I could hardly believe my ears. There sits Jim Lehrer - the moderator from PBS whose job it is to extract information from the candidates – asking his first question:

"Do you believe you could do a better job than…?"

Technically, John Kerry could have answered the question "Yes" or "No" without any embellishment, because Lehrer asked a closed ended question. But Mr. Kerry knows better, so he went on to answer the question in the way he knew Mr. Lehrer wanted to hear it.

That’s fine for professional candidates, but customers won’t always know that you want more information. So the first pitfall you need to avoid is the use of closed questions when you’re trying to understand a customer’s concerns.

The next thing I noticed was that the candidates rarely answered the questions they were actually asked. Instead, they used the questions to sneak in their own agendas. We all knew they would, so we’re not surprised. But customers don’t want you to tip toe around the issues. They need straight answers. So the second pitfall to avoid is deflecting or presenting unclear answers to direct questions your customers ask.

Your success in advising customers is based on your ability to listen. Your success in selling is based on your ability to build trust.

With that in mind, you need to make sure the questions you ask open customers up, and the answers you give are clear, honest and to the point. Failure to do either one may result in a vote for another dealership’s service department.