Pitching Disguised As Questions

In the work I do helping sales people to become more effective, we focus a lot on questioning skills. Let’s assume it’s your intent to ask questions in order to uncover your customer’s needs, likes, dislikes and perspectives. Here’s a typical question that is used by many sales professionals.

“If I could show you a way to easily solve your problem, would that be of interest to you?”

Let’s look at this question and examine why it isn’t effective.

Here are just a few reasons:

1. The intention behind the question is not one of curiosity about your customer’s needs; it is a leading question that is about you.
2. It is a closed question and the only information you will glean is a “yes” or “no”.  More importantly, it is a ‘gotcha’ question because the only logical answer is yes.
3. It is a question that leads right into a pitch.  As soon as the customer answers the question (yes), the next words that will come out of your mouth will be pitching words. Continue reading “Pitching Disguised As Questions”