Get More Sales - Use Open Questions

It was a Sunday Afternoon of boredom in the north of England where we where living at the time after days and days of no sun. The temperature was less than 2 degrees Celsius and that is in the day time.

Now for an Aussie from a hot climate like Queensland that is a tough weekend. Especially when you are use to 300 days of sunshine a year and when most days in winter reach 21 degrees Celsius.

So you now know my state of mind. I was trying to read a book to get my mind off it when my 9 year old son asked me, "Dad can I have an ice cream".

Now as I was in a strange bored mood, I said, "No, because you asked me a closed question".

Now you may be thinking, "This guy needs to take up a hobby, or get out more", well it does get better.

He looked at me very strangely, so I explained to him that a closed question is one that gets an answer of yes or no. Now this is a wrong question because the person doesn't have to think and the majority of the time he will say no. On the other hand an open question is one that the person has to think about the answer and you have a better chance of a yes which would give him more of a chance to get the things he wants.

Simple!

So my son went away and while trying to get back into my book, I thought, "He won't bother me again". About 20 minutes later my son returned and said, "Dad when can I have an ice cream". I said without thinking, "You can have one now if you like".

It then hit me. Oh my goodness, my 9 year old son got the concept.

Well the story doesn't stop there . . .

He got in to trouble at school for fighting and so he had to sit outside the Head Master's office. When the Head Master came out, my son said, "When can I go Sir"?

And the Head Master said, "You can go now"!

On sports day he was very thirsty and other children had asked the Teacher if they could go to get a drink and she had refused all of them. So what does my son ask?

My son bounces up and says, "Miss when can I get a drink"?

And the Teacher says, "You can go now"!

So if this is such an easy concept that a child gets, Why do adults who are selling a product or service still ask closed questions when starting a conversation with a potential buyer?

Now you may have a great product or service to offer, however by framing it in a closed question, you will never get the response you are looking for when opening a prospecting call.