In this conversational coaching segment, Bob London advocates asking the bold, truth‑seeking question, “What’s the biggest thing that surprised you since you signed the contract with us?” He explains that this “delta question” surfaces the gap between a customer’s expectations and their actual experience, revealing both positive and negative surprises. By encouraging courageous, transparent dialogue, companies can uncover hidden dissatisfaction, rescue at‑risk accounts, and even recover significant revenue (e.g., a case where a client saved roughly 20% of annual recurring revenue). London ties this practice to a broader shift toward transparency in business, noting how the internet has amplified employee‑employer openness and customer expectations. The overall message is that embracing transparency and asking hard questions is essential for growth and competitive advantage.
Chapters
Okay, speaking of being courageous and asking courageous questions, here's another very bold one. What's the biggest thing that surprised you since you signed the contract with us? Now, I know for a fact because I've asked this question so many times, people have— they know the answer.
They've got answers in their heads.
This is a classic example of you just don't want it to be there and fester.
You want to know about it.
What's the biggest thing that surprised you since you signed the contract with us?
Again, it may take your breath away for a second thinking about why do I want to know that, but if you buy into this, if you take the leap of faith that we want to get to the truth, the truth is valuable, the truth will help us grow, then you take that leap and you ask the question.
And again, this is a delta question, the delta between What was their expectation and what, what, and what's been their actual experience with you? And you get all kinds of great stuff.
And I've had clients who've asked, I've coached them on how to ask these questions and they've come back and said, you know what, we just rescued a customer that we called them and it turned out they had a very negative experience with us, you know, 6 months ago.
And they, they had been kind of unhappy since and they just never brought it up and we didn't ask.
More importantly, and they were able to save that customer, which was, you know, something along the lines of 20% of their ARR. So now you don't ask directly what was the biggest negative surprise. You ask them about what was the biggest surprise.
So sometimes they'll give you a positive surprise, which is fantastic. But the point is you can't be afraid to ask because again, you guys are truth seekers and the world, quite honestly, is becoming maybe not in some other important parts of the world, truth-seeking, but in the business world, transparency is king. Transparency.
Look how much transparency there is now between employers and their employees, how much transparency employees demand. And that's occurred, and the internet has obviously facilitated that.
Same thing's happening with customers, whether it's customer review sites or just customers that are more, you know, open book management, that sort of thing. That's the way the world is going, so you might as well get the truth before your competitors do. It may sting a little bit, but getting the truth, as we've said, is the only way to improve.
