Questions Are The Answer
When Selling Why Ask Questions?
Asking questions shifts the conversation away from selling to facilitation.
Asking questions creates space to think rather than simply do
Asking questions engages others and increases buy-in into potential solutions
Asking questions promotes peer to peer conversations (and you do want to be seen as an equal.
Asking questions challenges. In sales challenging questions lead to greater insight.
Asking questions promotes action. And action accelerates sales deals.
Questions engage others;
Here’s some science. Your brain can process roughly 700 words per minute. You can talk about 250 words per minute.
So, when you talk, your customer has a lot of spare brain-power to switch off and think about other things. When they are talking, you can use that extra capacity to craft your approach and responses.
As a sales leader, you are trying to balance a conversation from being too nurturing ( helping too much ) to being too directive (telling too much). These can be relevant approaches to some conversations, but to be seen as the trusted advisor, you must bring value. You can only bring value when you have insight. And you can only gain insight through your questions.
Questioning Styles
Awareness
You ask questions to create awareness. Often your prospect may not be fully aware of their problem. Or the extent of the problem. For example, you could ask “how long does it take for a team member to complete that audit daily”? Can often generate responses like “I’m not 100% sure, I guess it could be 30-minutes, maybe more”.
You are now opening a line of conversation that can lead to higher awareness and potentially uncover a broader issue.
Commitment
In sales, your success is built on gaining a series of mini-commitments from your customers. Commitment questions can be as simple as “can I just confirm our next call time with you now”?
Action
A related set of questions are action questions. The “who does what and by when questions MUST be peppered throughout your sales conversations. “Can I just clarify a couple of things, please”?
Clarity
In my workshops, I often get the group to complete a simple exercise. I take a single word from their website, for example, responsive. I then ask everyone to take 15 seconds and write their definition of what responsive is. We then share our definitions.
It is rare to find two definitions that match.
Why does that matter? Well, what if your customer’s definition of responsive is a 4-hour response time for all queries? And your definition is 24-hour response times. You are on a collision course.
Clarity often requires that we consciously remove our filters. Those pre-conceived notions that we already know the answer. You may not.
Possibilities
Buyers buy from sellers who create the strongest “buying vision”. Vision is all about possibility. Questions that lead to creative discussions build trust and often result in breakthrough moments.
“Let’s take a little time here and imagine we had a magic wand. You had the perfect solution in place. What would that look like to you”?
Exercise
Closed questions do not leave space in the conversation. They lead people to an answer, the answer you want. Let’s look at some ways to transform this questioning style to an open questioning style.
The examples below lead others to a direct answer. Try to change the question to an open question that leaves the solution open.
Have you thought of automating your inspection process to free up your team?
Should you focus on this project immediately?
Isn’t this your highest priority right now?
Shouldn’t you talk to them directly to resolve the impasse?
Couldn’t you eliminate that step and focus on finishing the plan?
Key Takeaways
Not all questions were made equal. Some are more equal than others. Craft out a set of questions that promote awareness, create forward action, clarify and lead to possibilities. You will transform engagements with customers.
Regards Ronan
Call me on +353(86) 7732201
Ronan Kilroy | Insthinktive Sales Leadership Ltd. | Blanchardstown, | Dublin 15, | Office 01 8220523
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