25. Ask Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How
Questions may either be closed or open. Closed questions require a yes, no, or short answer. They are effective in controlling the conversation. When you need short answers to clarify information or when you need a specific yes or no, use questions beginning with is, are, do, can, or will. Open questions, on the other hand, require longer answers. When you need information or want to get someone talking, use open questions beginning with who, what, when, where, why, and how.
Performance Prompts
To encourage thoughts or feelings, try:
Who, in your opinion, would like to . . . ?
What do you think about . . . ?
Why is it important that . . . ?
To gather additional information, try:
When do you . . . ?
Where would you . . . ?
How do you . . . ?
To clarify information, try:
Is one going to be . . . ?
Are you going to use it to . . . ?
Do you . . . ?
Can you . . . ?
Will you . . . ?
To guide the other person to make a decision, try:
What you are saying is . . . , right?
Let’s recap what we’ve discussed. . . . Is that correct?
I want to make sure I understand correctly.... Am I on target?
You said that you. . . . Will this help?
When This Happens ...
You are helping your customer reach a decision about your proposal. When you are in the questioning mode, let the other person do most of the talking so you can listen closely to uncover her needs.
Try This
Use open questions to keep the person talking, then switch to closed questions to reach a conclusion. Ask the open question, “What happens when . . . ?” When you recap, turn the customer’s answer into a closed question, “You mentioned that when . . . , _____ happens, right? Our product can solve that problem by. . . .” You painted a picture in the customer’s mind by using a problem the customer is having to propose your solution. By adding right? at the end of the sentence you are gaining the customer’s agreement.
Be careful when beginning a question with “why” that you don’t put the person on the defensive.