How to Ask Better Sales Questions

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The Sales Questions You Should Be Asking

Sales is all about discovery.

Not the TV channel, but the process of figuring out a prospect’s current situation and pain points.

When you boil down a good discovery call, it’s made up of two things:

Questions and answers.

It’s our job to ask the right questions and the best sellers know how to ask the right questions at the right time.

And sometimes, a few good questions can be the difference between losing or closing a big deal.

In a recent HBR article, 3 professors broke down the types of questions that successful CEO’s ask to uncover breakthroughs about their business and make decisions about their company strategy.

Although most of us aren’t making strategic decisions about our billion-dollar companies (yet), we noticed these same questions can be used to drive sales cycles.

Here they are. 👇️ 

1. Investigate: What We Know? 🔎 

This is where most of the discovery is done.

These are questions that uncover the basics like the current situation, pain points, and need for change.

Examples:

• What is the biggest issue you’re dealing with right now? 

• What is the problem you are trying to solve?

• What provoked you to take this call with me?

The biggest mistake most reps make is not going deep enough. When you think you’ve scratched the surface, go a level deeper.

2. Speculate: What If? 🤔 

This is the part where you get to challenge your prospect.

Dig deeper on what they’re telling you, and force them to look at their situation from a different lense.

Examples:

• What happens if you don’t fix this issue?

• What if you just keep doing things the same way?

• What would your day look like if you changed this?

3. Productive: What’s Next? ➡️ 

Once you’ve laid the groundwork, it’s time to keep the deal moving. Productive questions are your tool for driving commitment and next steps.

Examples:

• How soon do you want a solution in place?

• How can I make this a no brainer for you?

• What is stopping us from getting this done tomorrow?

Use these questions to hold your prospect accountable, and make a timeline for the deal.

4. Subjective: What’s Not Being Said? 🤫 

The final piece of the puzzle is understanding the emotional drivers.

This is the part where you need to figure out what your prospect really cares about (and it’s typically self serving).

These are questions you can ask both yourself and the prospect directly.

Examples:

• How can my product make the prospect look good to their boss? 

• How can I make the prospect feel good about the purchase?

• Why does my prospect specifically want to get this problem fixed? To make things better for their company or to make themselves look better? 

• Will my product threaten my prospect’s job security? (looking at you AI 👀).

We sell to humans, and humans have emotions. With the right questions, you can use those emotions to your advantage.

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Yes, he’s being serious… 😅 

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