This Powerpoint presentation is an overview of various types of questions and how to effectively apply them while customer engaging with your customers resulting in an enhanced customer experience with your company or business.

1. THE ART OF QUESTION
ASKING

2. By Manisha S Winston

3. FRAMEWORK
Relationship Building is a combination of soft skills that a person applies to connect with others to form a positive relationship.
Relationship Building can uncover the customer’s needs and issues through active listening, empathy, knowledge of emotional
intelligence and asking the right questions (which will also be referred to as P3: pertinent, probing, and purposeful questions). The
soft skills previously mentioned can guide our clients through a positive customer service experience. The Relationship Building
Interventions (RBI) is an instructor led web-based virtual training centered on 13 Relationship Building competencies or
subcategories utilized by the Quality Team during Advocate call auditing to ensure first call resolution, quality assurance and
customer satisfaction. The training was administered to 38 Customer Service Advocates for Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC,
an insurance company) that directly support five of our clients, all of which I oversee. The first of the 13 competencies that was
addressed during this intervention was: “Did the agent ask appropriate questions to understand the member’s needs”(also referred
to as “Fearless Questions”)? This training was divided into three modules: Understanding Emotional Intelligence, The Art of Question
Asking and Identifying Concierge Customer Service. For this assignment we will focus on Module Two: The art of question asking. In
this module the advocates are exposed to question asking techniques such as: open-ended, closed-ended and probing questions
and funnel questions which are essential in resolving customer inquires. Trending high percentages of refined(refined = advocate
demonstrated some knowledge of the subject but, were still missing critical elements) Training consisted of 30 mins peer and
instructor led facilitation & 30 min team interaction-based activities. Progress will be monitored biweekly utilizing Quality Analysis
reports and auditing of advocates phone calls. Additional training will be provided to Advocates who have not achieve a 10%
decrease in refine findings over a 30-day period
.
•

4. The art of question asking is knowing when to ask the RIGHT questions at the RIGHT time.
Effective questioning will help guide our caller's conversation and allow us to gather additional information to
further assist our members. We also want to make sure that we are actively listening to the answers to help
us build a rapport with our member.
We want to concentrate on using open-ended questions, these questions allow for more details rather than
simply answering “yes” or “no”. Opened-ended questions usually begin with: How, Why, What, Can you tell
me?
Closed –ended questions have their place, there are times when a question will only warrant a “yes’ or “no”
response however, in order to dig deeper we may want to follow up a closed-ended question with an open-
ended one. For example, Would you like for BCBS to contact you regarding your health care by phone? If so,
would you prefer your home or cell phone?

5. As Health Advocates you are empowered with the responsibility of advocating for our members,
with this comes making sure their needs are met in a “360” approach, in other words, full circle
all around.
Sometimes, this requires us to ask questions that may appear evasive or “nosey” and this may be
a bit uncomfortable for you… at first. When done properly and purposefully asking fearless and
powerful questions will help build your confidence level in solving the member’s issue and
strengthen your connection with your member.

6. VIRTUAL BASKET: IN ORDER TO GUESS THE OBJECT IN THE “VIRTUAL BASKET” PARTICIPANTS TOOK TURNS
ASKING THE INTERVIEWEE QUESTIONS (2 OPEN ENDED 2 CLOSED ENDED) IN ORDER TO GUESS THE OBJECT IN
“VIRTUAL BASKET”. PARTICIPANTS ROTATED TURNS UNTIL THEY SUCCESSFULLY GUSSED THE OBJECT.
ACTIVITY

7. 3 REASONS THAT WE ASK
PROBING QUESTIONS
There are grey areas in the information
that the customer has given you
You cannot be sure of the customer’s
intended outcome
The customer does not sound
convinced by the course of the
conversation
There are two parts to asking
probing questions
Finding out the facts behind
the situation
Determining the customer’s
feelings

8. •Clarifying Questions are simple questions of fact. They clarify the dilemma and can be used as an
introduction to probing. Examples of Clarifying Questions: Did I hear you say…? Did I understand
you when you said…? Did I hear you correctly when you said…?
•Probing Questions are intended to help the caller think more deeply about the issue at hand.
Examples of Probing Questions: Why do you think this is the case? What do you think would
happen if…? What sort of impact do you think…? How did you decide…? How did you determine…?
How did you conclude…? What is the connection between… and…? What if the opposite were
true? Then what?

9. How to ask fearless questions? One of the main reasons we ask questions is to alleviate confusion and doubt.
Using our Ulysses call steps and our fearless questions empowerment, let’s walk through how we can assist the caller below:
Mr. Royal phones in for a replacement card. Looking at previous notes you notice that he has called in for the 3rd time this
month for a replacement ID card. You look in the appropriate portals and see that the previous request for the cards have
been satisfied and they were mailed out over 2 weeks ago. You inform the member of this however, he is adamant that he
has not received the cards in the mail. During your interaction you realize that Mr. George has become very distracted and
forgetful and you find your self repeating your questions to him several times.
Role Play/Simulated Call. Participants will partner with peer and act out call scenario. Peers will provide feedback to acting participants. Learning Objective:
Participants will display the usage of pertinent, purposeful and probing questions (P3) or “fearless questions in order to effectively assist the caller. Caller is
displaying signs of possible dementia/memory loss. Observe the type of P3 questions asked by the Advocate relating to his home life, overall health.
EX: Mr Royal may I ask if you live alone? Do you have access to the internet, I can assist you with downloading your card to your smart phone. Encourage the
caller to speak with one of our nurses to assess his wellbeing. I would be happy to call your provider on your behalf and provide him with your insurance
information.