Questions That Sell

Questions That Sell: Strategic Inquiry for Media Sales Pros
🎯 Training Goal
To empower media sales professionals with strategic questioning techniques that deepen client relationships, uncover real needs, and drive better results. This training helps sellers shift from pitching to problem-solving, enabling more thoughtful conversations with advertisers, agencies, and decision-makers.
✅ What Participants Will Walk Away With
• A clear understanding of six types of powerful sales questions (Educational, Lock-On, Impact, Expansion, Comparison, Vision)
• Practical tools to uncover advertiser and agency pain points, media goals, and budget dynamics
• Confidence to lead meetings by asking better questions instead of defaulting to a pitch
• A personal question toolkit tailored to different client scenarios (e.g., brand-direct, agency-led, data-driven)
• Real-life prompts to spark better conversations about planning cycles, audience targeting, and ROI
Class 1: Opening Doors & Unlocking Insights
Warm-Up & Icebreaker
Quick share: "What's the best question you've ever asked that changed a client convo?"
Highlight the idea that sales today is about being a consultant, not a pitcher.
Why Questions Matter in Media Sales
How questions unlock the "why" behind the media brief
Tying questions to media sales KPIs: awareness goals, brand lift, ROAS, CPMs, reach
Establishing Trust with Educational + Lock-On Questions
Educational questions as openers:
"I read that retail media is now 20% of digital budgets—how is your team thinking about that shift?"
"How have your data activation strategies evolved with cookie deprecation?"
Use Cases: Cold outreach, QBR openers, new business intros
Lock-On questions for deeper media insights:
If the client says "Our agency handles planning," ask: "Tell me more about how you work with them on testing new platforms."
If they say "Performance is the main metric," ask: "What does that look like across your brand portfolio?"
Impact Questions in Media
Bring the pain into the spotlight—politely
Examples:
"What happens if you don't meet reach goals this quarter?"
"How does campaign underperformance affect next year's budget allocation?"
"What's the impact of relying solely on your agency's standard media plan?"
Wrap-Up & Action Assignment
Group share: One question you're excited to use this week
Homework: Pick a live account. Draft:
1 Educational
1 Lock-On
1 Impact
(Optional: Share them in Slack/CRM for team feedback)
Class 2: Driving Deals Forward with Vision & Value
Recap & Group Share
Review questions used since last class
Quick wins? Awkward fails? Group coaching moment
Expansion Questions to Unlock Media Strategy
Move beyond yes/no or surface-level info
Sales-specific examples:
"Walk me through how you build your Q4 plan."
"Tell me about the role video plays in your omnichannel mix."
"Can you expand on the data signals your team prioritizes for targeting?"
Group practice: Rewrite "basic" questions to "expansive" ones for top clients.
Comparison Questions: What Really Matters?
Understand how they weigh options and priorities
Examples:
"How does this year's CTV strategy compare to last year's linear buys?"
"What differentiates your preferred publisher from others?"
"How are you evaluating vendors in light of changing privacy rules?"
Use case: Competitive displacement + budget shifts
Vision Questions: Selling the Future State
Help them imagine success—with you in the picture
Examples:
"If you could fix one part of your media plan, what would it be?"
"If your CEO asked how you're innovating in digital, what would you say?"
"If we could deliver 20% higher engagement with the same CPM, how would that affect your priorities?"
Tap into implicit needs: recognition (agency win), security (safe bet), simplicity (fewer platforms), success (clear KPIs)
Final Wrap-Up: The Sales Question Toolkit
Everyone creates their personal "Top 5 Questions That Sell"
Share & build a teamwide sales questioning playbook
Reinforce this quote: "Smart questions sell better than smart answers."