The great writer Theodore Sturgeon created a symbol he said represented the heart of all human progress. It was a capital letter "Q" with an arrow passing through it, pointing to the right. It stood for "ask the next question."  He explained it through examples like people long ago who would point to birds in the sky and would ask, "why can't humans fly?"  In this case, asking the next question, and the next question after that, eventually resulted in airplanes, helicopters, blimps, hot air balloons, and so on.

In the world of selling benefits, there are multiple reasons to ask the next question. 

When approaching a potential new customer, the first question might be, "Do you have a benefits broker?" (The answer is almost always yes.)  It's then natural to ask who the broker is. The follow up question might be, "How satisfied are you with the service you're receiving?" This often leads to an opportunity for further discussion, and the conversion of a prospect into a client.