Asking the right questions during a customer conversation is key to building trust, uncovering needs, and guiding the sales process. Good questions are thoughtful, open-ended, and customer-focused. They invite dialogue and show genuine interest.
Examples of good questions:
- “What challenges are you currently facing in your operations?”
- “What does success look like for your team this quarter?”
- “How are you currently addressing [specific issue]?”
- “What criteria are most important in choosing a solution?”
These questions help uncover pain points, goals, and decision-making factors—essential for tailoring your pitch.
On the other hand, asking bad questions that are vague, self-serving, or closed-ended most definitely have the opposite effect. They can make the customer feel interrogated or misunderstood.
Examples of bad questions:
- “Are you ready to buy today?”
- “Do you have the budget for this?”
- “Have you heard of our product?”
- “Is this something you want?”
These types of questions often rush the process or focus too much on the sale rather than the customer’s needs.
Ultimately, good questions build relationships and uncover insights. Bad ones can shut down conversations and send the customer to your competition. The goal is to listen more than you talk (remember, we’re blessed with two ears and one mouth!) so, ask questions that help the customer feel heard, understood, and supported.
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The Sales Accelerator is a weekly sales blog developed by Sales Growth Advisors offering ideas, thoughts, and suggestions resulting in Proven Ideas To Accelerate Your Sales Growth. We are a mid-market sales growth consulting firm that works to grow your business, scale your company, and boost your margin. Our blog is designed to give you brief tips about sales, to educate, to get you thinking about growth, and to get your sales line moving up and to the right! But don’t just take our word for it here – contact us and put our services to work for you!