Asking Questions

Click here to view a video that explains questioning techniques.

The other way to gain relevant information is to ask questions. There are two types of questions:

Open Question

Open Questions – these are questions which encourage information and which cannot be answered with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Open questions begin with:

WHAT / WHY

WHO / HOW

WHICH / WHERE

E.g., “What sort of problems are you having with your computer?”

Closed Questions

Closed Questions – ask for specific information that can be answered with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Closed questions may begin as:

CAN I / DID YOU

DO YOU  / WOULD YOU

COULD YOU / WILL IT

E.g., “Did you re-charge your cell phone battery?”

Open questions can be used to gather general information and closed questions can be used to gain specific information.

Listen to the customer’s initial statement of need or question and then use the open and closed technique to establish the exact need and all other relevant information.

However, to gain the customer’ss commitment to you and encourage them to do business with you, you must take control of the call.

Click here to view, download and print a questionnaire to test your listening ability.