Ask, don’t tell: the power of questions in a sales conversation

In the first instalment of our 2-part Sales Success series, David Forman facilitator Natasha Gunn provides some helpful tips on how to (and why you should) improve your questioning techniques.

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In an effective sales conversation, who will be doing most of the talking? The customer.
How do you make that happen? You ask questions.

A good questioning technique will:

• Allow you to understand your customer’s needs and buying criteria better.
• Get potential objections and obstacles out in the open before you are asking for the sale.
• Expose new opportunities.
• Put the customer at the centre of the conversation.

So what does a good questioning technique involve?

Most importantly, it involves active listening. People generally know when the questioner isn’t really engaged and is just waiting for their turn to speak.

Active listening

• Responding to what is being said with appropriate follow up questions or comments.
• Verbal and non-verbal indications that you are following what is being said – facial expressions, body language, eye contact, verbal encouragers.
• Establishing rapport by responding appropriately emotionally. For example emotions may include humour, sympathy or pleasure.
• Not interrupting or talking over them.

In the end however, your conversation does have a purpose, so it’s good to know how to use questions to best effect.

Open questions

• Have no one specific answer.
• Invite the customer to express their thoughts, feelings and opinions.
• Are good for exploring new ideas or finding creative solutions.
• Are a good way to start the conversation and get the customer talking.

Closed questions

• Have a specific answer.
• Help to clarify facts.
• Are good for steering a conversation back to its purpose.

Remember this is not an exact science. Just because a question doesn’t work once doesn’t mean it might not work with a different customer, or with the same customer on a different day.

If your questions are getting short or no responses, try rephrasing them in a more open way or be more specific and direct in what you are asking – or ask what the problem is. Your customer may just be having a really bad day.

David Forman’s Sales Performer programme can help you practice your questioning technique.

Practice makes perfect!

With more than 20 years as a trainer and learning specialist in both New Zealand and Australia, Natasha Gunn, understands how to develop and deliver training that produces results.

As a facilitator, Nat knows David Forman inside out. Along with her team of experts, Nat led our team of SME to re-design our face-to-face programmes, transforming them into live online experiences.

When relaxing, Nat is running trails or hanging out in a forest or at a beach with her dog. When she’s inside you’ll find her at her PC or wearing her VR headset, maybe working – more likely gaming.