A salesperson usually has a list of questions they want to ask a prospect. After all, understanding the prospect and their business is necessary to know if and how you can help them and their business. But often, these questions come across as overly prying. How do you fix this? By using Donald’s four tips to avoid sounding like you’re prying in their business.

Build rapport before you ask questions.

• The private information you need will come only if the prospect feels comfortable.
• You don’t have the authority to ask those questions when you first start interacting with a prospect.
• The key? Don’t ask about the weather - surface-level questions don’t build the relationship you need. 
• Ask more profound questions and provide thoughtful engagement to show the client you care about their result.

Let them know you’ll be asking tough questions. 

• Think back to episode 1275 and episode 452 about rapport building and rule-setting, respectively - these elements are critical to establishing before asking questions.
• Give a prospect everything they need to know before starting, and they’ll be much more likely to be okay with it.

Be mindful of your question phrasing.

• The way you phrase questions or statements will change the impact of the question.
• Softening questions by providing your reasons for the questions will make a prospect more likely to react positively and give a thorough answer. 

Educate them enough before you ask the question

• Enter the room as a professional to be treated as a professional.
• If a client recognizes someone as an expert, they’ll be more willing to divulge information.
• Share relevant statistics that link to your question - it shows you know what you’re talking about, especially if you apply that statistic to your end result.

Put these points together, and your questions will not come across as prying; because you’ve done the research and methods to build a relationship with your prospect and show you deserve answers to your questions.

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