The web allows unprecedented sharing of information. It also spreads unprecedented misinformation.

As a result more people are either misinformed or more skeptical than ever before. Yesterday I received an email that perked up my inner skeptic. It had the telltale signs of misinformation.

1. It had been forwarded numerous times before reaching me.
2. It contained a cute inspirational story. Though ugly fearful stories are also often false (and spread like wildfire).
3. It began with the words, “A True Story”.
4. And the biggie. The font wasn’t black. For some reason people spreading email lies seem to love colorful fonts.

But it was true. The end of the email contained a snopes link.

[An aside if you don’t know what snopes.com is: This is a website you should have bookmarked. It allows you to search for stories you receive via email. They have researched the stories and can tell you which ones are true or false. If you’ve never been there then go and search for Sarah Palin or Barack Obama or Michael Jackson. You should verify any email you get with snopes before forwarding it on to others.]

I thought this was fantastic. Every forwarded info email should contain a snopes link (at least the true ones should).

But what struck me was the location of the link. This email began with the words “A True Story” which convinced me it was all a hoax and ended with the snopes link which brought me back from pure skepticism. It could have lost me at any time without my ever discovering that there was truth there.

As I’ve often said, we all sell. So when you are selling your ideas or products or services, what is your equivalent of snopes? What gives your ideas or products validity? Once you figure that out, lead with it. Don’t hide it at the bottom like an irrelevant disclaimer that people may miss.

Gary Cohen asked me to guest blog. And we wanted something different. So he suggested that I ask my readers what questions they would like to hear me answer. I wondered, would I get a response?

So I emailed my weekly hero tip recipients, and over 100 really insightful questions later, I was clearly reminded of the power of asking.

But requests alone lack power. This blog post is titled “Offer and Ask”. It would not work as just “Ask”. And even “Ask and Offer” doesn’t work very well.

But when you focus your life on offers, it becomes easy when the time comes to ask. Think about all the offers you can make:

Boss, is there anything I can help you with?
Colleague, how can I support you on that project?
Network, I have some knowledge or expertise that I’d like to share with anyone interested.
Spouse, I know how hard you work. How can I help make your life easier?
Kid, go clean up your room. (I couldn’t resist.)

We often convince ourselves that we are too busy to make offers, and then we feel squeamish about making requests. But offering help feels great. It is a wonderful end in and of itself. And when you’ve made offers, people are excited to help you in return.

So what will you offer today?

And what will you ask for tomorrow?

It’s out in Japan and will arrive soon in the US - billboard advertising that includes a camera that scans your face, determines your gender and age, and then tailors its message to you. It also keeps track of how long you stay to watch the message.

You can see news accounts of this new technology ranging from standard news reporting to harshly critical.

Reminiscent of the advertising in the movie Minority Report, this system doesn’t identify you as an individual . . . yet. But once these billboards have become standard and as identification software improves, why wouldn’t advertisers try to identify us individually?

And then what?

Is this plain awesome? You get ads specifically tailored to your buying patterns and engineered to entertain you.

Or is this just awful? Big business is that much more aware of where you are and what you are doing with databases for sale to the highest bidders.

What do you think?

We all sell. Whether it’s a new car to a customer, an idea to our spouse, Girl Scout cookies as a 7-year old. We are all always selling.

So what makes a great sales person?

Salespeople need charisma. That’s what I’ve heard. But I’ve also coached sales people for more than 10 years. The successful ones are all alike, but it isn’t because of their charisma. It’s their curiosity.

Charisma can breed admiration and desire for a relationship, but it also wears thin shortly after.

Curiosity on the other hand is the most powerful sales tool you can find. Curiosity about the buyer will lead to a conversation about the buyers favorite topic - themselves. Curiosity helps you understand the other person. It leads to the discovery of connections and builds a solid relationship. And eventually, it uncovers the needs that lead you to a sale.

Charisma may get you a sale, but it will be a quick sale on a weak foundation, one that can easily lead to buyer’s remorse and few future sales.

Curiosity gives you a sale with a strong relationship that opens up all kinds of future opportunities. So be patient. Ask great questions. Care about the answers. The sales will come.