Questioning Skills for Top Producers
by Dennis Kyle

Communication skills are the defining attribute of a top sales person. There are five parts to great communication skills. Listening, Questioning, Body Language, Speaking, and Interpreting. In the next few issues of the Executive Sales Tips Newsletter, we will explore each of these topics.  This month`s topic is Questioning Skills.

My wife owns an entertainment company which specializes in corporate grand openings.  She jokes that she is not the sales person, and I have to agree.  Because her business requires her to prospect new clients, she quite often ask my help.  The other day I was talking with her again about open-ended versus close-ended questions.  She finally had an "Ah, ha!" experience with the difference between the two.  This may seem quite simple to many of you, but you may be surprised to find out how many in the sales profession still do not have a clear grasp of these basic questioning skills.

Open-ended questions often start with words such as what, tell me about, share with me, and how.  Open-ended questions should bring about descriptive answers from your prospect not a `yes/no` answer.  Yes or no answers, or short non-expressive answers are the result of a Close-ended question which customarily begin with is, are, can, may, do, will, etc.  Open-ended or Close-ended question are neither good nor bad; they each have their purpose.

For those of you who have attended my new seminar Mastering Consultative Selling Skills; The CORE Selling System, you have heard me break down Close and Open ended questions into four categories. Complete communication occurs when we use all four types of questions.

Open-Ended Questions

Broad Scoped Open-Ended (BSOE)
Are exactly what the name elicits, broad and open.  Broad in the sense that they are not meant for finding specifics, and open in that they begin with an open-starter like, what, tell me about, and share with me.

BSOE Example:

Tell me about the products and services your organization sells?

What primary responsibilities do your marketing agents have?

Share with me the steps that are currently in place for order processing.

BSOE questions are usually non-intrusive and help you develop background information about your prospect; however, they have other uses.  A BSOE question is great for seeing the futuristic views of your clients or prospects. 

BSOE Example: 

How do you see this project moving from here? 

What future goals do you have for your Human Resource team?

The basic principle to remember about developing BSOE questions is:

Open-End Starter + Need For Understanding + Who/What Is It Related = BSOE

Example: 

Share with me + the steps that are currently in place + for order processing = BSOE 

Remember, you are not asking for specifics at this point. You are attempting to create general dialogue with facts.  Think about BSOE questions with relationship to a first date.  Most people ask surface things like:  Tell me about your family?  How many brothers and sisters do you have?  What kind of music do you like?  It is a general overview of who somebody is and what they`re all about.  In the next section, I`ll talk about how to take the information you generate from these questions and masterfully create value for strategic selling situations.

Narrow Scoped Open-Ended (NSOE)

NSOE questions create meaningful specific answers.  In other words, they are intended to delve deep into an idea.  NSOE questions can be thought of as true probing questions.  

Just like the BSOE, NSOE questions begin with:

What...
How...
Tell me about..
Share your ideas...

NSOE questions are best derived from the answers you receive from BSOE questions.  Let`s take a look at an example:

BSOE:  What are you currently doing to provide internet solutions to your employees?
Customer:  Well, we don`t have access for all of our staff.
NSOE:  Tell me, what has kept you from implementing company wide?
Customer:  The expense of dial-up connections.
NSOE:  Dial-up connections?  Exactly how many do you have in place now?
Customer:  About 95 connections
NSOE:  How much are you spending per month for the connections?
Customer:  Somewhere in the neighborhood of $2,000.

Notice in the above example how we started with a BSOE question related to internet connectivity, and then we dove head-first into more specific questions about this topic on a more in-depth level.  The NSOE questions create specifics about a customer`s situation and what if anything they are currently doing as a solution.

The basic principle to remember about NSOE questions and how develop them is:

Open End Starter + Meaningful Specific + What the Question is relating to = NSOE

How much + are you spending per month for your connections?

What should you take away from this section?  

Spend the majority of your time asking NSOE questions.  Keep your questions open-ended (not a question that gets a `no/yes` answer) to give your customers more opportunity to talk.  Remember, people like to talk about themselves and their situations.  When attempting to fact-find, you must never limit yourself to a yes or no answer.

ROLE PLAY

I recommend you try these questions on a friend or an associate in the next sales meeting as a role play.  

Ask a BSOE question like `What is your favorite sport?` or `How many children do you have?`  Then ask as many direct questions about the BSOE answer as you can.  You`ll be amazed how much you can find out about someone when you focus on one idea. NSOE questions may include:  What do you like most about the sport? or What are your children`s` names.  How long have you been playing...? or How many boys and girls?  You will be pleasantly surprised how many questions you can develop off of a single idea.

When performing this role play.  Make sure to pay attention to the development of your questions.  The tendency for many people is to close off their questions.  Closing off a question means you are limiting a response to a yes/no or either/or scenario.  The next section will teach you how to utilize close-end questions effectively.

Close-Ended Questions

Alternative Choice Close-Ended (ACCE)

ACCE questions limit your chance of receiving a `No` response.  The best times to use ACCE questions are, setting appointments, asking for an order, pin pointing needs, and clarifying understanding.

You can probably tell, by the name, these questions begin with what is called `close-end starters`.  

Here are close-end starting words:

Take the close-end starter and couple it with an either/or scenario.  This is what creates the alternative choice.  You are asking someone to pick between two choices.

Let`s take a look at some sample uses of ACCE questions:

Would you prefer to have it delivered on Monday or Thursday?
Is saving time or saving money most important to you?
So, did you want this project rolling by September or were you needing to wait until the new year?
Let me make sure I understand you correctly, did you want the 5,000 btu or the 2,500 btu system?

Remember in world of psychology, giving people a choice between something and nothing will almost always result in a choice of nothing.  So you must always give a person two choices.  Be weary of offering too many choices, because you can cause confusion in the mind of the buyer.  Usually two or three choices is significant.  Anything more than three will be over doing it.

Single Outcome Close-Ended (SOCE)

SOCE questions are overused in the wrong place more often than any other question.  Too many sales people start conversations out with SOCE questions.  Just as the name states, the SOCE question creates only one possible outcome.

In training sales people I hear sales professionals all the time asking prospects, "Would you be interested in...?"  I know what my answer would be.  Absolutely not!  As with all close-end questions, they begin with a close-end starter.

Example:

The benefit to using SOCE questions is they are directive and when you are looking for a yes or no response you will get it.  SOCE questions are best used after rapport is built with a client.  And when you know confidently that a `No` answer will not harm your opportunity.  They should be used the same way a doctor would use them, to diagnose a problem.

Example SOCE questions:

Do you use 4 color print in your brochures?
Are there other divisions who help fulfill the orders?
Do you expect a market shift in the use of PDA`s with your clients?

SOCE questions also have `closing the sale` benefits.  Trial closing is a process that helps you find out where a person is in the commitment to buy.  The goal of the questions is to receive a `Yes` commitment to move forward in the sale.  The easiest way to formulate a trail close question is an `If/Then` scenario. "If we can do this for you, then you`ll do this for us?"

Example Trial SOCE question:

If we can ship 15,000 tons of iron to you by Tuesday November 12, then you`ll put your order in with me today?

How well you question determines your success in sales.  Remember, keep your questions open-end, so you give the power of talking to your client.  The time to use close-end questions is when rapport has been built and you are diagnosing a situation.  I recommend before every meeting and telephone call you pre-set an agenda.  Decide what information you need to receive from the person you are meeting.  If you get lost for open-end questions try starting a question with `Tell me about...` and follow it up with any pertinent idea related to the call.

Good Luck & Good Selling

Let`s Make A Difference!

Dennis R. Kyle, CEO
National Speaker
Positive Results