Are questions the answer?

The best salespeople are opportunity-identifiers and/or problem-solvers working to help their customers.

To do this they must locate and respect their customer’s buying triggers, those being their customer’s ‘hot buttons’, cold button’ and ‘sore points’. (A hot button is a point of interest or concern to the customer – something they want to hear more about and will buy; a cold button is a point of no interest or concern to the customer – something they don’t want to hear about and won’t buy; a sore point is an aspect of their current situation that they are unhappy with and would like to have fixed.)

A salesperson can identify a customer’s buying triggers only by asking well-planned and well-rehearsed questions (and listening to the answers).

Here are some tips that can help with this process.

Avoid using Yes/No questions

An amusing way to illustrate this point is to examine the classic old-time greeting ‘How ya goin? OK?’ In this greeting the greeter asks an Information-seeking question ‘How are you going?’ Then immediately turns it into a Yes/No question by asking ‘OK?’ Little wonder that the answer is monosyllabic and the conversation dies.

Information-seeking questions generally keep the conversation rolling. Therefore, whether the situation is social or business it’s best to use Information-seekers whenever possible.

Information-seeking questions start with words like Who, What, When, Where, Which, Why and How.

Most, if not all, Yes/No questions can be turned in to Information-seekers with a little thought. ‘Did you have a good weekend?’ can become ‘How was your weekend?’ ‘Have you tried such-and-such?’ can become ‘What have you tried so far?’

Tee up the question before asking it

This is a lesson many TV and radio interviewers need to learn. How often have you heard a sports commentator ask a question like this; ‘Bill what did you think of the course today? In the past you’ve been quoted as saying that Troon is more suited to ……than ……’

The mistake here is that the question is asked, but then the interviewer keeps talking, letting the interviewee off the hook by helping with the answer. (To extend the golf analogy, it’s like trying to tee up the ball after you’ve hit it.)

Better to re-structure the question to ‘Bill, in the past you’ve been quoted as saying that Troon is more suited to …… than ……. What did you think of the course today?’

Having finished with the question, the interviewer should keep quiet and give the interviewee a chance to answer. If more information is wanted a follow-up question can be asked.

Give your customer the opportunity to express a preference

It’s vital that salespeople understand their customer’s attitudes and preferences before trying to sell them anything.

One way of helping with this, and also keeping the conversation rolling is to, early in the discussion, ask the customer for their preference or opinion.

One example of this is the investment adviser who says something like ‘Some of the people I talk to about their investment arrangements feel more concerned about the security of their investments than the rate of return they get. Others feel the opposite. How do you feel?

Another example might be the auto salesperson who says something like ‘Some of the people I talk to about their auto requirements feel more concerned about on-road performance than fuel economy. Others feel the opposite. How do you feel?

If the customer nominates one the salesperson has identified a possible trigger. If the customer responds with ‘A bit of both’ it opens the way for another question, keeping the conversation rolling.

Don’t use questions as traps

Good selling is not about getting a customer to say ‘Yes’ when they want to say ‘No’. It is, however, about helping them say ‘Yes’ when they want to say ‘Yes’.

Even so, a salesperson will sometimes be tempted to use questions as traps to get the customer to say ‘Yes’ when they don’t want to. The giveaway here is that the salesperson will either use a Yes/No question or make a statement and ask the customer to agree to it.

This is a dangerous practice. Customers aren’t silly; they know when they are being manipulated and resent it.

Keep it conversational

Discussions with customers should be conversations not interrogations. None of us like feeling that we are being interrogated; we normally clam up and give only minimum information (and not all of that accurate).

With that in mind salespeople need to master the skill of asking questions in a conversational way. This requires a respectful mindset and a relaxed manner. It will maintain the opportunity for relaxed and open communication with the customer. This in turn makes it easier for the salesperson to understand, and therefore satisfy, the customer’s needs and wants.

A final thought

The ability to ask the right questions is a skill that helps in all areas of business not just in sales. Consider areas like personnel, production or finance; how many times are problems in these areas over-looked or dealt with in a less-than-satisfactory manner because people who should know better failed to ask the right questions at the right time.

Remember that the quality of a question generally determines the quality of the answer it generates.


(The up-coming post for Wednesday 4/3 is Do sales competitions work? It seeks to provide some ideas on the effectiveness of sales competitions in improving sales results.)