[drchiu]

Questions that I've had good experience with:

* What's your problem? w/ Tell me more (as follow up)

* What are you doing right now for that problem?

* What other solutions have you tried?

* Are those other solutions working? Why / why not?

* Why do you feel our product might work for you?

The last question is a BS filter. If they're just using you for their own research purposes / get their existing vendor to bid lower, their response here will sound thin. Prospects who are early in their decision making won't have much to say here (or they are already late in their decision making and have made a decision to go with another vendor and are just going on a call with you to say that they've done their DD). The more they have to say, the closer they are to the finish line (ie. sale).

[pau_alcala]

we have similar questions except for the last one, really interesting addition! It takes the conversation from hypotheticals to the product. I'll add something else that worked for us, when they tell us a solution they've tried, we'll dig deep in how they came up with it. That usually gets people talking about the issues they've been having without asking directly

[drchiu]

That's a good one (asking about how they came up with their decision). It helps elucidate their purchasing logic and process.

To elaborate on our last question, it's also a tactic used to help potential customers convince themselves to buy something. Hey (the email app) did this in their prelaunch by asking people who wanted to get on their early launch to email them with reasons why they wanted to be on the list. There's a bit of reverse psychology at play here. Cognitive dissonance must be resolved.