An open-ended question is a question that cannot be answered with a “yes” or “no” response, or with a static response. Examples of open-ended questions: Tell me about your relationship with your supervisor. How do you see your future?

When people begin an open-ended discussion or activity, they do not start with any intention of achieving a particular decision or result.

Crafting Effective Open-Ended Questions. Begin your question with “how,” “why,” or “what.” As you begin writing your questions, start them with words that could prompt multiple possible answers. Questions that open with more specific words, such as “which” or “when,” often have a single correct answer.

Disadvantages of Open-Ended Questions

• Time-consuming.
• Low response rate.
• Difficult to analyze and interpret data.
• Not a good way to find out quantitative statistics.
• Can gather a lot of irrelevant data.

Open ended questions allow you to better understand the respondent’s true feelings and attitudes about the survey subject. Close ended questions, due to their limitations, do not give respondents the choice to truly give their opinions.

Closed ended questions start with verbs, such as “Are,” “Will,” “Is,” “Have,” “Did,” and even contractions such as “Aren’t,” “Didn’t,” and “Won’t.” This is often called a convergent question. It brings conversation gradually to a convergence on a single point or decision.

Closed-ended questions come in a multitude of forms but are defined by their need to have explicit options for a respondent to select from….Multiple choice question

• Likert Scale Multiple Choice Questions.
• Rating Scale Multiple Choice Questions.
• Checklist type Multiple Choice Questions.
• Rank Order Multiple Choice Question.

Needs-Oriented Questions focus on the customer. By asking these types of questions you are telling your customer that his or her needs are your primary concern. It also ensures you don’t give the impression of ‘hard selling’. In contrast, Product-Oriented Questions deal directly with products or services.

Question Based Selling ( QBS®) is a commonsense approach to sales, based on the theory that “what” salespeople ask-and “how” they ask-is more important than anything they will ever say. This technique makes sense because in order to present solutions, you first must learn your customer’s needs.

Here are the top 5 questions you’d ask your customers

• What can my company do to better serve your needs?
• How satisfied are you with our products/services?
• What value do we provide?
• What are your biggest challenges?
• Why did you choose us over the competition?

Clients look at times for you for clues-give them BUYING clues. Casually ask them “can I place that order for you now” or if you want to be more subtle try “can we move ahead with the paperwork?” They will say YES in many cases. If not, don’t panic! You know where you stand and what you have to do.

This is the most polite form. Note that would you mind…? is followed by a noun or an –ing form….This is another expression that can be used to make a request or order more polite.

1. I was hoping you could lend me some money.
2. I was hoping you could spare me a few minutes.
3. I was hoping you could help me with the homework.

When the salesperson has helped the customer see the benefits of their product and how it will help them, then they have earned the right to ask for the order and ask is what they do. They ask by saying something like “may I have your business?” They ask directly.

Well, asking for a purchase order means you want to make that sale a success….Here are the best things you can do before asking for a purchase order in an email to avoid unpleasant experiences.

1. Try to Call them First.
2. Understand Your Prospecting Buyer Well.
3. Be Kind & Flexible.
4. Offer Alternatives.
5. Make An Arrangement.

For example: Maria’s company needs to purchase new materials from a supplier to create their products. The company then creates a purchase order to present to the supplier from which they wish to order materials. When Maria’s company receives the goods and the invoice, they compare them to the purchase order.

This purchase order process flow depicts the action steps in PO processing as follows:

1. Create a purchase order.
2. Send out multiple requests for quotation(RFQ)
3. Analyse and select vendor.
4. Negotiate contract and send PO.
5. Receive goods/services.
6. Receive and check invoice (3-Way Matching)
7. Authorize invoice and pay vendor.

Fortunately, the structure of a formal email of request is very simple:

1. You start the email or letter by explaining what you are writing about (the topic/subject) and what the email’s purpose is (i.e. you want to ask them some questions or for something).
2. Then in the next section, you ask them the questions or requests.