Open questions allow respondents to include more information…

Including feelings, attitudes and understanding of the subject.

This allows you to better understand what your customers or prospects true feelings are on an issue.

Closed questions (because of the simplicity and limit of the answers) may not let them reflect their real feelings and give you the information you need to help them.

When using open questions customers and prospects are not likely to forget the information they provide and will happily give detailed information rather than just a Yes or No response.

Open questions also show that you’re listening and that you want to fully understand your customers or prospects situation, which builds your credibility.

We liken it to peeling an onion. Each open question is equivalent to an onion’s layers, and the more layers you peel back the more of the onion (or situation) is revealed.

It’s not about racing to find an answer or ask another question, is about taking your time, listening and making sure you have all the information, before you can help in the best way possible.

Examples of closed questions are:

• Is your existing print & scan technology up to the job?
• Are you paying too much for printing & scanning?
• Have you got adequate service levels for breakdowns?
• Would you like a free assessment?

Here’s the impact of asking open questions:

• What business functions do you require your print & scan technology to address?
• How are you charged for printing & scanning, and what extra charges could happen?
• Ideally, how fast would you like breakdowns to be repaired? What happens now?
• If we provided a free assessment, what things would you like to see in the report?

As you can see, by using open questions you can gleam far more information, and if done correctly, speed up the process to your end goal.

…as a learning for all (in the comments) please detail a scenario & the open questions you’d ask.