Effective Questioning in Sales Conversations

What’s the real backbone of an effective sales conversation?

It’s not the pitch, not the presentation and it’s definitely not dropping the price early.

In this episode, Nicky breaks down the one skill that can potentially increase your conversions by up to 23 percent.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re doing “all the right things” in sales but still not converting at the rate you want, this conversation may just shift your approach. Nicky shares why most business owners and sales teams aren’t asking enough of the right questions, and how that’s quietly costing them revenue.

Nicky chats about...

• Why strategic and targeted questions outperform presentations and pitches
 • The 30–70 rule that changes the power dynamic in a conversation
 • How to uncover the gap between current reality and future ideal
 • Why talking about price too early kills trust
 • How to avoid sounding like you’re interrogating your prospect
 • The simple “permission point” technique that increases your chances of getting a yes

Nicky introduces her practical, easy to remember CLASP framework, a step by step structure that helps you stay curious, intentional, and in control of your sales conversations without feeling pushy.

If you want stronger trust, clearer positioning, and more consistent conversions, this episode will show you how to make the close easy by doing the work in the middle.

Press play and start asking better questions.

Learn more about Nicky  at nickymiklos.com

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Contact: 0403 191 404 | hello@nickymiklos.com 

Music by Jules Miklos-Woodley

Transcript

Nicky Miklós (00:27)

Hello everybody and welcome to this week's conversation with Nicky all about smart business growth. Now, if I was to ask you, what do you think is the number one most important aspect of an effective sales conversation? What would your answer be? What do you think is the non-negotiable, the backbone of an effective sales conversation? In my opinion, that would be effective questioning.

When we focus on effective questioning, it means that we can uncover even more about what our customer or client is wanting and what they're needing. But if you really think about it, effective questioning isn't just about understanding and uncovering needs. It's also about understanding the true motivator and urgency so that you know when to close the sale or to present a solution. Effective questioning is also asking for the sale.

I would probably say that the biggest observations that I make when I'm doing one-on-one coaching or team workshops would be not asking enough questions or going deep enough with questions and definitely not asking for the sale at the end.

Now this makes sense when we're talking about it and thinking about it, of course, if we ask more questions, we get more information, but there's a real revenue upside to think about as well.

I came across some research recently that showed sales representatives that ask strategic and targeted questions. So not just any questions, we want strategic, we want targeted. We'll close 23 % more deals than those who really just primarily focus and rely on presentations and pitches.

And again, I see this a lot in terms of whether you're a business owner, you're a solo business owner, or it's on you and your business has grown, or you now have a team that is doing the selling for you. So often we rely on a presentation, on a pitch, but if we just pause, if we hold off on that, if we ask some more questions, well, you could potentially get 23 % more conversions, more sales. And I want you to think about what that would mean for your business.

Imagine if you had a 23 % lift in the number of sales that you are converting.

So for today's episode, I wanna share with you a framework that I use that makes it really simple to stay focused on high quality questions, but also what else is wrapped around those questions so that it doesn't feel like an interrogation.

I love a good acronym because it's easy to remember. And so the framework is actually the CLASP framework. We want to be able to connect what your solution is with everything that you uncover through using the framework CLASP.

So CLASP stands for the C is curiosity. Please be curious about the person that you're talking to.

Now as a side note, if you're a leader, sales leader or leader listening to this, you can actually use this framework for coaching as well. So if you're coaching your team members, but we'll focus more today on the context of this through a sales conversation.

So get curious. What do you do when you are curious about something? Typically, we'll lean in, we'll listen more, we're actively listening, we're hearing to understand, not just prepare our next response.

So all we have to do to begin with is actually be curious. Naturally, we'll ask more questions.

Interestingly, only 7 % of effective communication comes down to the actual words we use. 93 % of effective communication is actually made up of our body language, our tone of voice, our pace, our pitch, all of the technicalities around that.

Now, don't get me wrong, the 7 % has to be accurate. That's got to be on point. But I share this when we're talking about curiosity because how often do we really think about how we're showing up, who we're being.

Now we can get caught up in the stats, in the numbers that 55 % of effective communication comes down to body language. 38 % is our tone and everything that comes along with that. But an easier way to actually look at this is simply be curious. Because when we are curious, our body language and our tone of voice is taken care of. We are so present to that person that nothing else matters. And that 93 % of effective communication, we're good. It's taken care of.

