Questions That Sell – Book Review

By: Paul Cherry

Educational Questions:

To cultivate true business relationships, employ educational questions that expand your customer’s knowledge base. These questions serve as icebreakers, voicemail teasers, or when conversations need revitalization. Avoid overuse, and the template involves referencing external information to engage prospects in meaningful discussions.

Lock-On Questions:

Building on buyer input, lock-on questions deepen conversations and understanding. Use them judiciously, ensuring rapport and genuine connection. Examples include probing for details when prospects mention challenges or expressing the need for a partnership.

Impact Questions:

Aimed at exploring the consequences of challenges, impact questions delve into how issues affect the company, the prospect’s position, and personal well-being. This technique taps into emotions, allowing prospects to vent frustrations and realize the urgency of resolving their problems.

Expansion Questions:

Designed to extract more details from prospects, expansion questions provide deeper insights into their needs. Starting with phrases like “Describe for me” or “Walk me through,” these questions encourage prospects to share stories, thought processes, and decision-making criteria.

Comparison Questions:

Comparison questions facilitate discussions on time, decision makers, competitors, alternative choices, and market trends. They open avenues for understanding priorities, past experiences, and industry differentiators, allowing for more informed sales strategies.

Vision Questions:

Inviting prospects to envision the benefits of collaboration, vision questions focus on implicit needs related to success, independence, recognition, security, stimulation, peace of mind, and simplicity. By understanding these implicit needs, you can guide prospects towards realizing the positive outcomes of working together.

Conclusion:

Mastering the art of asking these six types of questions is paramount for sales success. Whether you’re seeking to educate, deepen understanding, highlight impact, gather more details, make comparisons, or inspire visions of a brighter future, strategic questioning creates a pathway to true business relationships and successful sales outcomes.