Why are questions so important in selling?

Building on my article ‘Where is my inner six year old when I need them?’, using effective questioning techniques is one of the most significant key differentiators between a person with good sales skills and a person with outstanding sales skills. However, many sales people find this the most challenging aspect of the sales process.

Questions are used to not only assist you with gathering information about the customer, ie. their needs, situation, issues and priorities but also, when used effectively, assist the customer with coming to a clear understanding and realisation about what they need to do for themselves, hopefully with your assistance.

Although questions are asked at all stages of the sales process, most questioning should take place within the Customer Needs Analysis Phase, which should occur near the beginning of the Sales Communication Process. Despite the sales approaches of the past where sales people had a tendency to do most of the talking, the Customer Needs Analysis Phase is actually where you need to ask great questions and spend most of your time listening to the answers. As a rule of thumb you should spend about 20% of your time speaking, in particular, asking questions and 80% listening in this phase. Test yourself or others next time, it may come as quite a shock how little time we spend listening to our customers.

Although it is the Phase where you do the least talking, it can also be considered the most important Phase of the sale. It is at this stage that a number of critical things take place if you are handling the Customer Needs Analysis Phase effectively:

1. You gain an understanding of the customer’s needs, priorities, issues, perceptions, prejudices, fears, etc.

2. You come to have a deeper understanding of the customer’s buying motivators or intentions.

3. You build rapport and trust with the customer by listening effectively and demonstrating empathy towards their situation. Key is being able to see if from their point of view.

4. You are able to probe deeper into their situation using effective questioning techniques that help the customer to see a greater, tangible need for your product or service.

5. You establish what the consequences and opportunities are for the customer and how working with you will add value for them.

One of the fundamental aspects of the Sales Process is that customers value conclusions about their needs that they have come to themselves rather than conclusions that salespeople present to them. It is through the effective use of questions that you are able to assist customers with self-discovery and understanding their needs for themselves.

Finally, incorporating a suite of different questions and pursuing them in such a way that you and the customer gain a clear understanding of what is a required legitimises you as a trusted partner. This approach enables you and the customer to come to the realisation of whether they need to take up your solution or not.

While it may sound absurd to not proceed with a sale, effective questioning enables you to determine who will be a suitable and viable client to work with and who will not. We need to press home to all sales people that not every sale is going to be a good sale and effective questioning helps you make that determination quickly so that you can get onto the customers you want in your portfolio.

As mentioned previously, everyone was born with the ability to ask questions and be curious. If this has waned in your sales team and business recently, may I suggest you have questioning skill sessions where you practice questioning as part of ongoing development. Come up with questions that work. Look at how and why they work and share them around with everyone so we can all improve our questioning fitness.

Remember, everybody lives by selling something.

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Sue Barrett is a Thought Leader on 21st century sales training, sales coaching, sales leadership, sales capability and sales culture. She practices as a coach, advisor, speaker, facilitator, consultant and writer and works across all market segments with her skilful team at BARRETT.  They help people from many different careers become aware of their sales capabilities and enable them to take the steps to becoming effective, and productive when it comes to selling, sales coaching or sales leadership. Sue and her team are your first and best reference when it comes to forging out a successful career as a competent sales professional and leader . If you have an idea, capability, product, service or opportunity that can benefit another and make their life better in some way then Sue says you need to be able to sell – ethically, honourably, and effectively.  To hone your sales skills or learn how to sell go to www.barrett.com.au.