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The Sales Buzz Issue 322 - Why Question: Why Not to Ask It
July 18, 2016


Why Question: Why Not to Ask It

The why question can make closing the sale more difficult for you.

Sales questions give you information.

But they can also cause a reaction and sometimes a response you don't want from the buyer.

Questions help you to find out what the buyer wants, and check your understanding.

When you try to close the sale you ask a question, no matter how you word it.

Even if you use an assumptive close you are asking a question, and the answer is still reliant on the buyer responding.

So questions are a great help, you couldn't sell without them, but there can be a downside. How you ask can cause the customer to react in a way that you don't want them to, and I don't just mean their answer.


The Why Question

When you ask someone why they did something, why they don't want to do something, or why they want what they want, they will give you a answer.

Once they have given you that answer they have said it, they have proclaimed it, and if they later say something different they would not be consistent with this proclamation.

If they change their mind they are making themselves a liar, and prospects don't like doing that.

To get them to say they were wrong you will need some real justification, such as new information that you give them.

I've heard sales people ask buyers:

  • Why they don't want their product.
  • Why they think the price is too high.
  • Why they are not interested.
  • Why they don't have time to talk.

And many more why's.

Once you ask a why in those situations the prospect has tells you why, and the sales person has created a massive obstacle to the sale.

To influence the buyer to change that viewpoint, and not be consistent with what they have already stated, they will have to give them a really good reason.


My Advice on the Why Question

My advice on asking sales questions is, don't ask why if the answer could give the prospect a reason not to buy from you.

Let's take the second why question from the list above, the one on price.

You've given your price and the prospect has said the price is too high. If you then ask the why question, 'Why do you think it's too high?'

The buyer will then give you their best reason for saying that.

If they say anything different in the future they are making a liar out of themselves.


A Different Question:

What if instead you answer them with, 'What is it that you are comparing the price with?'

This will give you useful information on where they get the belief about the price, which you may be able to challenge without causing conflict.

You can ask a why question that asks why a prospect does something in a certain way, or why their products are blue and not red.

But don't ask why, and then repeat the objection they have just given you. All you will be doing is reinforcing their objection and making it even harder to overcome.

If price objections happen to you, you can see more on overcoming them at Price Objections...

Asking sales questions is a very important part of the selling process, I offer you a page of free sales training from my experience at Sales Questions...


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