The Role Of Questions In Great Listening

In some traditional sales training programs they teach you, “Never ask a question you don’t already know the answer to”. If your goal is to goad and manipulate the customer into a sale this is probably good advice. If your goal is to fully understand, find a legitimate fit, and serve your customer it’s very bad advice.

Some trainers also encourage what they call “nail down questioning”. These questions are really statements followed up with, “isn’t it”, “doesn’t it”, and other tags at the end of the statement. They are designed to get agreement and channel a customer in a pre-determined direction rather explore what the customer really wants and needs. I discourage both of these strategies. They violate the basic principle of the Golden Rule… “Sell to others how you want to be sold to”.

There are a number of good ideas out there on the role of questions in the sales process. Miller-Heiman’s Conceptual Selling may again be my favorite. Spin Selling by Neil Rackham is good as well. Let me offer the N.E.E.D.S. Question System here. It’s simple, uses open ended questions that encourage the customer to expound, and it works for a lot of industries.

Now - What are you doing now? What vendor do you currently use?

Experience - How is that going? What has your experience been?

Enjoy - Are there things you’ve enjoyed? What has worked or gone well?

Different - Are there changes you would like to make? We’re there things to improve?

Same - What would you like to see stay the same?


Whether you use these questions, someone else’s, or work out your own, I do encourage you to walk into every sales interview with a planned set of questions. I also encourage you to drill deeper. Use phrases like “Say more about that” or “How do you mean?” that encourage greater reflection and understanding.