14 Ways to Screw Up the Questions You Ask

You have at least 14 ways to screw up a simple question if you haven't prepared to ask better ones.

An earlier article listed 23 ways you can use questions effectively in selling.

People often say there’s no such thing as a stupid question. That’s nice, and it may help you feel better about yourself when you ask them.

But it’s not true.

This article warns you about 14 ways you can go wrong by asking bad questions.

If they cost you a sale because you weren’t better prepared, I’d say that’s stupid.

Weak, careless, ineffective, poorly phrased and poorly asked questions can hurt you when they fit any of these descriptions:

1. They appear to be abrupt, invasive, rude, insensitive, or inconsiderate. This can happen if you cross boundaries of social decorum, class, age, rank, ethics, legality, etc.
2. They feel pushy, bullying, harsh or coercive. This can happen if you ask them in an accusatory manner or in a way that presumes there’s only one correct answer, as in “Wouldn’t you agree with that?”
3. They are confusing, frustrating, illogical, directionless or apparently pointless.
4. They display evidence that you haven’t been listening. This can happen if you ask for information the prospect has already provided.
5. They appear to waste your prospect’s or customer’s time. This can happen when you ask for information you could easily have gotten from another source if you had been better prepared, or when your questions seem to serve your goals more than the customer’s.
6. They can undermine the prospect’s perception of your knowledge, professionalism or competence. This can happen when your questions are poorly thought out, uninformed, or you misuse trade language.
7. They can show you as being presumptuous, insensitive or prejudiced toward a topic that might offend the customer. This can easily happen whenever you suggest an answer to your own question, as in “Do you work in the accounting department, too?” or “How long have you been pregnant?”
8. They can make you appear to be insubstantial because your questions are trite, canned, commonplace, overused, or loaded with jargon. Tip: Don’t ask senior executives what keeps them awake at night. That question has been overused for years.
9. They can confuse your customer or prospect because the language you use is hard to understand, your questions are long and meandering, or your intention in asking a question is unclear.
10. They can make you appear to be egotistical and controlling if you seem to be more interested in serving a personal agenda rather than getting at the truth.
11. They can elicit short, knee-jerk answers rather than causing true reflection or revealing insights that might better serve your selling purposes.
12. They can lead a prospect toward an idea, vision, thought process or conclusion you’d rather he would avoid.
13. They can make your prospect feel frustrated, stupid or inadequate because you’ve put him on the spot by asking about things he can’t reasonably be expected to know.
14. They can make you seem presumptuous for believing you’ve achieved a level of trust you haven’t earned.

Can you think of any others?

Have you got any good examples of badly asked questions that illustrate any of these 14 points?

Are you starting to see the value of preparing your questions in advance?

More on questions next time.

Stay fresh.

– Scott Silverback