Great question! When someone’s question is off topic I usually let them know that I need to stay on topic right now and inform them about if and when that topic will come up in the course of our time together and if it won’t I let them know what resources are available to help them with their question.

A skill you can develop to help you serve your client and create hunger for your product and service offerings is called seeding. Questions are a great time to seed, but here’s the important thing to remember. Seeding only works when you give them immediate value, as in answer their question with something immediately useful, and then show them where they can get more. It’s a smart way to come from service and sell…without being salesy.