Other Techniques

• Author: John Hollander
• Pages: 77-113

other techniques

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chapter four

Other Techniques

   entirely as expected. Indeed, I am

constantly reacting to what occurs in front of me, not to

what I presumed would happen. However, I am grateful

for my preparation eorts and often regret that I did not

prepare better or more thoroughly. ankfully, preparing

the outline for this book forced me to anticipate and plan

a coherent presentation for dealing with interviews. I

have covered many of the principles involved with asking

questions, with being prepared in advance, and with tak-

ing the client into account. ere are still many things to

discuss, but they do not break into convenient groupings.

I have therefore given them individual section names and

grouped them into “other techniques.” Each section re-

views subjects and techniques I have encountered and

adopted over the years.

Breaking the Ice

   practise what I preach? I try to, but I rec-

ognize I should not let my own interview style get in the

way of communication. I accept that some people do not

    

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warm to me immediately, and in those cases, I often ask

simple background questions just to get the ball rolling.

I nd that people need time to “warm up” in a dis-

cussion in the same way that people often need to “warm

up” for exercise: some light conversation, like some light

stretching, is needed for certain people to get into more

strenuous activities (whether that be exercising or talking).

When I get the client talking, perhaps about their families,

the weather, or recent events, it is easy to segue into sub-

jects of professional signicance. Oddly, this is occasionally

true for existing clients. Perhaps they are having an o day,

or perhaps I have said or done something to get their backs

up. An easy discussion of irrelevant matters can serve as the

grease to allow the discussion to proceed smoothly.

The problem

   do when your client simply won’t engage

in a discussion? is will occur when the client is fearful

or shy; when the client has language issues; if the client

distrusts you; or it may occur for other reasons. e bot-

tom line is that you have not yet established rapport with

this client.

How do you overcome initial reluctance and gain the con-

f‌idence of your client?

Solution

  , you should defer your practice of

asking open questions until you have put your client at

ease. Your rst objective will be to get your client speak-

ing. You can accomplish this by asking inoensive ques-

other techniques

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tions in a conversational manner. Some examples of these

conversation starters are:

• Tell me a bit about yourself.

• Tell me a bit about your family.

• Where do you live?

• Tell me about your background.

ese questions should cause your client to start

speaking, and then you can switch subjects to the reason

for your engagement.

The closed question as a last resort

   fails, and your client still will not discuss

the matter at issue, try a series of closed questions to get

things moving.

• Is this the rst time in which you have engaged a

professional such as me?

• Are you new to the city?

• Are you enjoying the season?

Really, you are asking anything that will get your client

to answer with a yes or a no. With almost any answer, you

can follow up with a gentle open question, that really only

asks, “Tell me more.” Once there is some communication

with your client, you can switch to the matter at issue with,

“Is something bothering you? Will you tell me about it?”

Like all questioning techniques, there is a time and

a place for this. You should not use leading questions to

probe for detailed information as clients usually resent this

kind of interrogation. However, gentle closed questions

can be used to start the process of developing rapport.