The Art of Asking Great Questions
It’s been said that one of the most important skills in sales is listening. But in order to listen well, there’s another important skill that comes first: asking good questions. You can’t simply walk in a prospect’s door and say, “What are the issues you are struggling with?” or “What keeps you up at night?” Today, you’d be jettisoned out of the office by savvy executives who demand more researched, intelligent, and thought-provoking questions.
“The quality of your questions is directly related to the quality of your business because unless people change the way they think, they are not likely to change the way they act,” says Jerry Acuff, CEO of Delta Point, Inc., and author of Stop Acting Like a Seller And Start Thinking Like a Buyer (John Wily & Sons, 2007). Before he meets with anyone, Acuff spends an hour – and often two – creating the questions he needs answered to determine if a prospective client is a fit for his service. Here’s some of his advice for crafting great questions:
Be transparent. Open your dialogue by revealing a truth about why you’re there. Say something like, “I’m here to learn if there’s a fit between what we offer and your situation.” You’ll make the prospect more willing to answer your questions because you’ve framed the meeting not as a sales pitch but as an exploratory discussion.
Ask “thinking” questions. Asking a prospect how many units he ships per month or whether his business needs a good return on its liquid funds doesn’t require the prospect to use much brain power, which means he’s not engaging very deeply with you. But a question like, “How important is it that you have instant access to all your deposits?” or, “How will yesterday’s Senate decision on the environment affect your manufacturing procedures?” provokes thought and discussion and therefore opens the door for additional conversations.
Don’t assume anything. Don’t assume you know what’s important to customers. Even if you’re right, you still need to provoke thought to make the sale. Witness what happened at IBM. Years ago, the company found new sales reps were growing their business for about 20 months and then they’d plateau. In examining the problem, managers discovered that after 20 months, reps had so much product knowledge and customer experience, they could walk into an account and immediately tell the customer what would solve their problems. “They could diagnose a problem quickly, but they didn’t give the customer a chance to talk,” says Acuff. So even though their diagnoses were spot-on, they weren’t closing sales. The lesson: even if you’ve seen it all before, it’s still critical to ask the questions.
Use “triggers.” Triggers are phrases that pique the customer’s interest in your question before you ask it. They’re so called because they reference the event or occurrence that triggered the question. For instance, “Last week, I read an article that made me think you might have a problem with…,” or, “I was talking with John in marketing yesterday and he told me….”
Target your strengths. Ask questions that determine how customers value your major competitive strengths. For instance, if your company is the only one that can deliver in 24 hours, you might ask something like, “What percentage of the time is it absolutely necessary to get the product delivered in 24 hours?” followed by, “What happens if on-time delivery doesn’t occur?” If the responses indicate rapid delivery is not that important to the prospect, it could be a red flag this isn’t a great opportunity. However, if 24-hour delivery is critical, and a late delivery could botch up their entire process, you’ve just opened the door for some thought-provoking dialogue.
For more information, visit www.gotochange.com.
“The quality of your questions is directly related to the quality of your business because unless people change the way they think, they are not likely to change the way they act,” says Jerry Acuff, CEO of Delta Point, Inc., and author of Stop Acting Like a Seller And Start Thinking Like a Buyer (John Wily & Sons, 2007). Before he meets with anyone, Acuff spends an hour – and often two – creating the questions he needs answered to determine if a prospective client is a fit for his service. Here’s some of his advice for crafting great questions:
Be transparent. Open your dialogue by revealing a truth about why you’re there. Say something like, “I’m here to learn if there’s a fit between what we offer and your situation.” You’ll make the prospect more willing to answer your questions because you’ve framed the meeting not as a sales pitch but as an exploratory discussion.
Ask “thinking” questions. Asking a prospect how many units he ships per month or whether his business needs a good return on its liquid funds doesn’t require the prospect to use much brain power, which means he’s not engaging very deeply with you. But a question like, “How important is it that you have instant access to all your deposits?” or, “How will yesterday’s Senate decision on the environment affect your manufacturing procedures?” provokes thought and discussion and therefore opens the door for additional conversations.
Don’t assume anything. Don’t assume you know what’s important to customers. Even if you’re right, you still need to provoke thought to make the sale. Witness what happened at IBM. Years ago, the company found new sales reps were growing their business for about 20 months and then they’d plateau. In examining the problem, managers discovered that after 20 months, reps had so much product knowledge and customer experience, they could walk into an account and immediately tell the customer what would solve their problems. “They could diagnose a problem quickly, but they didn’t give the customer a chance to talk,” says Acuff. So even though their diagnoses were spot-on, they weren’t closing sales. The lesson: even if you’ve seen it all before, it’s still critical to ask the questions.
Use “triggers.” Triggers are phrases that pique the customer’s interest in your question before you ask it. They’re so called because they reference the event or occurrence that triggered the question. For instance, “Last week, I read an article that made me think you might have a problem with…,” or, “I was talking with John in marketing yesterday and he told me….”
Target your strengths. Ask questions that determine how customers value your major competitive strengths. For instance, if your company is the only one that can deliver in 24 hours, you might ask something like, “What percentage of the time is it absolutely necessary to get the product delivered in 24 hours?” followed by, “What happens if on-time delivery doesn’t occur?” If the responses indicate rapid delivery is not that important to the prospect, it could be a red flag this isn’t a great opportunity. However, if 24-hour delivery is critical, and a late delivery could botch up their entire process, you’ve just opened the door for some thought-provoking dialogue.
For more information, visit www.gotochange.com.
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