I was never much of a thinker. I would go through life without really questioning anything. But then one day, something happened that made me start to question everything. I was sitting in my philosophy class, and the professor posed a simple question: “What is the meaning of life?” At first, I didn’t know how to answer it. But as I thought about it more, I realized that there wasn’t just one answer to that question. Everyone has their own definition of what happiness means to them, and everyone’s journey towards happiness looks different.That experience made me realize the power of probing questions. With just a few words, they can make you think about things in new and different ways. And if you’re looking for some probing questions of your own, look no further than this list!
Probing Questions
Probing questions are questions that are used to encourage a person to think more deeply about a topic. They are often used in interviews and counseling sessions to help someone explore their thoughts and feelings about a particular subject.
Probing questions can be used to clarify a person’s understanding of a topic, to help them identify their own biases or assumptions, or to encourage them to think about a topic in a new way.
What are probing questions?
Open-ended, probing, interview or discovery questions are designed to get deeper answers about specific topics.
What is the definition of strategic planning? What are some techniques used in strategic planning? What are some examples of strategic planning?
What Are The Best Probing Questions?
Below are 30 of the tried and tested questioning techniques we’ve found to be the most effective for selling.
1. How did you hear about our company?
This is a lead qualifying question that’s used during the sales process.
Our marketing efforts seem to be paying off if our sales figures are any indication.
2. How can we help?
This is your opportunity to ask specific questions about what your prospect’s pain points are and how your product or service can solve them.
3. Could you please elaborate?
Here, reps use this question to probe for more details about the problem the prospect is facing. The information gathered helps the rep analyze the issue and find a solution.
4. When did the situation begin?
Asking this question helps you understand when your customer has been experiencing pain and which solutions you can offer them.
5. Has something like this ever happened before?
Sales representatives often ask this probing question in order to gain a better understanding of the severity of the problem and how quickly it can be resolved. By asking this question, sales reps are able to provide their customers with a more efficient solution.
6. What methods have you tried to fix the situation?
What techniques have you tried?
7. Could you give me a few question examples of what you mean?
By providing specific examples, salespeople can better understand a customer’s issue and come up with an appropriate solution.
8. What would be your ideal outcome from this situation?
This thought provoking question is designed to get your customers thinking about their buyer needs and wants.
9. Do you have a specific time-frame you would like us to work with?
A sales strategy, or game plan, is a method used by sales reps to manage a client’s expectations.
10. How long have you been thinking about this?
How long have you been dealing with this issue? When did you decide to do something about it?
11. How much is the issue costing you in terms of finances, time, and resources?
How much money is your company losing every day while you try to fix this problem? How does it affect employee productivity?
Are you wasting too much time on things that aren’t working?
12. How did this problem begin?
When did you realize that something was seriously wrong? Can you remember the first signs that you noticed? And when did you realize you couldn’t ignore the problem anymore?
13. Why isn’t your current product/service not working for you?
What problems does your productservice not solve? What other issues does it not address?
14. How severe is the problem?
How serious is this problem? Does it affect your employees? Does it impact your budget?
How long have you searched for a solution like this?
15. Why do you think you have been dealing with it for this long?
This is a great question to ask sales customers because it encourages them to think about the situation and discuss the issue. It helps you understand why they’ve been dealing with the problem for so long, and how you can help them solve it.
16. What is your role in this issue/situation?
Are they part of the problem?What role has the client played in this situation? Have they been actively seeking solutions, or are they part of the problem?
Are they part of the problem or part of the solution?
17. What is your strategy to fix this issue?
What are your strategy tools to fix this issue?As a sales rep, I am always looking for ways to get insight into what my clients are thinking. I believe that by asking this probing question, we can join forces and come up with an adequate remedy.
18. Do your competitors face the same challenge?
Is the issue only happening within your client’s business? Is it an issue even with other establishments?
19. If you were your competitors, how would you solve this problem? What strategies would you use?
20. What are your expectations?
21. Why is it essential for you to come up with a solution?
22. What other problems are you facing besides this one?
23. How does the problem affect your company’s brand and image?
24. How does the problem affect your potential customers?
If your sales cycle is affected, it may be more difficult to find potential customers and qualify them into prospects.
25. Have I missed anything?
The more detailed you are, the easier it will be for sales reps to develop solutions.
