5 Types Of Questions That Can Damage Your Sales
When speaking with prospective clients, good questions can have powerful results.
Good questions open up your potential client’s mind to what will happen if their problem is solved, why they need to take action towards solving their problems, and of course understanding why your product or service is the right purchase if they want to get the results they need.
However, just as there are powerful questions, there are also questions that can damage your sales.
Here are 5 examples of questions that can be doing just that:
1. Closed-ended questions
When looking at close-ended questions, I want you to look at this two fold.
Firstly, there are close-ended questions that will give you a yes or no, and there are close-ended questions that don’t expand into anything else.
By asking questions that are close-ended, you’re not allowing your prospective client to open up their thinking and expand on the issues that they may be trying to fix. By asking these types of questions, you’ll very much stay on the ‘surface’, and not get to the actual deep rooted problems that they’re trying to solve.
2. Judgemental questions
Communication isn’t just what you say – but more importantly, how it is perceived.
Sometimes you may ask questions that can be perceived as being judgemental. Examples of these may be:
“You didn’t really mean that, did you?”
“Are you sure that’s how you really feel?”
“I don’t think a 3X2 will be suitable, don’t you really need a 4X2?”
Asking these types of questions break rapport, because not only does it show a lack of empathy, but also creates the perception that you’re coming into the conversation to push your own agenda, rather than asking questions and actually listening to help them out instead.
3. “What’s more important to you, price or quality?”
This question is taught is many old school sales type strategy books, and comes across not only as pathetic and corny, but instantly breaks rapport.
Of course they want quality; and nobody wants to be ripped off either!
People are willing to spend, if you are able to demonstrate two things: how they will get a return on investment on their spend, and secondly – what that is going to mean for them.
Instead, demonstrate through the sales process by examples how it is a quality product, and focus on what it will mean if they were to move forward with your product or service.
4. “What’s your biggest pain point?”
Asking this question outright will create buyers resistance, and again give you a surface level answer.
Instead, you want to be ask probing questions to find out what issues their currently facing with their situation, and by having these problems, how it is affecting them emotionally.
By finding out the emotional problems, you’ll now know where to look and solve their pain points.
5. “What will it take to earn your business?”
Now this one is especially a big problem to ask.
Here’s why.
There are two types of businesses and salespeople out there.
There are commodities, and there are professional specialists.
Your job by asking the right questions is to position yourself as a trusted adviser – a professional specialist in your field.
By asking them what it will take to earn their business, you’ve now positioned yourself as an order taker – simply another commodity.
Chances are very high by asking this question, that you’ll create doubt and uncertainty in your prospective clients mind, and they will give you an answer just to get rid of you.
Lastly, I want you to review the types of questions you ask your prospective clients, and review whether you’re taking them on a journey through your process.
Are you talking them to an emotional level – or are you staying on the surface?
People buy emotionally, and justify it with logic.
Get deep and real with your prospective clients, and you’ll do both them and yourself a great service.
