Get In The Habit Of Asking More Questions And Listening More Carefully
By Walter Rogers
President and CEO
Baker Communication
Experienced sales professionals already know that asking questions is the best way to uncover customer needs. However, you can be good at asking questions and still never be highly successful, and here is why: A lot of sales professionals only ask questions so they can steer the customer to the solution they already had in mind when the conversation started. This approach to using questions may lead to a sale, but it may not create the level of trust, intimacy and understanding that is necessary to build a long-term relationship. This approach - because it is still grounded in the sales professional‘s needs and goals - may not uncover all of the customer‘s needs or create a complete understanding of the customer‘s situation. Remember, the question you must keep asking yourself is not "what can I sell," but rather, "how can I help?"
This process is very similar to the doctor who asks, "where does it hurt?" The doctor usually doesn‘t stop there. He will also ask things like:
• How often does it hurt?
• Is it hurting now?
• When was the last time it hurt?
• What were you doing when it hurt?
• How long did it hurt?
• On a scale of 1-10, how much does it hurt?
• When did it first start hurting?
• Does it hurt when I do this?
• Do you also have this symptom or that symptom or these symptoms when it hurts, or before it hurts or after it hurts?
And even after asking all these questions, the doctor may order several tests to clarify or confirm what is or isn‘t going on with the patient. The point is, it takes a lot of investigation, probing, listening and learning to get the full picture of the patient‘s situation. When you are talking about a person‘s health, you don‘t want to take shortcuts. A headache could be anything from eyestrain to a brain tumor. It pays to be careful, caring and thorough. A careless diagnosis can prove fatal.
A highly successful sales professional has learned that it doesn‘t help to take short cuts when trying to understand his customer, either. It is not enough to just ask questions; you have to ask the right questions and you have to ask enough of them to get the full picture of your customer‘s situation. How many is that? However many it takes. It is like peeling an onion. Each time your customer answers a question, this automatically prompts an opportunity for a follow up question.
• What top priorities are you engaged in now?
• Why were these selected?
• How are you tackling them?
• What roadblocks are you facing?
• How are you overcoming those roadblocks?
• What timing have you established to tackle these initiatives?
• Who is on the project teams?
• How were they selected?
• Are they on track with the schedule?
• What will happen if you don‘t meet your timelines?
• What is the back-up plan if you don‘t make the timelines?
The options are endless; it all depends on the answer you received to the previous question. Remember this: every time you ask a thoughtful, insightful, supportive question, you are demonstrating your desire to help, and most of the time you are also subtly showing off your expertise without ever calling attention to it, because you are asking the right questions in the right way. But be careful; this is a conversation, not an interrogation. Be careful to adapt to the customer‘s pace and style of interacting.
Open and Closed Questions
Customer-centered interaction uses two distinct types of questions. They have different functions and are used at various times to accomplish different purposes. The first type of question is referred to as an open question, because of its open-ended nature. The structure of this question invites the listener to speak freely and share his feelings, insights or opinions on a variety of subjects without limiting him in any way.
Open questions usually start with words like:
• Who
• Where
• What
• When
• How
• Why
• Or maybe simply, "Tell me about …" or "Could you explain … "
Use open questions when you want to find out more about the customer‘s needs, problems, concerns, or experiences. Someone who is skilled and practiced at asking open questions can obtain a great deal of very important information. Here are some examples of open questions:
"What happened when you switched to the upgraded product?"
"Why do you believe re-thinking your plan is important to do right now?
"Would you mind telling me what it is that is causing you the most frustration right now?"
Open questions are very effective at building trust because they establish rapport between you and the customer. Most people like to talk about themselves and their situation. Open questions give them permission to do just that. All you have to do is sit quietly and pay attention. Don‘t interrupt, distract or correct; just be quiet and soak it all in.
Open questions can also be used at any point during the conversation when the customer expresses doubt, resistance or apathy. For example:
Customer says: I just don‘t think your plan solves all of our problems.