26. Do you have any questions or areas you may need to be addressed?
27. Is there anything else I should know?
28. Are there any areas that we should focus on?
29. Have I covered everything?
Importance of Probing Questions
To ask the right questions is all about getting to the heart of the matter. It’s about asking more and digging deeper to get the full picture.
It’s important to identify the cause, reason, and emotion behind an issue. The benefits of asking the right questions are:
Probing questions are important as they help to identify the causes, reasons, and emotions that are behind an issue. They also help to clarify the minute details of something, and if the speaker is using vague words, probing questions can be used to dig deeper into the various aspects of the inquiry. Additionally, probing questions can be used to understand the main purpose of an inquiry when someone goes off topic or it seems irrelevant. Furthermore, probing questions can be used to evaluate the efficacy and benefit of something, usually in the purchasing or selling of a product or service. Lastly, probing questions facilitate meaningful discussions that also help to build a rapport between the two parties.
4 Types of Probing Questions
Here are the 5 types of questions you can use to probe your prospects.
1. Closed and Open Questions
A closed question is when you only want a yesno or a simple response to a multiple choice question. An open question is how you want to ask for more information.
Simple yes or no questions, such as “what is your favorite ice cream?” or “what is your name?” are your closed-ended, or “closed,” type of question.
Open questions usually require more than just a one-word answer. They may need a short explanation or description.
With open and closed question, you can combine these to ask both “good” and “bad” things about your colleagues. You can also use these as icebreakers, or for casual conversation.
2. Leading and Funnel Questions
Both leading and funneling questions are structured in a way that they lead you through a question and answer process.
What is the difference between leading and funnel questions?Leading questions have a manipulative approach, while funnel questions have a suggestive- from easy to difficult or vice versa- approach of inquiry.
Now that we’re beyond small talk, let’s get into the details of the subject matter. Leading and funnel questions will help us get there.
What’s your name?What have you studied?How long have you been working?What has your experience till date been like?What is it that you feel you’re still lacking in your profession?How do you think you’ll add value to our company?
The tonality of your questions is important when conducting a funnel interview because you want to make the person feel comfortable so they can think and answer openly, rather than feeling bombarded or nervous.
On the other hand, leading questions are questions that are intended to influence the responder to an answer that favors the asker of the question.
3. Loaded and Rhetorical Questions
Loaded questions are often used to influence the respondent’s opinion on the matter at hand. Rhetorical questions are used to make a point or statement rather than to elicit a response.
A loaded question is a question that is worded in a way that influences the respondent to answer a certain way.
Rather than ask, ‘which of these perfumes do you prefer’, you’ll be better off to ask, ‘isn’t XYZ great?’, as psychologically speaking, people tend to respond more positively to questions that end with a ‘yes’.
This type of questioning is quite common with journalists or lawyers who expect a certain answer rather than a true opinion. Rhetorical questions on similar lines are when you are not actually asking a question but stating an opinion in a question format.What is the difference between loaded and rhetorical questions?
It’s all about how you phrase the question. For example, instead of saying ‘how is the weather?’, try ‘the weather is incredible, isn’t it?’
4. Recall and Process Questions
When you want to know a respondent’s opinion about something or want them to remember a fact, you would ask a recall or process question.
Recall questions are designed to elicit specific information from respondents. The questioner may appear naïve or dim-witted in order to encourage the respondent to provide accurate information. This type of questioning is similar to a fact-checking session, but is typically more polite.
Process questions are used when you want someone’s opinion on a case.
By changing the question from ‘is it Children’s Day?’ to ‘why do people celebrate it?’, you’re moving from a ‘recall’ question to a ‘process’ one.
When should you use probing questions?
You can use probing questions to ask a variety of things, such as:
- After giving your presentation
- When you want to get to the root of a problem
- To encourage students to think critically
- To make sure you fully understand the story
- When learning about something for the first time
- When trying to learn something new
- When you feel like someone is being evasive?
- What are some probing questions you can ask to gain insight into a person’s thought process?
- When working with new clients, it’s important to assess their needs.
- To brainstorm possible solutions for this problem.
Conclusion
Probing questions are a great way to get your thinking juices flowing and mind tools working. If you’re stuck on a problem or trying to come up with new ideas, asking yourself some probing questions can help you see things from a different perspective. So next time you’re feeling stumped, try asking yourself one of these probing sales questions.
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