6 questions every salesperson should know
Six questions in a sales conversation – what, why, when, how, where, who – reveal what really moves the customer. Rudyard Kipling wrote them down more than a hundred years ago – and nobody has found anything better since.
“I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.”
Why questions are the hardest discipline in a sales conversation
In times of online sales and growing competition, it is becoming ever harder for salespeople to stand out. The common response is more product knowledge, more arguments, more documents – in other words, more talking.
That is the mistake. Whoever talks learns nothing. The simplest way to stand out, and one anyone can apply, is to ask the customer questions. The right ones, in the right order.
What and why – the motives
Asking what and why reveals the customer’s motives. What do they want to achieve, and why now of all times? Anyone who has these two answers is no longer selling a product, but a solution to a named problem.
The most common mistake at this point: the what is asked, the why is not. Then you know the wish but not the motive – and the offer misses the mark.
When and how – timing and route
Asking when and how clarifies at what point in time and by what route your solution helps at all. The right offer at the wrong time is the wrong offer.
Where and who – the environment
Asking where and who shows the environment: who else is involved in the decision, who is affected, and are there already offers from others on the table? These two questions are left out most often – and cost the most deals.
What I saw in 36 branches
At GE Money Bank Austria, I introduced 19 sales force effectiveness instruments across 36 locations. When supporting the teams on site, one pattern stood out again and again: the salespeople knew their products well. Hardly anyone asked about the customer’s motives – and if they did, they asked about the what, almost never about the why.
The reason rarely lies with the salesperson. It lies in what the manager pays attention to when sitting in on the conversation. Anyone who only discusses the closing gets salespeople who steer towards the close. Anyone who asks about the customer’s motives gets salespeople who find them out. Questioning technique is therefore not a training topic but a leadership topic – which is also why sales training alone so rarely changes anything.
Over nine months, branch lending volume in this programme rose by 60%. Not because of better arguments, but because different questions were asked in the conversations – and because management asked about exactly that.
Conclusion
If after the first round you do not have a clear picture of the customer’s needs, start again from the beginning. That is not a sign of weakness, but the only alternative to guessing. It works.
How well your sales organisation actually conducts such conversations is shown in four minutes by the Sales check. How this becomes a programme is set out under Sales Force Effectiveness.
Read on
- Branch turnaround at GE Money Bank Austria – the figures for the programme described above: 36 loss-making branches, +60% lending volume over nine months.
- A sales channel beyond your own branches – six sales partners, €20m in revenue after eight months.
- Self-assessment: how well is your sales organisation really managed? – 20 statements, four minutes, no registration.
- All success stories · All articles in Insights
If your sales organisation is supposed to deliver rather than just be busy:
let’s talk.
Note: This article provides general information and does not replace an assessment of the individual case. AI-supported tools were used in its preparation; professional review and responsibility lie with the author. Further details under AI in client mandates. The Legal Notices (in German) apply.
More to take away: self-assessments, white papers and working material in the library →