
Chairman of the Board,
Republic Bank
“While reading Power Questions, I made lists of hundreds of questions I
can use. I've always struggled to ask good, open-ended, and probing
questions that allow me to learn so much about another person. This book
has helped me jump that hurdle. It is tremendously thought-provoking and
at the same time, extremely entertaining. If you've read every other book
Andrew Sobel and Jerry Panas have written, you may think they couldn't
top themselves–but they do in Power Questions.”
—Michelle Easton,
President, Clare Boothe
Luce Policy Institute
“Power Questions is for everyone–salespeople, supervisors, development
officers, and even parents. Jerry Panas and Andrew Sobel inform us how to
ask the very best questions in a manner most likely to elicit an insightful
answer. The authors provide hundreds of questions you wish you had asked.
Power Questions will ensure your meetings and conversations are more
productive than ever before. It should be required reading–and it will be in
my organization.”
—Ron Robinson,
Author, Funding Fathers
“Ask yourself: Can I afford not to read Power Questions? Andrew and
Jerry's book is refreshingly different, packed full of anecdotes and advice
that will give you the questions you need to engage, enquire, and elicit.
Easy to read, I found plenty of new ideas to help me deepen my client
relationships.”
—Diana Brightmore-Armour,
CEO, Corporate Banking,
Lloyds Banking Group
“Your relationships will never be the same. Organized and written in a
highly accessible ‘story-telling’ style, Power Questions is as entertaining as
it is deep, and its lessons and value are as relevant and powerful for any
Fortune 500 CEO as they are for a teacher, parent, or my 14-year‐old son.
Andrew Sobel and Jerry Panas have distilled the art of communicating
down to the core skill of crafting and posing ‘the right’ questions at ‘the
right’ times–questions that open doors and engender the engagement
necessary to build meaningful relationships and true connectivity.”
—Adam L. Reeder,
Managing Director and Global
Head of Building Products
and Basic Materials,
Credit Suisse First Boston
Description:An arsenal of powerful questions that will transform every conversationSkillfully redefine problems. Make an immediate connection with anyone. Rapidly determine if a client is ready to buy. Access the deepest dreams of others. Power Questions sets out a series of strategic questions that will help y
