How Asking the Right Questions Will Help You Sell More!

I’ve watched plenty of sales conversations go off the rails before they’ve even had a chance to succeed, not because the product was wrong or the price was too high, but because the salesperson talked too much and asked too little.

If you want to get better at selling, start by getting better at asking questions.

You Have 2 Ears and 1 Mouth for a Reason

A common misconception in sales is that success comes from knowing what to say. A lot of focus is placed on the perfect pitch, the clever close, and the quick counter to objections. But the truth is that sales hinge on what you learn and how you respond to the needs your customer has. And you can’t learn if you’re doing all the talking.

The real leverage in any sales interaction comes from understanding the customer’s world. Truly understanding what they need, and what they’re afraid of, will help you close the sale. The only way to uncover that is to ask the kind of questions that open people up.

Practical Tip: Let go of the stereotypical approach of being a talkative go-getter when selling. Keep quiet, especially when you feel the urge to open your mouth. Listen for twice as long as you speak.

When You Do Speak, Ask Questions

Once you’ve earned the right to speak, resist the urge to start selling. This is where most people go wrong. Because they’ve stayed quiet for five minutes, when they do speak, they then blurt out a series of claims and promises that kill the momentum. The customer hasn’t finished opening up and now they feel like they’re being steered toward something they don’t really want or need.

When you talk, instead of making statements, ask more questions. Instead of assuming what the customer needs, invite them to explain it in their own words. The best salespeople know that asking a well-timed, open-ended question can reveal more than a 15-minute pitch ever could.

So what do great sales questions sound like?

Great Sales Questions Are Designed to Unlock the Truth

Not all questions are created equal. Good questions go beyond surface-level facts and start digging into motivation, emotion and pain points. That’s where the real sales opportunity lives!

Great salespeople/ questions invite the customer to tell a story, not simply give short answers. They also help to build trust between you and the customer, instead of tension. Questions shouldn’t feel like an interrogation. Fantastic questions, the kind of questions you want to use, don’t just teach you about the customer. They help the customer understand themselves better, too, through self-reflection. In that way, the customer often ends up concluding on their own that they do really need or want your offer.

When you ask better questions, you’re guiding the buyer through their own thought process, and you’re helping them articulate problems they haven’t put into words before.

Ask Fewer “What” Questions. Ask More “Why” and “How.”

We ask, “What solution are you using now?” or “What’s your budget?” and hope the answer leads somewhere meaningful. But to get to the heart of a sale, you need to go deeper. That means asking more “why” and “how” questions that explore reasoning, frustration, decision-making and fear.

Here are a few examples that often open doors:

●    “Why is this a priority for you now?” This helps you understand the client’s urgency, timing and internal pressures that lead them to you in the first place.

●    “How did that previous solution fall short?” Gives you a roadmap of what not to do and sets the stage for your offer.

●    “How would this change your day-to-day life once it’s solved?” This is about aspiration and getting the customer to imagine a better future, with you as the bridge to it. It also paints a truer image of exactly what they want out of their partnership with you.

These kinds of questions show that you care about delivering a product/service that works, not just closing a deal. And most importantly, they create space for the customer to talk themselves into the sale.

Better Questions Lead to Better Outcomes

When you slow down, stay curious and ask the right kinds of questions, you will be more likely to uncover the real problem that your customer is battling with, while reducing objections from the very beginning, because the customer feels heard, not sold to. By asking questions, you increase trust, which shortens the sales cycle!

Your ability to sell has less to do with how persuasive you are and far more to do with how curious you’re willing to be. Ask better questions, listen longer and stay quiet a beat longer than feels comfortable. If you need help, let’s talk.