Growing sales and leads depend on your team’s ability to ask clients questions. Technicians and CSRs can meet client needs and wants when they use effective skills during client interactions.
Here at Service Excellence Training, we empower our clients to learn how to reach their goals. Read on to learn about three types of questions that result in sales and leads opportunities for home services companies.
Discovery Questions
When working to uncover a client’s direct needs, an HVAC technician, CSR or manager should use discovery questions. Discovery questions should be open-ended. We want to avoid asking questions that have simple Yes or No answers because we can’t gather as much information from them. We want the homeowner to talk and express their experience to gain a broader understanding of their problems.
For example, “What kind of problems are you experiencing?” or “How long has this concern gone on?”
These open-ended questions can be clarified with shorter closed questions. For instance, “So your system hasn’t been cooling?” Using discovery questions can make initial client-company interaction effective and efficient. They also help to point the company team member in the direction that will resolve the client’s concerns.
We want to avoid asking questions that have simple Yes or No answers because we can’t gather as much information from them. We want the homeowner to talk and express their experience to gain a broader understanding of their problems.
Guiding Questions
Guiding questions clarify issues and concerns along the sales and leads path. In other words, they’re the glue that holds the sales and leads process together. They can guide the sales call along to the next stage as well as help to inform clients.
For example, a technician that has explained the diagnostic process he is about to perform may ask a guiding question. The question can be as simple as, “Do you have any questions before I begin the diagnostic?” This type of discovery question works to move the sales call along as well as provide a check-in to see how the client feels.
Discovery questions also help inform clients about what has been uncovered after the diagnostic. When a technician finds a faulty part in a system or product and proceeds to explain the issue to the client, then he may begin by asking a guiding question.
In this case, the question could be, “Are you familiar with this part (i.e. the compressor)?” Guiding questions help to create clarification and understanding between clients and technicians.
Closing Questions
When techs and CSRs use questions effectively, closing questions can work to make the call successful. Closing questions do just that – work to close a sale.
After a tech or CSR understands a client’s need and gives them a thorough presentation, a closing question is a final checkpoint. Closing questions require finesse, so it’s best to ensure they’re asked when clients are prepped for a close. However, it’s vital that a tech clearly asks for the close because most clients will not close the sale themselves.
Some examples of these closing questions are, “So, which of these two packages would you like?” or “If I can get the investment to this price, can you ensure you’ll take the system?” Closing questions should be to-the-point yet also eloquent. A team member should have built a strong rapport during the call so that when they get to the close, the client feels comfortable closing. It is very important to remember that once a tech has asked for a close, they should be quiet and listen.
Ask Your Way to Success
Developing strong questioning skills is an area that can help build a successful independent contracting company team. In our post today, we explored three question types: discovery, guiding and closing questions. These questions affect sales and leads inside a contracting company.
Ready to learn these skills and practice them with industry experts? Take advantage of this opportunity and hone your skills by attending our next PRESS PLAY Training Series for Sales and Techs. Here at Service Excellence, we IGNITE THE POWER WITHIN.
