What is the KEY to asking the RIGHT questions?

Like my mom used to say, "you have two ears and one mouth for a reason." So, listen twice as much as you talk. By listening more, you'll learn more and be able to ask really good questions. Seems simple enough, right?

Brian,

The key is to know which type of question to ask. That way you can be precise and get the right information and outcomes. I took a course with Vervago and they had a great system. It put all questions into these 7 categories: Go/NoGo (e.g., Should we have this conversation?), Clarification (e.g., What do you mean by___? ), Assumption (e.g. Are you assuming that a decline in traffic to myspace is bad?), The Basic Critical Question (e.g., How do you know that your data is valid?), Cause (e.g., Why is this happening? ), Effect (e.g. What does this mean? ), and Action (e.g., What do we do today?). It is great to practice them but you may annoy some with your precision ;)

Best,

Chris Jablonski
@cjablonski

The key to ask right questions - your thought. we need to think before asking if the same question asked by some how do we respond? and need to think how the question should be to get right answer. Normaly in project management we have QADB ( question answer data bank )where all the questions are available but we need use our intilligence that the ohter person should not get iritated and that should not be redudance.

GKpampana
Gkpampana@yahoo.com

Do enough preparation and research and then ask a question based on the information you have found that relates to your business. The best response you can get from a well thought out question is "no one has ever asked me that before". Differentiate yourself by asking the question that no one else has and show that you are truly engaged in helping your prospect improve their business by using your product/service.

"Why?"
Always be thinking "Why?".
Don't accept anything as stated but ask "why is that?" until there are no more 'whys' to be asked. If something is stated as a fact, ask for details to back up the statement. If you don't completely understand, ask for clarity until you do. If you think you understand then state back to the other person your understanding and ask them if you have got it right.

Here are 3 amazing questions I got from Gitomer and that I use often:
1-What would happen if....
2-With hindsight, what can you see...
3-If you had a magic wand, what would you do?

What comes out of your prospect's mouth will surprise you, and most likely you will get to the heart of things....the WHY which is key if you want to make the sale.

After a presentation, I like to ask: "Did that fit with what you had in mind?", it's a great question that will uncover issues or concerns if any. If they say yes, "it's perfect", then you should say "When do you want to get started?"

I believe this is a combination of art and science.

The science (keys to asking the right question):

- Prepare, prepare, prepare- I almost always write down several sales questions in advance
- Have a questioning process, style and/or system that works for you. We’ve seen a few examples mentioned above
- Be intentional, have a purpose behind your questions
- Make your intent known to build trust and credibility
- Listen
- Focus on the customer or person you’re asking questions
- Draw on your appropriate experience to put yourself in the shoes of the person of whom you’re asking questions

The art (keys to asking the right question)

- As you gain more experience, vary the cadence and content to match the situation; getting to the best questions (is there a perfectly RIGHT question?) often happens when you combine your experience, best practices, and follow the answers in the moment. In other words, I’m best when I ‘ad lib’. The ‘ad libbing’ though is a function of having practiced it a lot, reading the customer and situation in the moment, and following my gut which is conditioned based on dozens of similar questioning experiences in the past
- Match your style, pace and questions to the style and personality of the customer or prospect
- Put them at ease; you’ll get much more information from a customer when they’re more relaxed and this will lead you to much more impactful questions and insightful answers.

(note: ‘Why’ can be a great question and you need to be careful with it: of all the open ended questions ‘why’ is the one that most subconsciously puts people on the defensive’. Sometimes ‘what made you decide that?’ can be more defusing than ‘why did you do that’. Of course tone and intent always makes a difference)

For me the key to asking the right questions is understanding the right answers that you want to hear...if you work out the perfect things a client could ever say to you then it is surprisingly easy to work out the best questions to ask to get them. It is incredible how much people will tell you if you ask the right questions...

Interesting answers, though for me the art of asking the right questions is really listening to the person you're talking to. Then, the right questions just come naturally

"Never ask a question you don't already know the answer to," is taught on the first day of law school. It simply means that you are fully prepared before any conversation begins. Preparation, research, understanding the customer's needs, experience and listening skills all play a role in not only asking the right questions but knowing how to ask them in the right way.