Why Asking Leading Questions Leads to Lost Sales
Posted by Geoff on Mon, Aug 25, 2008 @ 05:16 PM
You can increase sales pretty dramatically by getting more information earlier from your prospects. Those of you who've taken my classes know I'm a big believer in asking lots of good questions. I spend a lot of time discussing the value of asking open questions beginning with phrases such as "would you explain?", "tell me about", and "would you describe?" These open questions are powerful, because the prospect tells you information you need to know, as opposed to you crafting your questions based on your own assumptions about what you think he or she really needs. Leading questions are questions that start with an assumption that you already have, and are a good way to get nowhere fast on a sales call. They almost always begin with the words "Is" or "Are," and successful salespeople avoid them. Leading questions can cost you a sale. Let's identify what they sound like and look at a solution that you can begin implementing today.
Let's say you're selling software development tools, and the prospect tells you that her current tools are so poor that her team tends to complain a lot. If you ask a leading question, such as "Is that impacting their schedules?" gets you nowhere, because it only prompts a "yes" or "no" answer. You'll still need more information. A better way to do it is to ask an open question, such as "would you explain how the quality of your current tools is impacting your development schedule?" If it is, she'll tell you a story from her real world, give you loads of data, and provide clues that you can use as an ROI datapoint when you later discuss the benefits of using your tools.
Most leading questions can be easily reworked to become open questions, so "is that costing you sales?" easily becomes "tell me how that impacts your sales numbers." The key here is continually practicing this until it becomes second nature.