Asking the Right Question

A friend asked me an incredibly astute question about a big purchase I was considering.  So insightful was this question, that it made me think of my purchase in a whole new way. In fact thinking about his question and my answer meant I'm ready to make a decision now, something I hadn't been able to do before.  Often customers find themselves unable to make a decision to buy something as they aren't clear, just like the situation I found myself in.

The purchase I've been thinking about concerns a new car, and a fancy, sporty one at that.  As it's obviously not a need, you're probably listening to yourself think "mid-life crisis", just the same way I'm saying that to myself. I can live with that though.

When considering one of these it can either be a frivolous toy or it can be serious, and I've tended to look at it the latter way, trying to validate that I use a car daily and having a sportier one could fit my needs and provide some fun as well.  I've been hesitating for a long time though, and have looked at a used car for less money, or a newer, shinier one. Pro's and cons to both and I have been on the fence for a while on the decision.

My friend hit the nail on the head with his bright question.  It was: "which one are you more likely to drive in bad weather / winter?"  I live in an area that has a serious winter, and let's call be frank, few fancy little sporty cars are designed for winter, or even very usable in snow.  Underneath the question wasn't a query about traction or winter tires though, it was about use cases and value - depreciation vs usability.

You see the used car will cost less, but I think I'm less likely to drive it in winter (assuming it performs equally poorly as a new car) as I'll be looking to maintain it's value for a resale situation in the future.  A new car could be leased and if it's just mine for a defined period, I'm more likely to drive it wherever as depreciation won't be my concern.  I hadn't looked at the decision in this framework at all - and my friend knew that - as he's also gone down this road (no pun) lately, albeit on the frivolous toy justification side.  My indecision was based on the fact I couldn't figure out the question to myself that would differentiate the choices to be made - so I was waiting.  Now I actually feel very clear on moving forward.

The value of asking of the right question is incredibly high.  It can provide quite a bit of relief to your customer/friend, as it allows them to move past a log-jam in their own minds.  It does require knowledge of their situation and insights into their motivation though.  And that is almost impossible to do without discovering a little about them.