In my 30 years of sales training, nothing has frustrated me more than the pathetic questions salespeople ask.

“Who are you using right now?” “How are they treating you?” “Do you have a contract?”

“When does your contract expire?”

“Can we place a bid? I think we can save you some money.”

“What kind of budget do you have?”

“Are you the decision maker?”

All of these questions fall under the category of pathetic, but the three most pathetic questions are “Have you ever heard of us?”; “Tell me a little bit about your company”; and, the worst, by far, “What would it take to get your business?”

Ask yourself this: What are you asking your customers and prospects that your competition isn’t? If you can’t think of an answer, then your questions are in jeopardy and your sales questions will boil down to asking some question that has to do with price.

What makes a great question? One that makes your prospect consider new information and respond to your terms. That’s what I call a value question.

Following are four reasons thought-provoking questions will drive sales your way, regardless of your price.

1. Asking powerful questions will make prospects think in new ways. You ask questions to get prospects to give you information that will lead you closer to the sale. You want to find out about their past experiences and understand their motives for buying. You also want to find out what criteria they used in selecting you. Here’s a good example: “Mr. Jones, what would you do if you lost two of your top 10 customers?” That question is followed with, “What’s your plan to keep them loyal?” Those are questions that don’t have a specific product or service behind them. They may not fit everyone’s business, but, baby, they are thought-provoking. You might want to ask yourself the same questions.

2. What you ask sets the tone and the perception of the buyers. When you begin a question with the phrase, “What’s been your experience with…?” prospects turn into wisdom providers instead of information providers. Buyers will like you a whole lot more when you ask for their wisdom, rather than giving them yours. Unfortunately, salespeople think they have to educate buyers. Nothing could be further from the truth. Buyers don’t want an education. Buyers want answers. Your questions set the stage for the selling process. That’s really the buying process. Your job is to set the buying tone by engaging the prospect intellectually and emotionally.

3. What you ask determines the response. If you’re looking to get into a battle about why your product is different from the competition’s product, or why your price is higher, just ask a dumb question about how the competition is treating the customer. If you ask a question about bidding or saving money, your answers are going to be in terms of price. But if you ask questions about productivity and profit, you’re going to get answers that lead you to your prospects’ motives for buying.

4. What you ask makes or breaks the sale. If you know that questions are critical, why are you spending more time watching TV reruns than developing new questions? (Note: I just asked you a value question.) If you know that questions are critical, why don’t you have a list of 25 questions that your competition is not asking?

The more thought provoking your questions, the more your prospective buyers will respect you. The higher that respect level is, the more likely they are to be truthful with you and give you insight into the key factors that will determine the sale. They will also begin to share the truth about how the decision is made. Every minute you’re in front of prospects, they’re deciding how much they like you, how much they believe you, how much they respect you, how much confidence they have in you, and how much they trust you. All of these factors determine whether or they will buy from you.

The sale is yours for the asking; all you gotta do is ask for it in the right way.

Free GitBit. Want a list of questions to start you off on the smart foot? They’re yours by going to www.Gitomer.com. Register if you’re a first-time user, and enter the words “Smart questions” in the GitBit box.

President of Charlotte, N.C.-based Buy Gitomer, Jeffrey Gitomer gives seminars, runs annual sales meetings, and conducts Internet training programs on selling and customer service. He can be reached at (704) 333-1112 or by e-mail at salesman@gitomer.com.