Skills questions OR questioning skills
How important is it to ask good questions? It's very important. It's important you use questioning skills to help you completely understand the caller's situation. Otherwise, you could be responding to what you guess the caller means, which may or may not be correct. Questioning goes beyond listening.
Effective questioning is a real compliment to your skills. It shows that you have the ability to understand the caller's real needs. It shows that you are looking for meaning that's deeper than the spoken message. Effective questioning is a powerful, learned skill. It says to the caller, "I'm interested in determining your needs."
Questioning can be put into two divisions: Open-Ended Questions and Closed-Ended Questions.