The Fallacy of Open-Ended Questions

Open-ended questions versus close-ended questions. This battle of telesales technique has been fought for years and no one has been declared a victor. It has been noted though that a good open-ended question may extract a fuller answer from your customer. The next step to that is to shoot a follow-up question that will still get good answers from the customer. Some telemarketers struggle with this telesales technique; for others, top telesales tips that work come naturally. Regardless of your level in performing good selling techniques, cold calling techniques, sales closing techniques, sales prospecting techniques, and cross-selling techniques, this post will definitely help you become better.

Here’s a quote from one of Rudyard Kipling’s poems in Just So Stories:

Why is the dangerous one here. Why has been proven to be antagonistic to the receiver. With the why question, customers tend to be defensive in their answers since they feel as if they’re being attacked. (Hmm, interesting.)

The last lines of this Kipling poem show the other problems with questions:

A good selling technique is to soften your sales questioning, not turning into a military interrogator.

Beware the rising tone.
“It’s called early teenage talk.” That was the reply I got from a teenage attitudes expert after I asked him about the annoying habit my teenage son was using when speaking with his friends. “It’s called teenage talk.”

This annoying habit is the rise in tonality of every sentence that my son speaks. He starts his statements with a normal tone and then his voice gradually increases in tone as he nears the end of his sentence. This goes on for hours. Have you observed that from other people?

This may seem a trivial matter but it actually matters in applying telemarketing tips telesales techniques, more than people would like to think. We know that communication involves more than your choice of words. Research studies show that face-to-face communication has three parts:

1. the words,
2. the way those words are being said, and
3. the body language in launching those words.

Your tone in speaking bears a remarkable influence on the meaning of what you’re saying.

Straightforward really.
A flat tone indicates a mere declarative statement. A falling tone indicates command. A rising tone indicates a question. Try this statement: “It’s now time to take a shower.” Say that sentence with a flat, falling, and rising tone (not all at once though). Listen to the impact of each kind of tone. It works, doesn’t it?

This little gem is useful in applying various telesales techniques; they’re quite practical too.

In finding out your customer’s needs, ask your questions by slightly raising your tone. Doing so will make your question come out pleasing to the ear and not be accused of interrogating the customer.

Should you request your customer to do something, slightly drop your tone. For example, “So, Bob, you’re glad to carry on with all the paperwork then?” It may be constructed as a question but it is essentially a command, which your customer will be more likely to obey. As to why teenagers gradually raise their tones on every statement, I have no clue. It may have to do something with trying to get a reaction to anything they speak, so they tend to raise their tone to make it sound like a question.

Or it can be one of those things that my teenage son does to annoy a grumpy old man such as me!

Preconditioning
Geez, that’s an awful title, don’t you think? Preconditioning may scream shower to you, or something done in the shower.

Preconditioning is very useful in making telephone sales, especially when it comes to asking questions. This is the theory: Humans prefer to be told what’s coming next; in another word—preconditioned. So when that thing occurs, it doesn’t come so much as a shock to them.

Another practical telesales tip is to apply preconditioning in your language when talking to customers. Here are some phrases I use:

• “I have left the best for last.”
• “Here it is…”
• “Here’s the best news…”

As you can see, preconditioning is applied in the next part of your statement. This is a really useful telesales technique when dealing with tough questions. Here are some sample statements:

• “Mr. Anderson, will you be able to tell me…”
• “If I may ask…”
• “I’m curious to know…”
• “I’m quite interested to know…”
• “So tell me…”

Be careful not to fall into this common trap phone sales training people always mention: negative preconditioning. Here are sample statements:

• “Forgive me for asking this…”
• “I’m afraid we have to talk about the cost now…”
• “I hope you don’t mind me asking but…”

Here’s how to avoid a trap I often read from sales prospecting techniques and manuals .  Don’t pre-condition negatively for example:

• “I’m sorry to ask this….”
• “We have to talk about the cost now I’m afraid”
• “I hope you don’t mind me asking but…”

Mastering telesales techniques will tell you to avoid those statements, ones that negatively precondition.