Have you ever finished a joint call and had your salesperson say, “I can’t believe what you  just said to that prospect.”? 

It’s very common for the CEO or VP of Sales to ask the tough questions on joint calls. It’s not as common for salespeople to do this when they are on their own and here's why...

Salespeople become invested in deals. They worry about asking the tough questions because they’re afraid they’ll make their prospects upset. They focus so much on keeping the relationship comfortable (usually for them) that they don’t say what needs to be said.

A client recently told me a story about when he, the CEO, the CFO and other senior staff arrived at a very important meeting and the CEO started off by asking “Why are we here?” Would your salespeople be willing to ask this? 

It's a very simple question  and can have big payoff, but you have to ask it to get the results.

Take a minute and think back to your joint sales call. What are the questions that weren’t asked? What things didn’t get said?

Now look at the time and energy you have  wasted on chasing bad opportunities. If you or your salespeople were asking tougher questions would there have been a different outcome or would you have moved on to better opportunities more quickly?

Would you rather your sales people practice restraint and waste time or ask the questions that give them control over the sales process?