ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview and a discussion on elements, negotiation application, and limitations of questioning techniques. Questions are a key part of the negotiation process. Studies carried out in the late 1970s by Neil Rackham, the founder of the SPIN questioning methodology, found that average negotiators ask around half as many questions as skilled negotiators. Many writers have attempted to categorise the range and types of questions that may be used during a negotiation, and while there are some generally well-known ones, there is no definitive list. A plethora of negotiation authors have cited the use of questioning as a critical success factor when it comes to agreeing an optimal outcome, and have developed complex questioning systems accordingly. The general consensus is that in reality the two most frequently posed questions tend to be simply of the open and closed variety.
