Selling Luxury: Connect with Affluent Customers, Create Unique Experiences Through Impeccable Service, and Close the Sale

Chapter 52. The power of questions (quality over quantity)

Questions are powerful tools for the Sales Ambassador. They go beyond the salesperson/customer roles and into establishing the person-to-person relationship. Open questions starting with What, How, Why, Which, and Where are most effective when discovering.

What happens if they are not used? Look at the following example that you can also try on a group of friends.

In seventeenth century France, Charles, a member of the royal court, awoke one night to the noise of robbers who had succeeded in climbing over the protective wall and were passing through his bedroom to rob precious treasures from his castle. The robbers made several trips through Charles's bedroom, each time carrying another precious art object with them.

But Charles said nothing while all of this happened. In the morning, when it was discovered that the thieves had gone through his bedroom he also said nothing. Why?

The answer is quite simple, but in most cases, people will either make statements (guess) or use closed questions. For example:

• "Because he was afraid."

• "Was it so dark he could not see their faces?"

• "Was he blind?"

But the riddle can be solved with a one simple open question:

• "What can you tell me about Charles?"

Well, the answer is that he was a baby, only nine months old, when the robbery took place.

Sales Ambassadors use open questions to uncover pertinent information they need to understand about the customer and his universe. Open questions help Sales ...