When questions became the center point of sales calls, our craft of professional selling took a step forward. No longer was success based on the slickest or fastest talker. No longer was the customer simply a part of the audience in a monologue of feature dumping. Fifteen years ago, I would have answered this question with an adamant “No, you can never ask too many questions”. However, I don’t agree with that any more. You can ask too many questions.
We work in a different selling environment now. Our customers have access to all the information they can possibly need at their fingertips, and so do we. They expect us to do our homework and have the most basic questions answered already. They don’t want to spend their time telling you what keeps them awake at night. They want you to have done the research already; and unless you can’t spell google, you should do the research. They’re overloaded with information, and they want a sales professional to filter that information for them and educate them… not simply interview them.
Does this mean you shouldn’t ask questions? Should you go back to feature dumping like we did in the ‘80s? No… please don’t do that. Questioning your prospect is still very important. If you don’t understand their scenario and pain, you can’t solve their problem; and if they don’t answer your questions, it doesn’t become emotionally relevant to them. However, asking questions to simply ask questions and make the customer “feel heard” is getting old. If you do a little preparation, you know what keeps them up at night. It’s up to you to provide some education – bring something to the meeting - and ask the appropriate questions along the way.
