As salespeople we have heard it a million times: Ask lots of questions...and ask directive questions that nudge the prospect towards a close.

The hope, of course, is that through incessant questioning we get lots of information from our prospect and build a coffer of trust. After all, everyone loves to talk about themselves and feels most comfortable when someone else facilitates that.

But we need to be careful.
Often our questions project as a ham-handed attempt to relentlessly push the prospect closer to a sale. They can hear it and they can feel it.
Did you ever see a smirk start to come over your prospects face because they can hear your “close” coming a mile away? – That's when you know you're doing something wrong.

My advice is to relax a little, take a load off yourself and your prospect and start asking some questions that are not obviously manipulative and directional. What’s a non-directional question? Keep your ears open for topics they introduce that are not related to your product/service - this is a golden opportunity. The novice salesperson will quickly try and get the prospect "back on track" which erodes rapport and trust and quite often sounds rude from their perspective.

Instead follow the subject path that your prospect has taken - This is your chance to ask questions about what interests them, and to let them talk. The more you can get away from your product/service and into a friendly person-to-person (as opposed to sales-guy to prospect) chat the better. Don’t worry, they will let you know when it's time to circle back, and your reward will be trust, respect and possibly a quicker sale