What are close-ended vs open-ended sales prospecting questions?
Closed-ended sales questions can be answered with “yes/no” or a very short answer. Open-ended sales prospecting questions require the prospect to give a longer, more considered answer.
Asking open-ended sales questions is designed to get prospects talking and keep the conversation going so sales reps can achieve their call objectives.
Why should you ask open-ended sales prospecting questions?
Open-ended questions help identify prospects who could be good fits for your solution. They reveal pain points and demonstrate genuine interest in helping prospects, building rapport and trust essential for successful selling.
Rattling off closed-ended questions can make potential customers feel interrogated and doesn’t create interesting two-way conversations. First open-ended questions shouldn’t be too direct or focused on booking meetings—the aim is getting prospects to open up and provide insights for tailoring future touches.
Good questions force potential customers to think differently, helping overcome objections like “We don’t need your solution” and keeping your foot in the door long enough to change their minds.
55 Sales Prospecting Questions
Openers
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“I’ll be upfront, this is a cold call. It’s up to you: you can either hang up now or let me have 30 seconds and then decide?”
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“Hey [prospect’s first name], [your first name] calling from [your company]. Who’s in charge of [prospect’s responsibility/area you’re targeting]?”
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“Hi [prospect name], this is [your name] from [your company]. We [how you help]. Do you have 27 seconds for me to tell you about it?”
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“What do you know about [your company/product/service]?”
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“What would it take for you to hear me out?”
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“I noticed you downloaded our [lead magnet]. What motivated you to check that out?”
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“How can I help you get the most out of it?”
Objection Handling
We already use [your competitor] / I’m locked into a contract with [your competitor]
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“That’s fine / [your competitor] is great. How’s that working out for you?”
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“Not a problem. What if you plugged us in alongside [your competitor] to turbocharge your [prospect’s task] / multiply the effectiveness of your [current solution/stack/processes]?”
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“We do integrate with [competitor / non-directly competing product/service]. When our other customers tell us about that, though, they say the experience [challenge/problem]. Is that what you’re facing with them? / How are they handling that?”
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“I understand. What do you like most about it, just so I can be better informed?”
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“That’s great, is there anything additional you’d like [competitor solution] to do?”
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“When does your contract expire?”
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“If we could do a better job than your current supplier and were cheaper, what would it take for you to work with us?”
We’re happy with the way things are
- “I get it, change is stressful. Even if there’s plenty of upsides, would you still stick with [prospect’s current status quo]?”
We’re doing great in this area / We have that covered / We have everything we need
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“That’s great, how are you achieving that? I talk to a lot of [prospect’s role], and most struggle with [challenge/task/goal]. How did you do it specifically?”
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“Do you handle that internally or work with a 3rd party? Tell me more…”
This isn’t a priority now
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“What would make it a priority?”
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“I get that. What about [other quarter]? What would make it a priority then?”
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“So what are your current priorities? If you walk me through them, maybe there’s a way I can help.”
It’s too expensive / I don’t see the potential for ROI
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“Our customers achieve [believable ROI] on average. What ROI would tempt you to try it out?”
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“What kind of ROI are you looking for?”
I’m not interested
- “What would it take to interest you?”
Call me back in 3/6 months
- “No problem. What’s likely to have changed by then?”
Send me an email
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“Is there anything specific you’d like me to include in that email?”
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“Sure. Is there anyone else I should copy on that email who could find the information useful?”
Questions to Pique Interest/Gather Information
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“I know a lot of [companies in prospect’s industry] are using [common but ineffective solution] to manage [common challenge], or maybe a custom system. Is that what you’re using, and what do you think of it?”
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“We’ve heard about some common issues regarding [common task/problem]. Do these apply to your situation?”
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“How are you managing [common task or challenge] today?”
Booking a Meeting
- “I’ve sent you over some calendar slots for you to choose from, and we have availability on [range of dates]. What works for you?”
Questions to Understand Decision-Making and Buying Processes
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“I’ll follow this call up with an email summary with some more information. I know this could be a big project, so should I include any information for anybody else?”
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“Is there anyone else I should copy on follow-up emails?”
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“Who else on your team may be important to loop in on the next call?”
