We all know the importance of asking questions of our prospects and clients, yet how many do you ask?

How many does your sales teams ask?

If you’re like most sales reps, then you’re probably doing a lot more talking (read pitching) than you are listening. And that’s because you’re not asking enough questions.

Remember: Whenever your mouth is open, your ears are closed.

And: Your prospects have all the answers about whether they’ll buy from you or not, and what you need to say to sell them.

But if you’re not listening, you’re not hearing these valuable buying motives or potential objections.

Here’s the solution:

Make a list of three crucial questions to ask during each part of your sales process. Here’s a list to get you started:

For prospects:

#1: “What motivated you to reach out to us today?”

[If that’s not appropriate, then use:]

“What’s most important for you in choosing a company/product like ours?”

#2: Besides yourself, who else is involved in the decision process?

#3: If you like what you see next week in our demo, when would you ideally like to get started with something like this?

Now this is a partial list, and you should be asking a lot more—like budget, potential objections, etc.—but the three above are crucial.

For Demos:

After you have presented the demo, you need to know:

#1 “I know I’ve given you a lot of information, what questions do you have for me at this point?”

#2: “Based on what we just went over, does this sound like it would be a fit for you?”

#3: Is this something you’re going to recommend to (their boss, the committee, etc.)?

Now, again, this is an incomplete list, obviously, but these are three crucial questions you should always be asking.

Are you?

If not, incorporate them into your sales process today, and you’ll become more confident as you learn about the true buying motives and potential objections from your prospects and clients.

Remember, if you’re pitching and not asking questions, you’re not learning what it’s going to take to help someone buy your product or service.