Open-ended questions are one of the most important tools for those who sell (as long as you listen).
They help you gather information, qualify sales opportunities, and establish rapport, trust and credibility.
If you consider yourself a professional, own (absolutely know) a repertoire of powerful open-ended questions… questions that are answered by more than a simple yes or no… questions where the prospect/ customer gets directly involved in the sales discussion.
The key here…
Ask the question and let the prospect/ customer give you their answer.
No leading.
No prompting.
No interrupting.
Just in case you’ve not had the opportunity to put yours down in writing, here are some of our favorites. You should have several additional questions specific to your industry, but these’ll get you more than started.
Write down the ones you find valuable. Memorize them with your team. Practice them on your drive in or on the way to your next appointment. Print them out. Post them near your phone. Pass them on to your team.
It’s all about sales®.
____________________
Information gathering
What prompted you/ your company to look into this?
What are your expectations/ requirements for this product/ service?
What process did you go through to determine your needs?
How do you see this happening?
What is it that you’d like to see accomplished?
With whom have you had success in the past?
With whom have you had difficulties in the past?
Can you help me understand that a little better?
What does that mean?
How does that process work now?
What challenges does that process create?
What challenges has that created in the past?
What are the best things about that process?
What other items should we discuss?
Qualifying
What do you see as the next action steps?
What is your timeline for implementing/ purchasing this type of service/ product?
What other data points should we know before moving forward?
What budget has been established for this?
What are your thoughts?
Who else is involved in this decision?
What could make this no longer a priority?
What’s changed since we last talked?
What concerns do you have?
Establishing rapport, trust & credibility
How did you get involved in…?
What kind of challenges are you facing?
What’s the most important priority to you with this? Why?
What other issues are important to you?
What would you like to see improved?
How do you measure that?
(remember: no leading… no prompting… no interrupting… seriously.)
Ken Harper says:
My favorite question is a follow up question when someone says, “I don’t know”. You just ask, “Well what would your answer be if you did know?” Prospects or customers usually give you an answer then or find it humorous and you have broken the ice with them for better rapport!
Ken
25 August 2010
Rich says:
My favorite open ended question- “Can YOU help ME understand (anything about their business) better?” Even the toughest or meanest people in the world love to help others and show off their knowledge. Try it sometime and then listen.
25 August 2010
Carol says:
I also recommend to sales reps I work with to “keep em talking”. The best sale out there is the one where the person, my self included, sells themselves!! Your open ended lead in questions are great; we can keep the customer talking by asking open ended “lead on” questions. Short little 2 word sentences such as “how so?” “Why’s that.” Because…….??. Oftentimes, you don’t have to say a word; just look a bit confused and the customer will try to help you understand his needs better!! Who was it that said…. “We have 2 ears and 1 mouth for a reason”!!!!!!!
20 July 2010
NhanhNhat.vn says:
Awesome, thanks!
20 June 2010
Bhaskaran says:
Good Questions!
Thank you
2 June 2010
Michael G says:
To RR
What’s the most important priority to you with this? Why? is two questions on one line making 30
24 May 2010
Eric Pinola says:
Super Job!
7 May 2010
RR says:
I count 29.
5 May 2010
Saloni says:
Informative..:)
15 April 2010
Clarence Coggins Crown Prince of Web 2.0 says:
I felt that this was an excellent piece of information. One of the biggest problems that I realized I had was not knowing the right questions to ask. This really was helpful in getting the mind working
8 April 2010
ARJUN says:
GO TROUGH A QUESTION EACH DAY, USE IT ,
IT HELPS
31 March 2010
Sales Exits – Just Sell®… it’s all about sales® « The Blog of Gobi Canada says:
[...] is engaged and you’ve begun your discussion. After your prospect responds to several of your open-ended questions, you begin to discover the prospect may not be a prospect at all (at least not for the next quarter [...]
9 March 2010
Eleanor says:
Love the website.
I also just wanted to add that I think THE most important part of selling is ‘personalised’. So instead of a script saying “I can see where your product sales would greatly benefit from advertising with us…” instead “I can see where m’n'm sales would greatly benefit..etc…” people’s ears prick up when they hear something familiar and not the same old scripts.
thanks.
4 March 2010
Joh says:
Fantastic helpful hints. It would be great to see some NLP examples of selling.
22 February 2010
marife says:
Thanks a lot, it helps me so much.
2 February 2010
James Muniz says:
Study well and remember that you only have 1 opportunity to captivate the clients buying attention. Do your best and use justsell. You can and will become the top performer. Everyone wants to be “Diamond Level”…
Sales is the commitment to your clients, take care of them or someone else will. Justsell has taught me much, now go out & A.B.C.!
