10 Best Sales Questions to Use When Talking with a Customer

One of the best things any salesperson can do is develop a list of 10 questions they feel comfortable asking.

The questions have to fit your personality and your market and allow you to move the process forward.

Below are what I’ve found are the 10 best sales questions you can use.  The questions are not direct closing questions, but rather questions that will get the customer to share more information to help you focus on the solution the customer desires.

Not each question will be appropriate for every occasion. The critical issue is to be comfortable asking them so when the situation is right, you’re also ready:

1. Why?

2. Can you tell me more?

3. How have you made decisions like this in the past?

4. What is the outcome you’re looking for?

5. What is the size of the risk if you don’t make a decision?

6. What are the issues you’re facing today?

7. What happens if you don’t make a decision to buy?

8. Who else is involved in the decision making process?

9. What is it you like best about what we’ve been talking about?

10. What is stopping you from making a decision?

Each of the questions is designed to get the customer to share more and to allow you to then ask a follow up question on what they just shared with you. Questions one and two are specifically designed to do just that.

The more we engage the customer with questions in a way that allows us to us our personality, the more comfortable the customer will be in answering it. It’s when we ask questions that come across as scripted or threatening the customer will shut down.

Use these 10 questions as a starter for you, and over the coming weeks modify them to fit your personality and style.  You’ll find yourself being far more effective in getting the customer to open up.

Copyright 2016, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Selling: Win the Sale Without Compromising on Price.