Last Night’s Dragon’s Den: Answer The Question!

“He who asks questions, cannot avoid the answers”.   African Proverb

Last night on Dragon’s Den there were two pitches where the questions asked by the Dragons were either ignored or skirted around.
Naz Choudry with his Bollywood pitch was one of these.  For those in the UK, you can see the full pitch here:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden/entrepreneurs/nazchoudhury.shtml  – the area I’m talking about is roughly 36 minutes.

However he does it several times throughout, so if you didn’t see the show it’s worth a look.

Naz was asked a simple question such as “How much money have you made?” and he seemed uncomfortable answering it.  Instead he would talk about his legacy and his potential.

This frustrated the Dragons, and undermined their trust.

Eventually we learned that Naz had earned £500K but had probably spent a bit more than that, which gave us an instant insight into why he wasn’t happy sharing!

I think we can all fall victim to avoiding questions from time to time – even if by accident.  And when we are selling or presenting, it can be fatal.

While the answer is being avoided, the following dialogue may be going on in the mind of the questioner/customer:
• What are you hiding?
• Why won’t you tell me?
• Why do I have to ask again and again with no answer?
• Is he listening to me?
• I don’t trust him. I won’t buy from him.

I feel Naz’s pitch would have gone much better if he offered plain, honest answers that gave the Dragon’s a sense of who he really was – rather than the person he wanted to be.