These types of questions are geared toward gathering information. They commit your customer to giving you anything but a yes or no answer.

For instance, an open-ended question would come across like this:

What is it that you like so much about your current bank?

Now, if you are a banker trying to get a customer to bank with you, you will now be able to compare your products and benefits to what your customer has just told you about their current bank.

Also, by finding out about what they like, you will also find out what their needs are.

Another name for selling a customer what they need is “needs-based selling."

All sales people have goals and we have a tendency to sell things to people even though they have no need for the product just so we can have our numbers inflated so we can talk about it during the weekly sales meeting or conference call.

The downside to selling something to someone that they have no need for is that your customer will quickly figure out that they don’t have a need for it and will never consider you in the future for your services.

This is the reason why it is so important to find out what your customers needs are before you sell them something.

When you sell a customer something that they need or want, they will be truly happy with the product and the service and appreciate your help.

As we all know, a happy customer is a good customer and will always come back to you for your services and refer friends and family to you as well.