Apr 21 2009
Start your investigation - the three types of questions
Speaking in general terms, there are three types of questions that come into play during your sales process - yes/no questions, either/or questions, and open-ended questions. Each has their own specific value during the time you spend with your prospect - and each also has their own potential downfalls. Here’s a bit closer look at how we will - and won’t - use each type:
Yes/no questions: These are the shortest and simplest questions you can ask, and generally also have the least value to your process. The key to asking a yes/no question is that, for the most part, you only want to ask one when you know the answer will be yes. Mostly, we’ll use them during the demonstration, answers, and closing parts of the program as “confirming questions”.
Either/or questions: We’ve discussed these a bit already - the beauty of these is that there is no way to go wrong! It doesn’t matter how they answer the question, as long as they answer it. These are great for gathering basic information in the opening and preparing your prospect for the fact that you will be asking questions…….good either/or questions will get the prospect comfortable in talking to you before you hit the meat and potatoes of the selling process.
Open-ended questions: These are where the gold is. We will spend the most time discussing open-ended questions because they will unlock everything you need to make the sale. An open-ended question is one that can’t be answered with a simple word or two - the prospect has to talk. The cool part is, everyone loves to talk about themselves - so as long as you select the right questions, and flesh them out with add-on questions whenever possible, your prospect will literally draw you a roadmap to the sale!
NEXT POST: The power of the open-ended question - yield it wisely…….
Now go sell something!
