… spoke to a prospective client.

Along the way, and after she told me a bit about what she was looking for, I asked her my favorite prospective client question:

“Why don’t you do this yourself?”

(In other words, why does this person believe that he/she needs outside help?)

She responded the way nearly everybody does: “Good question.” Then she went on to explain.

Your best question may be different.

Either way, it took me a long time to realize that asking good questions is the key to effective selling.