1. 5A Questioning techniques, p 20
Very important:
provide you with information
stimulate a more open exchange of views (phrasing and skill)
Open questions Closed questions
who, what, where, why is/are, do/does, did
how, when...? has/have, can/could
will/would..?
Elicit more info Quickly checking facts
What are the pros and cons of asking...?
Can you deliver by June 1st?
Can you deliver by May 1st?
When can you deliver (by)?
Task 3: Avoid an immediate negative response by asking open questions... Rephrase!

2. Task 3 a How do you feel about the revised delivery schedule?
b What assurances can you give us that our order will be given priority?
c Good. So. What progress have we made so far?
d How well do the product specifications meet your requirements?
e How flexible can you be on the unit price?
f May I ask why a letter of credit wouldn’t be acceptable?
g In what circumstances might you be prepared to consider including maintenance?
h Supposing that sale-or-return is not an option how would that change things?

3. Task 4 From open to closed questions or vice versa
Task 4 From open to closed questions or vice versa? Task 5 – Listening 1.17 Extract 1: What two main things is the questioner doing wrong? Extract 2: How does the questioner smoothly lead her opponent to a “Yes”? Extract 3: What technique is the questioner using here ? How effective is it? Task 6 Turn to p 88 to practice answering questions with questions.

4. Task 6 1 How flexible do you need us to be?
2 Is that a priority for you?
3 Would you prefer to do that?
4 Would you be happier if we did?
5 How many people do you need to train?
6 How soon can you deliver?
7 What sort of figure did you have in mind?
8 Would there be an extra charge for that
9 Is that what you’d prefer?
10 What alternative would you suggest?
11 What would you like to move on to?
12 What is the maximum you can handle?

5. Task 6 (cont.)
13 Wouldn’t it be a good idea to discuss price first?
14 Sorry, what do you mean by HP?
15 Have you had a better offer?
16 What guarantees are you looking for?
17 What are the advantages of upgrading?
18 Exactly which costs are you refering to?
19 Is exclusivity something you’re prepared to offer?
20 Can we just go back over some of the figures?
Tasks 7 – 10
HW: Task 11 Turn to p 89 to practice different questioning techniques. (will play in class)

6. 5B Questioning techniques, p 22
Asking questions:
1) clarify the critical points
Task 2: Clarifying critical issues
a Well could you explain what you mean by deferred payment?
b Sorry, can we go over the figures for the upgrade again?
c Well, when you said penalty clauses, what exactly did you mean?
d Sorry, exactly which costs are you referring to?
e Well, could you say just a little bit more about what the payment plan involves?
f Sorry, but could you just run through the product specs again?
g Well, hang on a minute. Let’s just go back through the breakdown of the costs in a bit more detail.

7. Asking questions (cont.):
2) an alternative to disagreement (questions buy you time to think)
Task 3
Signs of disapproval or disagreement?
Genuinely wants to know more?
How were you able to tell?
Task 4
Underline words you could stress to indicate you’re not happy with the proposal.