An inconvenient question-What does a rhetorical question mean?

Effective questioning and answering skills are as important as effective listening and feedback expression for successful interpersonal communication. The same is true of sales. As a salesperson, in addition to being good at listening and accurately feeding back customers' needs, we should also be good at asking questions and answering customers' questions skillfully, so as to effectively establish a good relationship with customers.

A person who is not good at listening will not ask questions, because the questions he asks may not hit the point at all. Similarly, a person who doesn't know how to ask questions may not know how to listen, because he may miss important parts in the process of listening. Not being able to listen and ask questions is a taboo for salespeople. As for the importance of asking questions, we can understand it from the following examples:

Customer: Do you have similar products?

Shop assistant: Of course! I'm so excited, we're about to close the deal! )

Customer: How much?

Shop assistant: There are many, because everyone likes this sunscreen.

Customer: What a pity. I like unique products.

The salesman just wouldn't listen and couldn't ask. In the process of transaction communication, if he knew how to ponder the customer's psychology carefully and further confirm the customer's intention by rhetorical question, maybe the business would not be abandoned so much. Smart salespeople should treat customers like this:

Customer: Do you have similar products?

Shop assistant: Interesting. Why do you ask this question?

Customer: I wonder how many similar products you have.

Shop assistant: I see. How can you care about this problem?

Customer: I like unique products.

In this way, we can clearly know the customer's intentions, adjust our products and sales plans according to the different requirements of different customers, and greatly increase the opportunities for cooperation with customers.

In the process of sales, customers often ask some tough questions. At this time, it is necessary to properly consider the use of rhetorical questions to open the customer's chatterbox, so as to find out the real intention of the customer, and the salesperson can choose how to communicate with the customer according to the specific requirements of the customer, thus establishing a cooperative relationship.

Customer: How much is your MP3 player?

Shop Assistant: 350 yuan.

Customer: Why is yours so expensive? Other stores only cost more than 200 yuan. Are they parallel imports?

Shop assistant: Do you want parallel imports? We basically have all kinds of prices in our store, and they are all genuine licensed products. The key depends on what price you want. How much do you want? What are the requirements for memory size?

Guest: About 200 will do. The memory of about 2G should basically meet the requirements. Shop assistant: These models all meet your basic requirements. Are there any other requirements for appearance, e-books and other functions?

……

Customer: What are your specific after-sales services?

Salesperson: We have all the basics. The national warranty is 1 year. Besides, we can extend the warranty period. Do you have any specific requirements?

……

Customer: The price you quoted is too high. Please make it cheaper. Shop assistant: What do you think is the lowest price? Tell me, can I accept it?

……

Asking questions is the best way to get to know customers. By asking questions, aiming at customers' questions, we can determine customers' preferences, customers' concerns about products and customers' affordability of product prices. In the case, the customer repeatedly mentioned some inconvenient questions, such as whether other people's products are parallel imports, the lowest price and so on. The salesperson effectively threw the question to the customer by rhetorical question. In addition, customers are not clear about appearance and function except price, which requires salespeople to ask reasonable questions and guide customers to express their ideas.

Expert guidance

Asking questions is a basic skill of salespeople. Understand the customer's needs by asking questions, especially when facing difficult questions that are inconvenient to answer. It is wiser to use rhetorical questions appropriately and kick the questions back to the customers. But asking questions also has its own art. The correct way of asking questions can lead customers to tell the information that salespeople want to know. However, if the way of asking questions is improper, it will be counterproductive and the communication with customers will end in discord. If you want to control the whole process with rigorous questions, you should pay attention to the following questions:

1. Pay attention to the tendency of the problem. There are many ways to ask the same question, and different ways have different tendencies. There is a big difference between "Do you like this style" and "Do you like this style very much". Salespeople should choose appropriate questioning methods according to their own needs, and use the tendency of questions to influence each other, so as to get satisfactory answers.

2. Make sure the question is attractive. Attractive questions will lead customers to think positively and tell salespeople what they want to know. Customers are disgusted with unattractive questions, so how can they be willing to talk to sales staff?

3. Keep a sincere attitude. Sincere attitude and low-key style will make customers feel that you are a trustworthy person and will make customers feel at ease to cooperate with you.

4. Keep the language simple and not wordy. It is said that time is money. When asking questions, you should clearly express your doubts. Simple and wordy language will only make customers feel that you are indecisive and not suitable for cooperation.

5. Avoid asking questions without purpose. As a salesperson, questions should be logical and targeted. The questions raised by a person can reflect a person's thinking to some extent. Aimless questions will appear unfocused, which will only prove that you are a salesperson with unclear ideas. Are you willing to do business with someone who has a vague idea and can't grasp the key points?

Elements of effective communication

There are many kinds of problems. Generally speaking, there are several effective ways to ask questions. According to the development of communication process, salespeople can use it flexibly in the process of communicating with customers:

1. Open questions and closed questions 2. Hypothetical question 3. Repetition question and confirmation question 4. Series question 5. Instinctive questions.