Questions for Needs

Comfortable customers invariably reveal more -- and more useful -- information.


Of all the skills demanded of a successful salesperson, questioning remains the most important. This is simply because you can't hope to understand a customer's needs without asking questions in a thoughtful, credible, and sensitive way.

When you question a customer at a sales meeting, you need to keep the session light -- think of it as an open discussion rather than an interrogation. Comfortable customers invariably reveal more -- and more useful -- information.

The questions you ask to determine needs fall into three broad categories -- fact-finding questions, needs-oriented questions, and big-picture questions. There are no hard and fast rules about the types of question to ask your customer, but experience suggest that a ratio of around five fact-finding questions, to three needs oriented questions, and one big-picture question is comfortable for the client and achievable for you.

ACTION POINT: Skillfully ask questions to discover your customers needs.