Chapter Four

Communication Skills
5 and 6

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 Trust Based Sales
Communication
• Is a two way interaction that allows buyers and
sellers to develop better understanding of the
need situation and work together to generate the
best solution for the current needs.
• Communication skills Needed:
1) Questioning skills
2) Listening skills Verbal
communication
3) Giving information
4) Non verbal communication
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 (I) Questioning Skills
• Questions should be planned to get the needed
information.
• Classification of The type of Question
1) Questions for strategic purpose
a) Probing questions
b) Evaluative Questions
c) Tactical Questions
d) Reactive Questions

2) Controlling the amount and specificity

of information:
a) Open ended questions
b) Dichotomous/Closed end questions
c) Multiple choice/ closed end questions 3
(I) Types of Questions according to strategic purpose
Type of question Strategic Purpose

A) Probing Questions designed to penetrate below generalized

or superficial information
1. Requesting Clarification
“Can you share an example of
that with me?”
2. Encouraging Elaboration
“How are you dealing with that
situation now?”
3. Verifying Information and
Responses
“So, if I understand you
correctly… Is that right?”

B) Evaluative Questions –to uncover attitudes, opinions, and

preferences of customer.
“How do you feel about…?”
“Do you se the merits of…?”
“What do you think…?”
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c) Tactical Questions – used to shift or redirect the
topic of discussion
“Earlier you mentioned
that…”
“Could you tell me more
about how that might
affect…”

D) Reactive Questions refer to or directly result from

information previously provided
by the other party.
“You mentioned that …Can
you give me an example of
what you mean?”
“That is interesting. Can
you tell me how it
happened?”
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 (II) Types of Questions controlling the amount and
specificity of information

Type of Question Amount and Specificity of

information
A) Open ended Customer speaks freely
Collects descriptive information to
better understand the customer needs
and wants

B) Dichotomous Closed end Provides only two answer choices,

Questions the customer selects only one answer.
To confirm information form previous
responses
Ex. Are you satisfied? Yes No
C) Multiple choice closed end Provides more than two answer
questions choices, the customer can choose one
or more according to what is specified
To discover preferences 6
 Guidelines for Combining Types of
Questions for Maximal Effectiveness
Strategic Objective
Explore and Dig Confirm/ Change Topic Follow-Up
for Details learn attitudes
Amount of and Specificity of Information Desired

(Opened)

Open-end Questions Open-end Questions Open-end Questions Open-end Questions

Discuss

Reactive in Nature
Probing in Nature Evaluative in Nature Tactical in Nature

Closed-end Questions Closed-end Questions Closed-end Questions Closed-end Questions

Confirm
(closed)

Probing in Nature Evaluative in Nature Tactical in Nature Reactive in Nature

Dichotomous or Dichotomous or Dichotomous or Dichotomous or

Choice
MCQ

Multiple-choice Multiple-choice Multiple-choice Multiple-choice

Probing in Nature Evaluative in Nature Tactical in Nature Reactive in Nature

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Sequence of Effective Questioning
• ADAPT Questioning System: it is a
logically sequence of questions form broad
and general to detailed questions.

• Its stands for: assessment, discovery,

activates, projection and transition
questions

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Funneling Sequence of ADAPT
Assessment Questions
• Broad bases and general facts describing situation
• Open-end ,Probing in nature
Discovery Questions
• Questions probing information gained in assessment
• Seeking to uncover problems or dissatisfactions that
could lead to suggested buyer needs
• Open or closed-end questions reactive and evaluative.
Activation Questions
•Designed to activate buyer’s interest in and
desire to solve the problem.
•Open end, reactive in nature
Projection Questions
• Projects what life would be like without the problems
• Buyer tells the value of finding and
implementing a solution
Open end, Reactive in nature
Transition Questions
• Confirms interest in solving the problem
• Transmits the process to presenting the solution
•Closed end, evaluative in nature
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 II) Listening Skills
• Active listening, which is a cognitive
process of actively sensing, interpreting,
evaluation and responding to the verbal
and nonverbal messages of customers.

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SIER Hierarchy of Active Listening

Res-
ponding

Evaluating

Interpreting

When
Sensing the buyer
is talking
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1) Sensing: hearing +seeing +paying attention to
verbal and nonverbal components of the
message.
To improve sensing : take notes, make eye contact
with the sender and do not interrupt the sender.

2) Interpreting : the meaning the sender intended

by taking into consideration:
 the meaning of words
 experience, knowledge and attitudes of the
sender
 Wait until the sender is done
 Take into consideration the nonverbal cues

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3) Evaluating: the sales person should
determine whether the buyer agrees or
disagrees with the message.

4) Responding: provides feedback to the

other party and to show understanding
through nodding, smiling or restating and
paraphrasing the sender’s message and
asking questions for additional details.

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(III) Giving Information to buyers
• Verbal information is statements that are
encoded in the form of words, pictures and
numbers in a way to convey meaning to
the receiver (buyer).

• Many words or symbols mean different

things to different people.

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Note:
Note research indicates that pictures tend
to be more remembered than the verbal
words. Therefore,
1) verbal messages should be conveyed in a
way to generate a mental picture in the
receiver’s mind. “Paint word Pictures”

2) Use visual sales aids as samples,

brochures and graphs that can also be left
with the buyer until the next sales call.

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 (IV) Nonverbal Communication
• Conscious and unconscious reactions and
movements that people use besides words
in their language.
• Nonverbal components of the message is
as much or may be even more important
than the verbal component of the
message.
• Sales people should be able to interpret
and use nonverbal elements of he
message.
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• Nonverbal Communication Include:
1) Facial Expressions as tightness along the
jaw shows anger, smiling shows
agreement or interest.
2) Eye movements for example, increased
eye contact by the sender is an indication
of honesty and self confidence and by the
receiver is an indication of interest and
concentration. However, blank stare,
repeat glances towards one’s watch/ door
is an indication of boredom.

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3) Smooth and gradual movements of the
body (hands, legs…) indicates calmness
and confidence.

4) Voice: varying levels of loudness is

desirable to increase the receiver's
attention.

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