Mark Irving: A simple question can be a powerful tool

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Mark Irving, advertising company director on why a simple question can be such a powerful tool in advertising.

The use of thorough questioning between client and agency is such a powerful tool in the advertising world. It can often lead to that eureka moment where both parties feel they have achieved a major insight that can provide the basis for a truly great campaign.

Generally people are afraid to ask what they believe are simple questions, when in fact an agency or client would welcome them. Questions also give people the opportunity to talk about themselves or their company.

I know from experience I always attempt to swing the topic of conversation around to the highlights of my high school sporting career. This certainly grabs my attention. In my experience, most people given half a chance are only too willing to talk about themselves and their business.

The more you ask, the more you learn. Questions such as: "Did you really do that to the water cooler last night?" can be asked quite comfortably as long as you use the right tone. It's surprising what you can ask. The insights gained can be hugely beneficial.

From a client's point of view, you may want to know if the staff have had experience in a particular category before. The answer really is really a double-edged sword, as experience is obviously useful but if the staff have been working on it too long, they may not be looking at the account with a fresh perspective.

That's where staff with no category experience can add fresh thinking and an outsider's perspective.

A client may also want to know if an agency enters awards and whether the account is there to serve an award winning purpose or a sales and brand building purpose. Of course given the right circumstances, both these goals can be achieved.

Some useful questions an agency may want to ask are: "How do you perceive your brand and how do you think the market perceives your brand?" There may well be a difference in perceptions. In that case, this issue needs addressing.

On a related topic, a useful question for an agency might be something like this: "Where would you like to see your brand positioned in a years time?" Another simple question may be: "Are you satisfied with the results from your last advertising campaign?"

Years ago the cliché of a "good salesman" was someone who had the gift of the gab. They could talk rugby, weather and crack a few jokes. They could do all this and more.

But I've found from my experience, the best salespeople are those that ask questions and let the other person open up and talk about their issues and what they're trying to achieve. Even just being there and listening to something that is perhaps not that relevant is important. Everyone has something to say and wants to be heard.

On a personal level, the benefit of a simple question was brought home to me recently in Christchurch, helping family and friends in the days after the earthquake.

People in our area were all packing up getting ready to evacuate. As someone who loathes packing in a hurry, I ran down the end of the drive and asked the policeman standing at the roadblock if our area was being evacuated. His simple answer was: "no."

Mark Irving is the director of Range Advertising and Communications