A recent survey conducted by Sales Development Institute in Upper Darby, PA showed that out of 300 salespeople studied, 87 percent realize the importance of asking questions. However, only 27 percent displayed the ability to ask a well thought out, stimulating series of questions.

Charlie Brennan, president of SDI, explains, “All too often salespeople ask peripheral questions that do not engage the client in productive thinking to solicit their opinions, ideas and true feelings.” As a result, valuable opportunities are missed and valuable selling time is spent unproductively.

What Makes A Good Question?

SDI developed a complete training pro-gram that teaches salespeople to frame questions that establish a partnering relationship with the prospect. Salespeople are taught to avoid “recital questions” that merely lead the prospect to recite known facts. According to Brennan, the most productive questions salespeople can ask are multi-layered, probing questions that lead the prospect to a new way of thinking. The box to the right shows a list of questions that help salespeople design more productive questions.

The Multi-layered Probing Question

SDI developed a special, three-level question that has proven to be most productive for salespeople. The blueprint for designing this question is simple. The salesperson begins with a factual statement, follows with an observation and concludes with a focused question. Here is a sample illustration:

Factual statement:

“Mr. Smith, according to Business Week, medium-sized companies in your industry are caught in a profit squeeze and need to increase productivity, or risk losing money during the next six months…”

Observation:

“As I talk to managers in businesses your size, I realize that many of them are taking steps to lower production cost and increase vertical marketing efforts.”

Focused question:

“I was wondering, what does your company do to meet this challenge and what changes do you plan for improving productivity?”

As a result of well-framed questions, relationships improve, discussions become more productive, and sales increase.