20 January 2010
Robert Rose says:
How does sales person learn not to create objections?
8 December 2009
Getting Your Prospects to Talk | The CRAP Report says:
[...] questions is the difference between a fully qualified sales opportunity and an opportunity lost. Here is a list of 30 good open-ended questions from Just Sell that your BDR’s should be using [...]
1 December 2009
eds says:
thanks…this can help me to having an enterview…for our project…….
19 November 2009
Gavin says:
Yeah , Good site. Regularly drop by to check it out.
As a Sales Manager – I live by the 212degrees video.
Keep up the good work.
18 November 2009
Steve-WSI Global Web Strategies says:
Really great stuff. I always find diamonds on this website.
15 November 2009
Eldon says:
This was very helpful to me and I thank you for taking the time to post
this.
15 November 2009
Michelle says:
I’ve just startred a new company and currently I AM the sales force…This appears to be a very useful site. I’ll frequent it!
12 November 2009
Sunil Sharma says:
Thanks for this great site. There is a lot of ideas for improve your sales.you can do better something by reading these tips.
10 November 2009
Dave Hill says:
Sales resistance is the natural result of homeostasis. People are designed to maintain equalibrium. And unless a person is experiencing much pain or desire in their current state they will not automatically buy because a sales person walks in the door. What’s really funny is that people don’t even know why they exhibit sales resistance. The professional understands and expects sales resistance. That’s why this a great site – learn your trade and you’ll never have to learn the “tricks” of your trade.
29 September 2009
Rino says:
I ave used this website for for a very long time, it is my default site and use it daily. It is informative, thought provoking with lots of good sales stuff.
16 September 2009
Boris Longfellow says:
This is a fantastic website! It serves as a reinforcement for me, being a Top Performer and soon I’ll be managing my very own sales channel. Keep up the good work! spread the word! What works for you might work others like me, earning residual income. Cheers!
25 August 2009
paul neville says:
This is a fantastic site. Before every sales day i always refer to it to help keep myself focused for day ahead.
Thanks.
20 August 2009
Jeff says:
Great way to equip oneself and one’s team to go into the sales battle and come out victorious! Keep up the great work!
10 August 2009
Ken Horsley says:
One of the MOST informative sites online for us SALES WARRIORS!!!
GO JUSTSELL.COM
7 August 2009
Filipe says:
Nice site and tips, but I could live without the false testemonies.
6 August 2009
stephanie says:
Ive been in advertising for a while and when I was recruited by one of South Africas biggest advertising mediums I knew that I would really need to step up to the plate.
Luckily I told my manager about Justsell.com and aleady she was impressed when she saw all the info available…
6 August 2009
Timothy C. Kain says:
This site is GREAT! All these little gems that are given so freely and with the sincere desire to help the salesperson succeed. I love it! Keep up the good work!
Close and Prosper.
6 August 2009
Roman Marta says:
Back in 2002 I stumbled upon justsale.com and till this day visit the site frequently. My tool bag is full thanks in part to the vital info. provided by justsell.com. I have fullfilled my commitment to just simply sell. Gracias justsell.com.
Roman Marta
17 July 2009
Feroz says:
I’ve improved as sales person over a period of time from the momnet I logged in to this site.
I’ve seen great results using the tips published here!
17 July 2009
Wyteria Jacobo says:
I am so glad I found this site again. This time, I’m printing out the list. Even experienced sales professionals need reminders.
Thanks!
16 July 2009
Stacy says:
Great questions!! I will be sure to use this list soon
14 July 2009
Gary says:
Staying on script is the hardest part of the presentation. To often I want to jump to all of the wonderful things I know about my products(lubricants) and company before I even know how I can help the prospect. Can anyone else feel when you have lost them?
This is a great reminder of those things which we need to know before we can help the prospect, and realize that it may be one than a one call stop. Most likely will not be a more than one stop call if we do not offer solutions to the prospect.
9 July 2009
Sam Parker says:
Thanks Jennifer & Phils! Be SalesTough.
3 July 2009
phil says:
this really hits the issues hard great site!!!
2 July 2009
Phil says:
I have been reading your website columns for a good while and this post, like all of the others, hits the nail-on-the-head with clear concise and very usable selling skills.
Too often we as salesman want to extol the benefits of our products, company, etc. and fail to question and/or listen to the customer and what their needs maybe.
As has been said before – God gave us two ears and only one mouth which should give a clue as to what we should be doing more of.
Keep up the great work!
1 July 2009
Jennifer says:
Great looking website with good, useable tid bits.
Thank you.
29 June 2009