20 Open-Ended Sales Probing Questions to Ask Your Prospects

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Good salespeople know when to talk and when to listen. But that’s tricky when the other person isn’t speaking for themselves. In that case, you need to ask the right questions to encourage detailed responses from prospects.

What is an open-ended sales question?
An open-ended question is a question that requires a longer answer, meaning it’s not a “yes” or “no.” Closed questions are things like “Have you heard about our service yet?” or “Do you have any questions?” These can be answered quickly, without giving away a lot of information.

Questions like “Where have you heard about our service before?” or “What areas of my business proposition do you have questions about?” are open-ended and therefore encourage a freer flow of conversation between the parties.

Table. Green - initial open-ended questions What why, how tell me Red - initial closed-ended self employed data questions is/am done was/were would/will do
Image created by the author

We’ve collected some examples of the type of open-ended questions you can ask your prospects to get them talking.

Remember to keep in mind the method you will use to ask your questions, even if you are considering a range of options.

For example, some open-ended questions may require very long answers, making live chat impractical. Alternatively, for pain point questions, some customers may not appreciate the need to answer the phone immediately and prefer to write down their answers later.

Can I ask you some questions about your business?
It is respectful to ask for consent before launching into questions. Asking this at the beginning of the interaction gives the prospect the option to close the door or keep it open if they are genuinely interested.