The comparison question is a crucial part of your selling skills arsenal. It can open up several avenues to further the sales call discussion, such as events in your customer’s past and hopes for his future. It can help you gain access to an organization’s inner workings — uncovering conflicting interests among its employees. Here’s how to change an ordinary question into a comparison question:

Ordinary question: “What are your goals?”

Comparison question: “What do you want to accomplish in the next twelve months compared to where you were one year ago.”

Unlocking an ordinary question into a full-blown comparison question gives you more to work with. Once you open those doors to your customer, you’ll showcase a vast range of business solutions for him and for you. Separate yourself from the pack of the ordinary by asking extraordinary sales questions.