When Clients Rush You with a Problem…

Your client  calls up frantic with a problem he wants resolved immediately. What do you do?
Your likely reaction is to ask questions about the problem. Right instinct, but, if you have more than two or three questions, you risk the client becoming impatient and annoyed with you. 
Tweak Your Instinct
To avoid that,  preface your questions with these comments:
Add a benefit to your need to ask your questions
Put a number in front of the questions, so your  client knows what to expect
Get client’s agreement
It sounds something like…
“Pat, sorry to hear that. Let me ask you 5-6 questions so that I can solve the problem for you as quickly as possible. Okay?”
“Jen, let’s take care of that! In order to solve this as quickly as possible for you, I have to ask you 3 sets of questions of 3 each. Okay?
Little Things Make a Big Difference
Adding the benefit makes it in your client’s