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Help your customers with a predictive question

By Becky McCray

Predictive questions are questions that can lead to better recommendations. By asking your customers the right question, you can more easily connect them with the right product or the right service. The two questions might not even seem to be related.
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The predictive question, “Do you like to dance?” correlates with, “should you switch to a Mac?” I heard that example in a session at SXSW. I think it was Making Content Relevant.

At the liquor store we ask, “Do you sweeten your tea?” to find out what type of wine customers might like.

Because the predictive question seems unrelated to the purchase decision, it can feel less intimidating to the customer, and easier to answer. 

What seemingly unrelated questions might lead you to better answers for your customers?

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About Becky McCray

Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.
  • Zoom Towns: attracting and supporting remote workers in rural small towns - December 10, 2020
  • In an economic crisis, spend your brainpower before your dollars - November 25, 2020
  • Video: How to fill empty car dealership buildings for the holidays - November 6, 2020
  • How has 2020 changed the challenges rural small towns face? Tell us here - October 20, 2020
  • The Idea Friendly Method to surviving a business crisis - October 6, 2020
  • Join me for the Rural Renewal Symposium online Oct 13 - September 26, 2020
  • Cheap placemaking idea: instant murals - September 11, 2020
  • Refilling the rural business pipeline - July 7, 2020
  • Huge vacant buildings: grants to renovate? - June 9, 2020
  • Economic self defense for small towns  - June 7, 2020

April 19, 2010 Filed Under: customer service, entrepreneurship

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Comments

  1. Data Quality says

    April 20, 2010 at 3:06 pm

    I think I am beginning to understand the tea question, but I have no clue about the dancing one. I probably need more explaining to make more sense of this idea.

  2. Becky McCray says

    April 21, 2010 at 3:33 am

    Think of it this way: the kind of people who like to dance are the same kind of people who would be happy with a Mac.

    Here’s another example they gave. Asking whether someone wants the top floor apartment or the ground floor apartment could tell you something about their risk tolerance.

    You’re collecting data, but not by asking the direct question. You’re asking a question that seems easier to answer, and using that to predict something else.

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