Discovery
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“What made you realize you needed [solution to problem]?”
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“How urgent is [problem] and need for a solution?”
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“How does it affect everyone on your team?”
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“What have you tried in the past to solve this?”
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“What hasn’t worked in the past when trying to address it?”
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“How do you plan to try and address it in the future?”
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“What’s your top priority for [common goal]?”
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“What do you see as your biggest obstacle to achieving [goal]?”
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“Can you tell me more about the challenges you face? Are they more time-focused or cost-related?”
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“If you don’t find a solution today, where do you see your team in 6 months?”
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“Why is [feature/service] interesting/important to you?”
Well, we struggle with X, Y, Z, which is an issue because…
- “Oh no! What happens then?”
It’s causing us X, Y, Z problems…
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“Ok, so [feature/function] is an issue. What would happen if you fix it?”
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“Can you give me an example of that?”
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“Walk me through your process for…”
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“Which tools are you using for…”
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“How are these challenges affecting the growth of your business?”
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“If you overcame these obstacles, what would that look like? An increase in revenue or a reduction in costs, etc.? How important to you is [common goal]?”
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“Who is going to benefit most from a change in this area?”
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“How did you get involved with [current responsibility/project]?”
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“What kinds of resources can I send you to make this process easier?”
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“What other questions can I answer for you now?”
Sales Prospecting Questions Best Practices
Do Your Research and Prepare in Advance
Do your due diligence on prospects before calling. Knowing who you’re calling, what they likely struggle with, and how you could help avoids wasting everyone’s time and helps you feel more confident.
Block off time for cold calling and eliminate distractions. Set goals for prospecting time and each sales call to help stay on track to hit targets.
Visualize the outcomes you want and do whatever you need beforehand to get yourself in the right frame of mind before picking up the phone.
Set an Agenda and Use a Script
Knowing what you’re going to say and having a structure to sales calls puts you in the driving seat and helps guide the prospect through different sales cycle stages. Open-ended questions encourage prospects to talk, but you don’t want the conversation to get out of control or for too many pains to surface in the initial conversation.
Be prepared to deviate from your cold calling scripts if something interesting comes up. Never sound like you’re reading from a script—people interact enough with bots without you doing your best impression of one too.
Use Pattern Interruption
Open-ended questions that challenge prospects and keep them on the line are part of this. Other techniques include using humor, self-deprecation, mirroring, and empathy, which help avoid the knee-jerk “not interested” reaction years of unwelcome cold callers have conditioned prospects into.
Listen More Than You Talk
Aiming for an 80-20 listen-to-talk ratio allows pain and objections to unravel so you can gauge their full extent. It also flips the usual cold-call dynamic on its head instead of trying to shut them down so you can pitch, which prospects should respond positively to.
Automate Wherever Possible
Use a sales engagement platform like Mixmax to automate manual or repetitive tasks and boost productivity and efficiency.
One-click in-email and Chrome extension dialers allow you to call numbers in your CRM or on any website from your Gmail inbox or Salesforce. Real time sync and automatic activity logging eliminate busywork and make your CRM a source of truth. Beast Mode lets you create triggers for automatic tasks like sending follow-up emails and collateral, updating Slack, and assigning tasks.
Integrations with popular sales prospecting tools like Dialpad take the grunt work out of finding and dialing numbers, recording conversations, and getting real-time coaching and post-call insights to improve cold calling.
Cold calls are most effective when carried out as part of multi-channel sequences, which can easily be personalized by stages, content, and sending schedules for each recipient based on personalization triggers assigned by you.
Sales prospecting email templates that auto-fill with prospect data from your CRM make it easy to personalize outreach at scale, while real-time engagement alerts allow you to follow up when top of mind.
No, You Hang Up
Cold calling has been pronounced dead more times than can be counted, yet it seems to be hanging in there pretty well. Open-ended sales prospecting questions will stand you in good stead when it comes to getting prospects talking.
It’s not just SDRs who need to hone their cold calling skills. Experts recommend everyone from SDRs to sales managers take a turn at cold calling from time to time. Leading by example and practicing what you preach will help motivate your team and give you a better understanding of your prospects, workflows, and sales processes.
