closing sales probe with openended

Welcome to our 7th article on Becoming an All-Star Sales Person. Today, we will discuss probing and as J. Douglas Edwards once said, "Questions are the Answer."There are four different ways to probe or ask questions-1) open-ended, 2) close-ended, 3) the phrase, "I'm wondering," and 4) question mark questions.Today we'll focus on open-ended questions. Use open ended questions when you want to get an unlimited response. An example is, "What do you think of our new healthcare laws?" Now, this is just an example. I never recommend using politically oriented questions.Here are some more examples of open ended questions. What's important about that to you? What makes that a priority? You're allwing your prospect to speak at length to answer your question. The best time to use open ended questions is when you want to get longer in-depth answers or to learn what's important to your prospect, what's a priority or to better understand his areas of interest.Remember to respond, don't just ask one question after another. That's like giving someone the third degree. Give a nurturing response like, "That's interesting. Tell me more."What you've just done, you've learned how and when to ask open ended questions to gain a more in-depth understanding of your prospect's wants and needs. This is going to help you later when it's time to make your presentation.Use this principle professionally or personally and you'll get along better with everyone in your life.If you have learned something from this article and would like to read more similar ones, visit my blog http://www.stanleyfidel.com/blog There are 19 more that discuss other aspects of the sales process.

Original :: closing sales probe with openended