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Questioning
Because many of us are skeptical of salespeople and marketers, the art of questioning is less threatening and more effective than telling. A salesperson who knows how to ask intelligent, sincere questions will gain credibility and serve as more of a consultant to his or her client. This is a selling method that works! Learn what questions to ask and when to ask them.
Cogent’s methodology has a heavy emphasis on questioning.
Here are some thoughts on the subject of questioning and probing:
“Questions actually help to satisfy the other person’s need to add value by inviting them to contribute to the conversation. Asking questions, rather than making a statement, also helps to minimize risk by giving sellers greater latitude in their conversations. -Tom Freese, author of Secrets of Question-Based Selling
“Investigating is the most important of all selling skills, and it’s particularly crucial in larger sales”- Neil Rackham, author of Spin Selling
“Learning ‘questioning skills’ is a valuable tool and one that can be taught in the coaching process. Questioning helps you get a broader perspective on a situation and helps you avoid lapsing into the lecture mode.” -Bert Decker, author, You’ve Got to Be Believed to be Heard
“Can’t close a sale? It’s not because you need closing skills. It’s because you need selling skills. Or better stated, relationship building skills, questioning skills, and communication skills”- Jeffrey Gitomer, author The Sales Bible
"I keep six honest serving men, They taught me all I knew; Their names are What and Why and When, And How and Where and Who." – Rudyard Kipling, from Just So Stories, 1902, The Elephant’s Child.
Peter Drucker is arguably the most important marketing mind ever, revered as the father of modern management for his numerous books and articles stressing innovation, entrepreneurship and strategies for dealing with a changing world. Mr. Drucker is famous for a series of questions: What is our business? Who is the customer? What does the customer value? The answers to those questions, asked by generations of managers around the globe, became known as "the theory of the business."
"The secret of success is asking the right questions." -Oliver Wendell Holmes
