Sales Answers are always found in Sales Questions
Posted by Frank Belzer on Fri, May 13, 2011 @ 05:55 AM
This might sound like a pretty obvious statement - we all know and understand the importance of asking questions, or do we?
One of my clients thanked me this week for helping her close a large account, an account that was heading in a different direction and probably going with a competitor. What wisdom did I share with her to help her? What complex formula would make the difference and turn the account around? What tricky verbiage would be required to reverse the momentum? Surely she had to work on meta phrasing, reversals and mirroring to accomplish this?
No - Just asking a few questions is all it took. In the context of Baseline selling we would call this going back to second base. You can never really ask too many questions and yet most sales people have to fight the urge to present and struggle with asking enough. It takes a real comittment to understand the prospect and when your focus is on questions a number of great things start to happen.
- you talk less
- they talk more and you learn more about real needs
- they assume you have the answers and therefore you actually add to your credibility and expertise
- they walk away having enjoyed the conversation
- they walk away believing you understand
- they see you as different from the competitor that just talks and talks
So what happens when you find yourself NOT asking enough questions? What can you do? Easy - "I apologize I am talking too much again let's go back to this question____" or "is it OK if I back up a little _____". Just do it, take the conversation back.
History is littered with people that plowed on to a foolish course in spite of evidence that they should stop and change course. Don't add yourself to the list - start asking more questions.
