Your Personal Sales Trainer

YOU can use questions to get answers.

This week, I want you to think about questioning techniques for effective communication. Questioning and listening will allow you to serve your customers better and have a better understanding of their needs and desires. Over time, you will develop questions that will help you understand your clients and the real issues that concern them. When you ask a question, listen to understand, not just to respond.

What does it mean to use effective questioning?

It means asking questions that are general.
It means asking questions that are probing.
It means asking questions that discover feelings.
It means asking questions that get you commitment.
General
Use open-ended questions to obtain general information. Examples: “How long have you…?” “Can you share with me…?”
Probing
Probing questions obtain more specific answers so you can discover concerns, problems, and desires. The probing question can be closed ended or open ended. Example: “Can you tell me more about…?”
Feeling
Feeling questions reveal your prospects’ concerns about issues and allow them to share what really matters to them. As a bonus, by asking feeling questions, you are showing your clients that you are concerned about what matters to them.
Commitment
Start focusing on solutions. Use your questions to probe your prospects for where they are in the commitment process. Their answers to your questions give you insight into their desires at a given point.

Remember what others have said about asking questions:

No question is so difficult to answer as that to which the answer is obvious.

George Bernard Shaw

To every answer you can find a new question.

Yiddish Proverb