"Are there other issues we haven't addressed yet?" – The Clearing House probe, which Mercuri calls a Sweeper Question
It’s a familiar experience. You are in conversation with a new prospect. Prospect seems a little unsure of what is needed. You wish you had a way to gently figure out the exact requirement while keeping the conversation engaging for the Customer. One sure way of doing this would be to use probing questions.
A recent blog on Negotiation Questions: How Asking Better Questions Leads to Better Deals in Harvard Law School’s website lists, among other things, 5 ways to unobtrusively probe for further information in a conversation.
5 Probe Questions to Help You Zero in on Customer Needs
It quotes communication scholars Charles Stewart and William Cash, who identified the following 5 distinctive types of probe questions. These are helpful when answers are incomplete and we need to draw out additional information. The 5 probes that are suggested can be especially valuable in sales conversations with new prospects or when introducing new products to Customers.
- 1. Nudging probes – Prompting the Customer with friendly conversation nudges such as “Tell me more”, “What happened next?” and “I see” encourage elaboration and get us the information we are looking for
- 2. Silence probes – When we pause and wait, it gives people the space to think and thoughtfully, especially when encouraged with attentive gestures like a nod or a smile
- 3. Information probes – The blog suggests that we ask for clarification if the answers seem vague. Example: “Agree that you need more time but what is the possible timeline you are looking at”
- 4. Summary probes – Summarising what we have understood gives an opportunity to the Customer to confirm or correct. Example: “So you’d need six months and about 30 employees involved – is that correct?”
- 5. Clearing house probe – This helps uncover hidden obstacles and address any concerns that may have been missed. The typical question could be – “Are there other issues we haven’t addressed yet?” Mercuri categorizes this type of probe as Sweeper Questions
You can read Harvard Law School’s full blog post here
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