Take for example, the word "cost." A friend of mine told me, “I bought this at cost.” I wondered, whose cost? The manufacturer’s cost? The distributor’s cost? The retailer’s cost? What does cost really mean here? There are many price points and middle parties in the product chain, so what price and cost are we talking about here?
In business, I believe that just about any question goes, except, of course, the illegal questions that you can’t ask in interviews. But when talking about how you’re going to do something with a contractor, partner, whomever, you need to ask a lot of questions.
You might want to ask someone, “How do you make your money on this?” It’s amazing how people find ways to make money or make deals that will generate income in different ways for different parts of their business. In a business deal with someone, this question is very appropriate. You want to know what someone is going to do or how he or she will respond in a particular situation.
It all has to do with where your question is coming from. If you really want to know because you find it interesting or the knowledge would be useful, that’s OK. Avoid asking questions just to make someone look bad or to embarrass them. Use that as your gauge to know if your question is appropriate or not. You can ask or say just about anything as long as your motive is clean.
Business Black Belt Notes
- If you need to know, you must ask the question.
- Use assumptions—yours and theirs—as the basis for your questions.
- If you’ve got a question, go ahead and ask it.
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About the author and reprint permission
Burke Franklin is the originator of the popular BizPlanBuilder® business planning software and the founder of JIAN (jee’on), the company behind a suite of successful business development software tools for Windows & Macintosh. Burke was elected to White House Conference on Small Business and nominated for Ernst & Young’s “Entrepreneur of the Year.” Burke is also an instrument-rated pilot, and a second-degree black belt in TaeKwonDo. Burke’s highly praised book, Business Black Belt draws parallels from the martial arts and is rich in hard-won advice for building and running a business today.Permission granted to reprint this article in its entirety with no text alterations. You must include this byline in its entirety, plus, if it's to be posted to a web site, an active hyperlink to www.JIAN.com. (However, you may become an affiliate and insert your affiliate link to JIAN.)
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