You say: Can you tell me a little more about what concerns you?
Once you receive his answer, you can use this new information to construct a solution that better suits his needs.
The second type of question is the closed question, so called because it tends to close off conversation by eliciting a short, clear, direct answer – sometimes as simple as yes or no. Some examples of closed questions are:
• "Do you have any problems with the way this was handled?"
• "Who is responsible for this project?"
• "When is the deadline for implementation?"
• "Did the product worked like you expected?"
Closed questions are useful when you need to receive quick, basic facts from the customer about some aspect of his situation. They can also help get the conversation moving when the customer appears reluctant to respond to open questions, or when he replies with only vague, confused answers. For instance, if your open questions about the customer‘s general situation or goals don‘t provide any insights that help you understand how to help him, you might try asking closed questions to prime the pump:
• "Is on-time delivery ever a problem for you?"
• "Is the product you are using now meeting all of your processing needs?"
Okay, hopefully your closed question received an answer. This then opens the door for asking another round of open questions. Such as:
• "Oh, I see. Well, can you explain a little more about where your experience with previous solutions has not been adequate so I can understand what would help you the most?"
One final note: our experience over the years indicates that most sales professionals don‘t ask enough open questions, especially if they are only interested in selling instead of helping. If you are not happy with the size of the deals you are getting, or if too many of your deals get stuck in the pipeline and die, asking more open questions might uncover more opportunities and keep things moving.
Listening: the other half of the Helping Equation
It is not enough to just ask good questions; you must actually listen to the answers and make sure you understand exactly what the customer is trying to say to you. Again, sales professionals too often only ask the questions that will give them the answers they want so they can sell their products. Therefore, they tend to not really listen to what the customer is saying, unless it takes them in the direction they have already decided they want to go. Of course, failing to really listen will limit your ability to help the customer and grow the relationship. A highly successful sales professional listens to ALL aspects of the answer – the words, the tone of voice and the body language – to glean important clues that will help him understand the problem and frame the possible solutions that will meet the most needs in the best way.
Clarifying and Confirming says you are here to help
Never assume that you fully understand what the customer is telling you until you have clarified what you have heard and confirmed that you understanding is what the customer meant. After all, what does "as soon as possible" really mean?
• Clarify whenever you do not have enough information to understand what the customer needs and want. "Could you tell me more about …?"
• Confirm by stating to the customer your understanding of what he wants and why he needs it, and ask him if your understanding is correct. "If I understand you correctly, Peter …"
Best practices for asking and listening*
• Probe for clarification
• Listen for unvoiced emotion
• Listen for the story, not just the facts
• Summarize well
• Demonstrate empathy
• Listen for what is different, not what is familiar
• Take it all seriously (Don‘t say, "You shouldn‘t worry about that.")
• Ask, "How do you feel about that?"
• Keep the customer talking (What else have you thought about?")
• Keep asking for more detail
• Ask what you could that would help the most, and let the customer answer
• Ask what the customer has thought of before saying what you are thinking
• Maintain eye contact
• Demonstrate supportive body language (nod head, lean forward, etc.)
• Provide occasional affirming verbal cues ("I see what you mean;" "I hear you;" etc.)
*Adapted from Maister, Green and Galford, The Trusted Advisor
Going Deeper
• In a typical sales conversation, about how long do you spend asking questions before you move to presenting your solution recommendation?
• Are you confident that this is enough time to uncover all the opportunities and develop sufficient understanding of the customer situation?
• Have you ever sold a customer on a solution, only to discover later that if you had only known a little more, you could have created a bigger, better deal?
• Review your sales process strategy and identify places where you could ask at least 5 more open questions that might help you uncover more information.
• Review your sales process strategy and designate the key areas where you could do a better job of clarifying and confirming the information you receive from your customer.
Walter Rogers is the President and CEO of Baker Communications. Baker Communications is a sales training and development company specializing in helping client companies increase their sales and management effectiveness. He can be reached at 713-627-7700.
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