So the C for CLASP is be curious in the person that you're talking to.

The L stands for listen.

Are you actually listening to what they're saying?

A really good measure around this is you need to be talking roughly 30 % of the time, which means the other person is talking 70 % of the time. The only way that they can be talking 70 % of the time is if you're asking really good quality questions.

So listen, we're curious, we're leaning in. We're listening, we're talking 30 % of the time. They're talking the majority of the time. It's the person that is talking less that has control over the conversation.

And you might even reflect and think of a time in the past where you've thought, gosh, what just happened there? Oftentimes you were talking too much. I know personally, I know this might shock some of you, I definitely have had that experience and continue to have to keep myself in check around that. But particularly in the early days of sales, you know, I had to be really conscious that I'm not doing most of the talking.

So we're curious, we're listening, and then we want to make sure that we're asking with intent.

So the A stands for ask with intent.

So that's things like make sure you're using open-ended questions. Open-ended questions will give you more from the answer than a closed question.

If you're trying to do the 30-70 rule and you're finding it hard, some people will give you so much information without even asking many questions. Other people can be harder to draw more out of. So really question yourself and reflect on, am I asking good quality open questions? Because if you are, you're more likely to get more from them.

The other thing, there's so much within this space, but the other tip I wanna give you, I just wanna keep it simple, is really think about, am I asking questions to identify the current reality?

What is happening for them at the moment? We wanna get clear on that. Then we also wanna get clear on what's their future ideal? What do they want it to be like? If this is what it's like, what do they want it to be like?

And if you want bonus points, you might also ask a future consequence. If it doesn't change, what does that look like? What will happen?

Now, it's the gap between uncovering the current reality and the future ideal. It's that gap that allows you to provide a solution.

So the bigger the gap, the more value they will place on the solution. If there's no gap between their current reality and future ideal, then they're probably not going to place as much, if any value on the solution that you can provide.

So a key rule of thumb, I guess, is have I uncovered their current reality? Have I uncovered their future ideal, potentially the future consequence? And is there enough of a gap that they will see value in my solution?

Because it is not about how good you think your solution is. It's about can they see value? And effective sales and getting the sale is never about price. It's always about do they see value in investing in you?

And so if you start to talk about dollars too early before you've identified what that gap is and how big that gap is, then you could very, very easily lose the sale. The conversation becomes transactional. We lose trust.

You know, there's a podcast episode I did a couple of weeks ago, the role of sales in 2026, that trust is the number one.

So please don't present a solution or go into pitch mode before you've identified that gap. And if there's not a decent amount of space between current reality, future ideal, guess what you do? You keep asking more questions.

Because you're curious to identify how you can help them. You're listening and you're hearing things even in between the lines. And you're using that framework, CFG, and then you can present a solution.

Now, some people are really good at current reality questions. What's happening in your world at the moment? Tell me about your business. Tell me about your solution. What's working? What's not working? What are your biggest challenges? So that's a lot of current reality type questions.

But they often then maybe forget future ideal. Where do you want to be in two years time? What does success look like for you? If you don't want this, what do you want instead? What would that look like, feel like, paint me a picture? You know, these are future ideal type questions.

And typically we tend to be good at one or the other, either current reality or future ideal. But we have to bring both because if we only look at one lens, we don't get to identify the gap. We don't even see the gap.

Because the point of this is that you are creating a bridge. You are building a bridge to take your client, your prospect from where they are now to where they want to go. Whether that's more sales, more freedom, better mindset, advertising, help with creating financial wealth, whatever that might be, you're building that bridge.

And so in order to know what that bridge needs to look like, we have to identify how big that gap is.

So current reality, future ideal, identify the gap, then provide the solution. This is all in alignment with asking with intent. Can you see how we're not just throwing out a whole bunch of questions? We're actually asking with intentional, deliberate thought so that we can provide the solution.

So that's the A. So we're curious, we're listening, we're asking with intent.

We then wanna make sure that they feel like we are a safe pair of hands. We don't want this questioning to feel like an interrogation.

Interestingly, research shows, so Gong did some research that showed average salespeople will ask six questions or less. Top performers will ask between 11 to 14 or more if it's done right.

There is such a thing as asking too many questions so it feels like an interrogation and we're no longer creating that safe space.

