Samurai Sales Training – Socratic Questioning

Exactly what is Socratic questioning?  In essence it is asking a series of questions that lead the other person to a decision. But it goes far beyond that. If done professionally, you will uncover the prospect’s true, compelling reasons for meeting and discussing your products and/or services

First Socratic questioning should feel like a conversation. Your questions need to be open-ended and relevant. They are designed to take the edge off the process, increase trust and be relevant to the task at hand. You need to understand the compelling reasons why a prospect wants to buy, while moving her from prospect to strategic ally.

The questions should demonstrate your intent to solve a problem, not sell a product or service. You are seeking clarification, direction and the true concerns from the prospect. It takes practice. Even if you have spent years practicing consultative sales, you can get trapped into a game of 20 Questions.

Sensei Dan Kreutzer, of the Samurai Business Group, proved how easy it is for a “veteran” sales person to fall back into “yes or no” questions. He thought of a situation that I was asked to uncover during our class. I fell for his trap. I played “Twenty Questions.”

Again, as your are seeking information from the prospect you must “dump the head trash” or fear of pushing too hard to gain important information; remain on task and ask questions that will make the prospect think.

Dan provided examples of Socratic questions he has successfully used in sales situations. My favorite, “If nothing changes one year from now, how would your situation look?”

I have often asked a prospect, “Let’s assume we move forward with this project. Looking back six months from now, what would have been accomplished?”

The final key to success in Socratic questioning is practice. Fortunately, the second half of our class was used to practice on each other. Each classmate had two opportunities to be the questioner and the questioned. Playing the role of the prospect provided one important insight. Why doesn’t she ask this question

For further details on “Discipline,” contact either Dan Kreutzer or Robert Lambert or visit the Samurai Business Group website.

Spencer Maus, of SpencerConnect, is a senior-level, public relations executive. Samurai Business Group is a client and providing compensation to SpencerConnect