There's one aspect of the ongoing election battle that can't be disputed regardless of which side you're on: lawyers are getting lots of exposure.  And a few are becoming celebrities. I know I'd sure want David Boies or Barry Richards on my team.

Although attorneys have long been the whipping-boys of jokesters, I have tremendous respect for what trial attorneys do. Particularly since there are so many parallels between them and sales reps in the strategies and techniques they use. Let's look at some.

THERE'S NO SUBSTITUTE FOR PREPARATION

Lawyers are implored not to ask questions unless they know the answer, lest it could blow up on them. I read countless stories of attorneys cross-examining with questions where they didn't know the answers, and then having the opposition win, largely on account of the effect of the bombshell answer. And who could forget O.J. trying on the gloves that apparently didn't fit, and the prosecutor not being prepared for the situation.

Your own questioning plan should look like a computer programmer's flow chart ... a decision tree, with your subsequent responses dependent upon their statements and answers. The smoother and easier someone makes an activity look or sound is usually in inverse proportion to the amount of work and preparation they put forth before the performance.

THE "PIN-DROP" EFFECT

In "The Art of Questioning, Thirty Maxims of Cross-Examination," Peter Brown suggests that when an opposition witness has been coaxed into making a material admission that is important to your case, it's often effective to stop asking questions for a moment and let the response sink in with the jury. Even though we don't have a jury on the phone, the same results occur with the prospects.  I've suggested this technique many, many times here.  I simply refer to it as pausing.

FINISH ON A HIGH NOTE

Brown suggests that during a peak in cross-examination, (where the attorney had just scored major points in the questioning) terminate and sit down. This is akin to finishing your questioning on a peak where you've just gotten the prospect or customer to explain and relive a major problem or pain, and then you move quickly to the presentation phase while the wound is still fresh.

CLOSED-ENDED QUESTIONS ARE OK

What? We've always believed in sales that you should only use open-ended questions. That's true when you want lots of information, and also desire them to pour out their feelings regarding problems or needs. Attorneys are instructed to use open-ended questions when they have friendly witnesses. If you ever catch a Senate hearing on C-SPAN on some issue, notice how the questioners lob softball open-ended queries to people of similar views.  The intent, of course, is to let the speakers expound on their self-serving beliefs. However, if you have opposing views, getting yes or no answers are better. For example, "You're probably experiencing downtime, now, right?"

CREATING ARTIFICIAL SITUATIONS

In the book "Current Issues and Enduring Questions: Methods and Models of Argument," Sylvan Barnet and Hugo Dedau discuss creating artificial scenarios to illustrate a point. Let me summarize what they took about 10 pages to say: use metaphors, analogies, and stories to make a point. For example, recall several years how Newt Gingrich was characterized because of his proposals on changing Medicare and Social Security. It was suggested by one opponent that senior citizens would be "living under bridges in cardboard boxes and eating cat food."  Powerful visual and emotional images to be sure.

Great telesales pros use stories, analogies and metaphors to create images of problems, or solutions to tweak the emotions of listeners.

For example, "Ann, you mentioned earlier how the chairs you're using now are difficult to push around, kind of like dragging a king-sized mattress up a flight of stairs. With these new models, it's almost as effortless as rolling on a sheet of ice, but with total control."

HYPOTHETICAL QUESTIONS

Expert witnesses are often asked contrived questions in order to get their opinions about something supposedly based upon facts. You can ask hypotheticals to get prospects and customers to consider what they would do in certain situations:

"Jane, how would you handle it if your supplier was not able to deliver because they were backordered on something you needed overnight?" 

Create your own hypotheticals designed to get them to react to very real problems they might encounter ...ones you can solve.

REFUTING HYPOTHETICALS

Conversely, when hit with a hypothetical that is unrealistic, attorneys are taught to pick apart the question rather than answer it. In "The Art of Cross-Examination," written by Francis Wellman in 1905, he said, hypotheticals are perhaps "the most abominable form of evidence that was ever allowed to choke the mind of a juror or throttle his intelligence."  Wellman suggests that cross-examiners ask witnesses to repeat and rephrase the hypothetical question in substance. This typically exposes the fallacy of the question. So, if a prospect objects with something totally off the wall, simply say,

"I'm not sure I understand. Could you rephrase that?"  Or, "Could you give me an example of a situation where that would apply?"