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15 Must-Use Sales Questions that Get Prospects Talking

By Mike Schultz and John Doerr

In order to successfully sell complex products and services you need to find out what's going on in your prospect’s world. You need to get them to really open up and talk about their wants, needs, and desires.

The best way to make this happen is through asking open-ended questions—the kind of targeted and well-planned sales questions that get prospects engaged and sharing all the relevant components of their situation.

15 Must-Use Sales Questions

The following are 15 of these sales questions you can ask that will help you get the full picture of your prospects’ situations and needs. These sales questions are broken down into three groupings within the RAIN SellingSM Framework:

  • Rapport
  • Aspirations and Afflictions
  • Impact
5 Sales Questions to Build Rapport

Ask these sales questions to help you get to know your prospects and establish an understanding of their current situation.

  1. What's going on in your business these days?
  2. If the Wall Street Journal were to write about what was going on in your industry (or your business) in the last few months, what would they say?
  3. How has your business changed in the last few years?
  4. What's it like doing your job these days?
  5. Can you help me to understand what's happening in your world these days?
5 Sales Questions to Uncover Aspiration and Afflictions

Ask these sales questions to help you understand what afflictions (challenges) your client is facing, and what aspirations (goals) they have for their business.

  1. What keeps you up at night? (An oldie, but goodie.)
  2. In the best of all possible worlds, what do you think you could do with your business?
  3. What's holding you back from reaching your revenue (or profit, or other) goals?
  4. If there were no restrictions on you, what business difficulties would you erase? Can you tell me why you say that?
  5. What does success look like for you and your business?
5 Sales Questions to Uncover the Impact of Solving Needs

Ask these sales questions to help put a monetary value on solving your prospects’ afflictions or achieving their aspirations.

  1. If you could overcome these challenges, what would happen to your company's financial situation?
  2. If you were to make this happen, what would it mean to your career?
  3. How would implementing these changes affect your ability to compete?
  4. How do you think senior management would evaluate the success of this initiative?
  5. If you don't solve (insert the particular challenge here), what kind of difficulties will you face going forward?

As you ask any sales question, bear in mind that one of the most difficult tasks is to then sit back and be silent as the prospect ponders and answers. The prospect may not have an answer right away. Give them some time to think about it and don’t jump in and cut them off the moment you see an opening for your solution. Keep them talking and you’ll uncover a broader set of needs that you can help with.

Sometimes all you need is to ask one open-ended question and the prospect will share with you all the information you need to help them. Other times you may need to ask a few, but make sure you don't overdo it. You don't want to make your client feel as if he is on the witness stand.

One other tip: if your client answers a question but you want them to expand a bit more, ask them, “how so,” or “can you tell me a little more about that?” You'll be surprised at just how much you can learn, and the difference it will make in your ability to help your clients succeed.

Mike Schultz is President of RAIN Group, a sales training, assessment, and sales performance improvement company that helps leading organizations improve sales results. Mike is co-author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller Rainmaking Conversations: Influence, Persuade and Sell in Any Situation (Wiley, 2011) and publisher of RainToday.com. He also writes for the RAIN Selling Blog. You can reach Mike at mschultz@raingroup.com, follow him on Twitter @Mike_Schultz, or connect with him on LinkedIn.

John Doerr is President of RAIN Group, a sales training, assessment, and sales performance improvement company that helps leading organizations improve sales results. John is co-author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller Rainmaking Conversations: Influence, Persuade and Sell in Any Situation (Wiley, 2011) and draws upon an extensive career in business leadership which has included senior executive management, business development and marketing, and product and service development. You can reach John at jdoerr@raingroup.com, follow him on Twitter @JohnEDoerr, or connect with him on LinkedIn.

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