It often is a challenge is to get your customer to share with you what they’re looking for.

Sure, there are a lot of specific questions you can ask depending on the type of customer, but do you want to know what I consider the 4 secret questions to ask a customer?

Here goes:

Why?

Can you give me share with me more?

Could you give me another example?

What are you expecting to gain from this?

The beauty of these four questions is their simplicity and how they can be used in nearly any situation.

For the salesperson who suddenly finds themselves without a clear next step as to what to do, having these questions can be a lifesaver.

Reason we ask the customer questions is to not just get them engaged in the process, but also to get them to begin thinking about the outcome of what they want.

The more you can keep the customer focused on the outcome, the greater your odds for not only closing the sale, but also closing the sale at full-price.

Looking at the four questions above, there is not one that is better than another, as it all depends on the situation and where you are in the sales process.

• Use the first three questions right after the customer has shared with you something.
• Use the last question as a great way to gain input early on in the sales process.

Beauty is you can use each one of the questions on a sales call because they’re not so similar in nature that it would seem weird if you were to use them together.

On your next sales call, try using at least one of the four questions, and over the next week, use all four.  Within a few weeks, you’ll be comfortable asking each one of the questions and you will find  yourself uncovering better information.

Copyright 2013, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.