3 Questions Sales People Should Ask Every Prospect

It seems commonplace in sales training that we need to ask our prospect questions. But, I get a rare glimpse into the fact that most sales people have no clue which questions to ask.

Should we ask them questions about challenges? Their working solutions? Process?

In the Game Plan Selling system, I lay out a disqualification checklist to take prospects through in order to ask effective questions. For the sake of this article, I want to share with you three of my favorite and immediately implementable questions from that checklist.

Remember, the quality of your questions makes all the difference. Here are three of my favorites:

1. What is your biggest [SALES PERSON’S INDUSTRY]-related challenge? This is a great way to open the conversation with a prospect. Immediately, it cuts to the heart of the prospect’s challenges and allows you a glimpse into where the prospect is hurting.
2. Why is what you’re doing now not working? This question helps you understand the degree to which the prospect needs you and your service or product. Sometimes a prospect will have a huge challenge, but is actually in the process of fixing it. In that case, the prospect is likely not a fit.
3. How do you go about making a decision like this? This is a process-question to understand how the prospect is going to make a decision on investing in your product or service. I cannot tell you how many sales people spend hours on a prospect without ever knowing how that prospect will make a decision.

These questions are just the start to effectively understanding if a prospect is a good fit for you. However, by incorporating these three sales questions into each selling interaction, you begin to determine whether a prospect is truly qualified.

What is your favorite question to ask your prospects? Please share below.

Written by Marc Wayshak, author of the book Game Plan Selling and a sales conference speaker.