Ask Insightful Questions

I’ve been working with a lot of sales teams lately to craft INSIGHTFUL question

Merriam-Webster gives us two definitions of insight:

1. the power or act of seeing into a situation
2. the act or result of apprehending the inner nature of things or of seeing intuitively

To start down the road to better insight, we need to spend time crafting, creating, and planning our questions.

Digging Below the Surface Situation

Most salespeople ask surface situation questions already. They ask some combination of:

• who
• what
• where
• when
• what 

Few go onto uncover the “why.”

Even fewer ask questions about their prospect/customer’s “how” (confusing it with the sales organization’s “how” or using as an opportunity to rush into a presentation).
 
When asking questions about the situation someone is in, be sure to:

• Find out the basics,
• Ask questions about their answers,
• Hold off presenting anything… you don’t know enough yet!

Inner Nature

One way to unlock a conversation is to take what you’ve uncovered about someone’s situation… and then use it in a question to dig deeper.

Ask about the unspoken parts of what is going on. Get them to share more about their truth – their perceptions – their beliefs.

• Find out their feelings about the situation.
• Understand how it impact them personally.
• Uncover the implications.

Insight requires going beyond the situation.

Intuitively

All of us have experiences that give us insight into what may be going on, based on what we see and hear. Rather than making assumptions, ask questions that show you’re paying attention and really listening – using what you know.

A really good question will help them believe you understand, more than simply telling them that you do.

• Anticipate what may be unspoken.
• Increase your comprehension of what you feel.
• Leave open the opportunity to acknowledge your perception is true for them.

Getting people to think requires going beyond what they already understand… and asking the questions they haven’t yet asked themselves.

Your Magic 8 Ball

It’s interesting that the standard Magic 8 Ball (I didn’t realize there were non-standard options) has 20 possible answers:

• 10 affirmative
• 5 non-committal
• 5 negative

By asking insightful questions – and giving lots of room for thinking — you reduce the odds you will receive a non-committal answer from a prospect or customer.

Thoughtfully yours,
Lynn

P.S. If you’d like a copy of my list of insightful questions, click reply and I’ll send it along.