Prospecting Tips / Asking Good Questions

by Wendy Weiss

1. How much do you think this would help you make?
This question justifies expense. Use this question, or depending on the circumstances, use the following question:

How much do you think this would help you save?
This question also helps justify expense.

2. What would motivate you to change?
This question creates the rationale a prospect will use to justify their purchase

3. Do you have a preference?
If your prospect has a preference, you need to know what it is how they arrived at that preference. Having a preference also moves the prospect one step closer to saying, “yes.”

4. What has been your past experience?
If you can exploit a bad experience with a competitor, that’s terrific. If the bad experience was with your company, you need to know about it and if possible, fix the problem.

5. How do you know?
It’s a good idea to know where your prospect is getting information and whether or not it’s from a reliable source. (Be very careful when you say this because you never want to make your prospect feel stupid.)

6. What else you would like to see?
This question can reveal other sales options for the prospect. This question could expand your sales.

7. How much would it be worth to you to solve this problem?
This question reveals a prospect’s motivation. If it’s not worth much to them to solve the problem, you probably won’t get the sale.

8. What would it cost, ultimately, if things remained the same?
This question helps the prospect justify the purchase. The two questions together will help you determine a prospect’s budget.

Always ask the two above questions so that you’ll have the full range of their budget and motivation. In addition, some people are motivated by a positive outcome while others are motivated by avoiding a consequence. These two questions together cover both.

9. What is your budget?
This is a perfectly reasonable question to ask. If they don’t have a budget, by asking the questions above you can help your prospect determine the budget.

10. And for more great selling questions and tips on closing the sale make sure to attend the “Learn How to Close Sales Like the Top 20%” teleconference on Thurs., June 19th at 4:00 p.m. Eastern. Register now: http://wendyweiss.com/tele-mrinsidesales.html

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