Stop The Interrogations

You cannot be a consistently good seller if you don’t gather the right information from prospective clients. That is why we’ve all been told “just ask good questions” on sales calls.

I love the power of good questions, but here’s the problem: the second you start firing off questions, your prospect’s brain flashes interrogation mode. You sound like a detective with a quota, not a trusted advisor. Asking too many questions triggers this interrogation syndrome social barrier. No one likes to be interrogated, and most people start asking themselves questions around your motives for asking.

There’s something that all intelligence agencies and most police detective training programs teach called “elicitation”, as a way to skip that social barrier. Here’s the trick : turn questions into statements.

Instead of asking:
“Do you have issues with your current vendor?”
Say:
“A lot of clients I talk to are frustrated with how inconsistent their vendors can be.”

That little shift changes everything. Your prospect doesn’t feel interrogated—they feel invited to confirm, deny, or expand. Most people can’t resist correcting or validating a statement. You’ve opened the door without shoving a microphone in their face.

It works across the board:

• Instead of “What’s your process for X?” try “Most teams I work with have a pretty messy process around X.”
• Instead of “Is this a priority right now?” try “This tends to get pushed down the list until it becomes urgent.”

See the difference? Statements spark conversation without tripping the defense alarms.

Now, let’s ramp this up a notch. There are two tactics that I really on to level this up:

1 – Quote specific numbers, facts and figures. So, if I want to know how much this prospect is spending on a competing software, I will make a statement like, “Someone told me you guys are now being asked to pay $600/month for that point-of-sale solution” or “I hear XYZ now charges a base monthly fee of $600”. When you add a specific data point, the urge to correct becomes almost irresistible.

2 – Invert the data paradigm. This is my favorite, and this is one of the only techniques that works consistently with kids and teenagers in case you have any of those. Short explanation, deliberately insinuate the opposite of the position you want to confirm. “I’m sure you guys get a killer deal on POS systems.” or expanded, “I’m sure you guys get a killer deal on POS systems and it’s probably not worth your time to review other options”.

Either one of these tactics will increase the frequency of hearing them say, “well……actually……”.

Important note here, NONE of these will alter the truth. It just gets them to reveal it, so if the client is actually getting a killer deal on their POS system, be prepared for them to confirm that. Not all accounts are prospects.

When you elicit information with statements, it helps you come across as someone who actually understands the space. You’re not asking your prospect to do all the heavy lifting—you’re showing insight and letting them fill in the blanks.

Next time you’re on a call, swap out a few of your stock questions for statements. You’ll notice prospects relax, open up faster, and share way more than they would if you were just running through a Q&A checklist.

Stop interrogating. Start conversing.