In Dimensions of Professional Selling® sales training, participants learn about the Exploratory Process™ as an effective means of uncovering customer needs/gaps, desired outcomes and expectations. This kind of insight is a prerequisite for a successful solution presentation and providing authentic value to the customer.

Five types of questions can be used at various points in the Exploratory Process to facilitate our learning: Overview, Focusing, Realization, Closure and, sometimes, Dimensional/Insight questions. Overview questions are intended to initiate the flow of information and collect general information from the customer. Following our Positive Contact™, Overview questions provide a logical and comfortable way to begin a productive conversation. Effective Overview questions help us immediately get into the customer’s “Odds Are” and uncover less obvious gaps.

Here are examples of effective Overview questions:

1. Tell me about your role and responsibilities here at ABC Company.
2. What would you say your company is best known for?
3. I’d like to know more about your business.  What are you most proud of when it comes to your company?
4. Describe your ideal customer or prospect.
5. How do you attract new customers?
6. What does a typical day look like here at ABC Company?
7. What is your department’s role at ABC Company?

If our Overview questions are lacking or skipped altogether, we will not have a complete view of the customer’s perspective, and the discussion will likely feel abrupt when we prematurely dive into more specific details without a broader perspective.