How to ask questions to prospects?

Closed Questions A closed question is one that provokes a “Yes” or “No” answer. These questions will not provide you with detailed information, but they’re a powerful tool for closing and getting definite answers, for example: Are you the person who looks after recruitment? Are you happy to call me with your next vacancy? When recruitment consultants first start it’s quite common for them to ask too many closed questions. If too many closed questions are asked at the start of the telephone call it can cause the conversation to end abruptly. You should base your conversations around open questions and only use closed questions if you specifically need a “Yes” or “No” answer, or to close the conversation. Exploring Questions Exploring questions are similar to open questions, but they’re more focused and controlled. They start off with words such as: Describe Tell me Explain to me Give me Show me Demonstrate For example you might ask your client to describe their perfect candidate, or describe the perfect recruitment consultant. You might ask them to explain how their recruitment process works. Advanced Questioning A British psychologist called Neil Rackham developed a very powerful selling system called SPIN® selling. Rackham and his team analysed more than 35,000 sales calls made by 10,000 sales professionals in 23 countries over 12 years. The system enables a sales professional to uncover the client’s implied needs, develop these into explicit needs and then offer the client a solution to those needs. This is achieved through a sequence of four question types. This is extremely powerful for consultative selling. The four question types are as follows: Situation Questions Situation questions are fact-finding questions about your client’s existing situation. For example: How big is your team? How often do you recruit? What recruitment agencies do you use? While situation questions are an essential part of your information gathering process, they must be used wisely. Your clients will quickly become bored if you ask too many. The reason for this is that the questions only benefit you. According to Rackham, successful sales professionals ask fewer situation questions, but each one has a focus or purpose. Problem Questions Problem questions uncover your client’s problems, dissatisfactions or difficulties. If your client doesn’t have any recruitment problems then there are no grounds for your service, so these types of questions help you to identify your client’s implied needs. Funnily enough Rackham found that problem questions are powerful for smaller sales, but not as effective in larger sales. Some examples of problem questions include: What problems do you usually face when recruiting? How satisfied are you with your current recruitment agency? What problems would it cause you if your supplier couldn’t deliver?