So the S stands for softeners or safe pair of hands, whichever one you wanna choose.

But the reason that it's safe pair of hands or softeners is because you can bring in a question softener so it doesn't feel like an interrogation.

For example, if you put a couple of words before your question, I'd love to know, I'm really curious, would you mind if I asked, can I ask you, based on what you've said. And then you go into the question.

When you put some words, a few words before the question, it softens it, which is what creates this feeling of safe pair of hands. I'm not interrogating. It's not an interview. We're having an exploration and a discussion.

So we're going to ask question softeners.

And then the final P is for permission points.

Now this is gold, actually. This is really very easy to overlook in a conversation. It's very powerful when you do it right. And it is simple. It's just remembering to do it, I think, is the biggest barrier.

So a permission point is when you paraphrase back to them and you ask a closed question.

So what I'm hearing, Nicky, is X, Y, Z. Is that right?

So see how I paraphrased but I didn't just leave the paraphrase open. So what I'm hearing, Nicky, is X, Y, Z.

Now, if you do it that way, it's still good, but it's not great. And the reason is, if you paraphrase without asking a question, sometimes they might answer you because it's kind of energetically, intuitively an unspoken question, but sometimes they might not. So it's kind of left in the air.

But if you double that with a closed question, if you back it up and it's both the paraphrase and the closed question, they will most likely answer unless they're very rude and it's not a great conversation.

You know, so what I'm hearing, Nicky, is XYZ. Am I on the right track?

If I'm asking a deliberate closed question, I want to get a yes or no answer. And this is where closed questions are actually really impactful when they're used right.

So you're influencing, encouraging a response, which is yes or no.

Why is that so important?

We want a yes or no. We're asking permission points throughout the conversation. Ideally, we're getting a yes. And the more yeses you get along the way, the more likely you are to get a yes at the end.

It's just common sense. It is also the law of consistency. Robert Cialdini talks about in his book, Six Laws of Influence, we as humans, if we say yes to something or we say something out loud, we're more likely to not want to contradict that down the track.

But let's just common sense this. If I say yes along the way, then you're probably meeting my needs and we're on the same page. And then it's more likely we're going to get the yes at the end.

Right.

So think about it from that point of view.

Now, if you get a no, some people are like, I don't want to get a no, I don't want to ask that, cause what if they say no? I'm like, excellent. If you get a no early on in the conversation, that's great feedback.

You're not on the right track and you're highly likely not going to get the yes down the end.

So don't be afraid of getting a no. Don't be afraid of permission pointing a paraphrase combined with the closed question.

You're getting permission points along the way through your conversation. And if you get a no, that's great feedback. And then you can just readjust.

Okay. I misunderstood. Let's get back on the same page. When I asked X, Y, Z, you know, and get some clarification.

So CLASP.

It's a simple formula. It's really memorable. And I want you to think about in your conversations or your team's conversations, what are you observing?

Are they curious, leaning in, present?

Are they listening? 30-70 rule. Are they talking less than the prospect or the client?

Asking with intention. Are they using open questions where relevant to get more information? Are they identifying current reality, future ideal?

And you can also use probing questions, go deeper on the answers that they've given you. All of this is asked with intent.

Are they using softeners to soften the questions so it doesn't feel like an interrogation, regardless of how many questions they're asking?

And are they asking permission points, not just paraphrasing and not just asking closed questions? The power and the magic of a permission point is that it's the combination of the two.

And honestly, sometimes it almost feels too simple that we overlook it.

When we can bring CLASP to our conversations with clients and our prospects, whether that's existing clients in additional ways to help them, new clients that we're looking to onboard, it really makes sure that we are asking those strategic and targeted questions that I talked about at the beginning.

If you want a 23%, one in four increase in conversions, my friends, this is where it is at because effective questioning is absolutely the backbone of an effective sales conversation.

And when you bring this through, when you use this formula, the close is easy because guess what? It's another simple question.

Shall we get started?

And it's that easy.

The work comes in the middle so that the sign up, getting the yes, is an absolute no brainer.

I'd love your thoughts on this.

Have a play around with it, trial it, do a bit of an audit for yourself, share this with your teams.

Use CLASP when you're doing effective questioning and let's get those conversion rates up.

I shall see you next week, my friends. I absolutely cannot wait.