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Selling with questions

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Learning questions | Bonding questions | Teaching questions | Closing questions | See also

When selling, you do not need to be always giving your sales pitch. With a smart use of questions, you can get your customer to sell to themselves. Here are a few ways you can use questions. Then go to the questioning techniques page to find further ideas.

Learning questions

First of all, questions give you useful information. Information is power, of course, and can offer you all kinds of ways to sell. Frame questions to find out more about how and where the customer will be using the product. Find out the problems they have which your products will solve.

Where will you be wearing this?

How often do you clean the floors?

Bonding questions

Questions can also help to create bonding between you and your customer. Show an interest in them by asking them questions to demonstrate that you care, personally, about them. We buy things from people we like. So encourage them to like you.

What did you do at the weekend? ... I saw the game, too! Wasn't it great?

You look sad -- what's the matter?

Teaching questions

Questions can also be used to teach them about the product, eliciting opinions or perhaps asking rhetorical questions that require no real answer. Teaching questions get the person to think and draw conclusions for themselves.

Do you know how long this filter will last?

Can you imagine taking this home today?

Closing questions

You can also ask questions to move a customer towards closing. Closing questions encourage the person to decide that they want to buy what you are selling.

How would this look like at home?

When would you like to place the order?