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servicescore · 4 years

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The Power of Powerful Questions

Every business wants to deliver a great experience on phone calls, but many managers worry that their staff is too busy to make it happen as often as they’d like. They assume that to truly build rapport and explain how their company serves customers, their team has to spend a lot more time on phone calls.

It might sound counter-intuitive, but our data shows that with effective skills, phone calls that convert to new business are more often shorter, not longer, in length. These calls follow a three-step process called “The Funnel Effect” with each step having its own set of Powerful Questions. It’s all about efficiently learning the caller’s needs, understanding what they value most and then offering the best solution.

The Funnel Effect progresses a phone call through 1) Open Questions, 2) Probing Questions and then 3) Closed Questions. There’s an assumption that to build rapport and sell value on the phone, one must ask many open-ended questions and let the caller just keep sharing until they run out of steam. Yes, open-ended questions are important, but closed questions are just as important – at the right points in phone calls.

Powerful Questions show the caller that you care and get them to talk specifically about the needs that your business can help them meet – which is why they called your business!

Let’s look at an example of Powerful Questions and The Funnel Effect for someone considering hiring a Maid Service for their home cleaning needs.

Step 1: Open-Ended Questions

After greeting the caller, asking for their name and determining that the caller needs your product or service, start with a powerful open-ended question to get them to tell you why they’re calling you today. The key to doing this efficiently is to have a deep understanding about the most effective Powerful Questions for your business. The right questions will help you quickly get to the true needs of the caller. In our Maid Service example, open-ended questions might sound like this:

“I’d like to ask a few questions to get you exactly what you’re looking for and then I can make a few recommendations, does that sounds ok, John? Great - Tell me, why did you give us a call us today?”

What kind of services were you considering for your home, Denise?”

“What’s going on with your home that you called us today, Sharon?

You can quickly learn a lot from these types of questions. In this example – the caller might not need Maid Service at all – or at least, not at first. This caller might just be overwhelmed and needs help with the laundry or might need a professional organizer – and house cleaning is actually a secondary need. The answer to these questions helps you start to learn the caller’s needs and opens the door for follow-up.

Step 2: Probing Follow-Up Questions

These allow you to narrow your understanding of the caller’s answers to your open questions – and to learn what they value most. This is where you have the biggest opportunity to build rapport and progress the call more quickly – by asking questions that allow you to offer the caller the right solution based on their unique needs and values.

In our Maid Service example, learning if a caller has ever previously used an outside provider can teach you a lot. It might sound like this:

“Tell me, John, have you ever had Maid Services at your home before?”

If they haven’t had Maid Service at their home before, you have the opportunity to find out why they’re considering it now – and what they might value most from the service. For example, you could learn that they’re looking to get more time back in their week for other activities besides cleaning or that they just started a job that takes them out of the house or that they are just not able to keep up and need some help to get the house cleaned at the standard they want to maintain. This gives immediate insight into what the team member should focus on when offering a proposed service. The caller might place the highest value of time savings, or the peace of mind of knowing that the work is done when caller is not at home or the sparkling results from great teams, tools and practices.

Yet, if that Probing Question helped you learn that the caller had used a Maid Service before, it can save you some time by not having to explain how the service works and instead focus on understanding why the caller is looking for a new provider. It might sound like this:

“That’s great Sharon, it sounds like you have experience with Maid Services for your home. May I ask, why are you considering trying a new provider?”

The answer to this question can get right to the heart of the reason for the call – and what the caller values most in Maid Service. For example, the caller might share that he had a bad experience with dependability (the team member can sell how they make sure that no scheduled services are missed) or that she was concerned about the trustworthiness of the person coming into her home (the team member can talk about the agency’s background checks and screening standards for employees) or cleaning consistency (the team member can talk about their cleaning checklist and proactive post-visit calls that make sure the job is done to the customers’ satisfaction).

You can see how the right Probing Questions at the right time on calls can show the caller that the team member is sincerely looking to pair the caller’s needs with a solution, while also saving time by not having to explain processes or sell features that aren’t relevant to the specific caller’s situation.

Step 3: Close and Confirm Questions

Asking closed questions towards the end of the call allows you to confirm both your own and the customer’s understanding of what has been discussed and gain commitment for next steps. It also adds efficiency by gently transitioning the call towards a successful close. You’re just looking for a quick answer, usually yes or no. In our Maid Service example, closed questions might sound like:

“Thanks so much for the call today, Joe. Just to confirm, we’ll meet you at your home on Cherry Lane next Tuesday at 9am for our in-home consultation, do I have that right?”

“Thanks Sharon, I’m happy to email you the information packet we discussed. Is it ok for me to call you next week to follow-up on any questions you might have?”

“Thank you, John, it’s great to review the estimate with your wife and I’ll email it to you right after we hang up here. May I call you tomorrow afternoon to follow-up?”

The best thing about Powerful Questions is that they can support the natural flow of conversation which makes calls more efficient and builds rapport. It the staff member answers a call with a genuine desire to help the caller become a customer, these questions can flow like any authentic conversation.

At ServiceScore, we help businesses use the insights from their Phone Call Performance Reports to identify and enhance the Powerful Questions that deliver an outstanding customer experience that convert more calls to new business.

Image Credit: Call Center Helper

#franchising franchisor training customerexperience customerservice smallbusiness franchisemarketing phonecalls callconversion

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