Questioning tips to help you sell more

The most important part of the sales process is questioning. Presenting without questioning, and questioning adequately, is like buying a gift for someone you know absolutely nothing about--your choice will likely be way off target, and result in disappointment for you and them.

Here are a collection of tips and ideas to use in your questioning.

Have a strong belief system regarding questioning. I've seen timid reps carrying a preconceived notion that people are offended by qualifying questions. Nonsense. This is business! They're actually more offended when salespeople don't get to the point. Project a self-assured image and tone...one that says questioning is a necessary part of your process (it is!) in order to determine how you can help them. Let your demeanor indicate you expect an answer.

If you must ask for what really is touchy or private information, don't apologize. "I hope you're not thinking I'm getting too personal here. I know this is normally confidential." Instead, preface your remarks with your justification for asking, which puts the answerer more at ease: "The reason for the next question is that it will help me identify the best recommendation for your company's size range."

Use "Assumptive Problem" open-ended questions. Instead of saying, "Do you have any problems with defects now?" say, "How are you handling defects in the manufacturing process." If you know your industry well enough, you're aware of problems everyone has. You're asking them to quantify and explain the implications of the problems.

Use "Parrot" questions. Use parrot questions. That's the technique; repeating back what the person just said. For example, when they say, "We haven't had much luck finding the right system to track our process," you could parrot back, "You haven't had much luck?" Their comment is just the tip of the iceberg. By repeating a part of their comment, you encourage them to continue.

Use "Instructional Statements." Don't ask for information. Tell them to give it to you. Use phrases like, "Tell me a little about..." "Share with me..." "Fill me in on..." "Give me some idea of..." "Detail the ways that..." "Let's go over the reasons for..."

Remember that some of your "benefits" are actually liabilities to others. Your benefits are not universal. Some people could actually say, "We don't need that, and we don't want to pay extra for it!" Therefore, for each benefit you have, make sure you ask a question to determine if it's really perceived as one by your prospect. For example, if the printer you sell races through at 12 pages per minute, you might ask "For what types of jobs do you use your printer?" And depending on their response, "How much of an issue is speed?"

Ask yourself questions before calls in order to develop the best prospect/customer questions. Ask, "What do I want them to do as a result of this call?" This gives you your primary call objective. Then ask, "What information do I need form them?" This provides whatever qualifying or data-gathering questions you must ask. Finally, ask, "What do I need them to think and believe in order to take the action I desire?" The answer to this question provides the pointers you'd like to get across...without actually making the points yourself. They are ideas you want them to discover through your questions. The reasoning is that people always believe more of what they say and think than of what you say. For example, let's say you need them to believe that they are missing sales opportunities because their incoming business reply card leads are too long before their sales people unenthusiastically call on them, and, that their salespeople would be much better off calling on hot leads that had already been qualified. You could develop questions such as:

"How long do your leads normally sit before your reps get to them?"

"Have they ever had situations where the prospect already purchased before the rep got around to calling?"

"How often do your reps complain about the quality of the leads?"

"Do you think they might even avoid calling them sometimes because they perceive them as bad?"

"If so, do you think they might miss a few of the good ones that undoubtedly are still in there?"

After these questions, the prospect would be much more favorably conditioned to hear a presentation on your lead qualification service.

Quality questions get quality answers. Despite what you may have been told in school, there are such things as dumb questions. For example, "So, everything going OK with your present vendor?" is likely to stimulate the same kind of response as the convenience-store-clerk question, "How much downtime do you experience?"

About the Author

Art Sobczak, President of Business By Phone Inc., specializes in one area only: working with business-to-business salespeople--both inside and outside--designing and delivering content-rich programs that participants begin showing results from the very next time they get on the phone. Audiences love his down-to-earth, entertaining style, and low-pressure, easy-to-use, customer oriented ideas and techniques.
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arts@businessbyphone.com
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