As we all know, one of the main goals in a sales conversation is to gain as much information about the prospect as possible. One technique for doing so is to answer a question with a question. This can be an important tool for gaining information, but it can also be used to steer the conversation back to fact-finding. it can be used to avoid giving away too much information an an inappropriate time.
One of the simplest ways to execute this techniques is to answer a prospect’s question with, “That’s a good question. Why do you ask?” The key is to dig for the real intent of the question; to determine exactly what the prospect is trying to get out of you. You never want to get boxed into an unfavorable selling situation, where you don’t yet know enough about the prospect to reveal information about your product or service.
BoweryJE22
Such a simple technique, yet one that isn’t used nearly enough. I know that I’ll be practicing this for a long time, and it’ll be a learning curve figuring out how to ask “why do you ask?” eloquently and politely. I fear it could come across a little aggressively or repetitively, so that’s why practice and variation is key. What other ways are there to ask that question?
First off, creative title. Second, when this was brought up in class, I was confused. This definitely gave me something to think about. It is good to dig for the real intent of the question and determine exactly what the prospect is trying to get out of you. Great post!