sales tips & articles

Questioning or probing as it is also known, is most of the most important skills you can learn when dealing with customers and one of the most powerful. The ability to ask questions that uncover important information about a customer’s needs, current supply and willingness to change is a strong characteristic of a ‘consultative’ sales approach.

Most importantly, when you ask great questions it can help you to win new business much quicker and with fewer objections. When we help prospects to think about the needs of their business and to really think about current or potential problems or challenges they may face, they start to see us differently and understand the value we can add to them or their business.

There are 2 common types of questions you can ask: ‘open’ questions and ‘closed’ questions:

1. Open questions usually result in longer answers and are aimed at getting your prospects to think about the answer.

For example: “What plans does the organisation have to achieve...”

2. Closed questions can be answered with a yes, no or one word and are used to qualify the response to an open question.

For example: Do you have any plans at the moment?

The challenge in questioning is to ask more open than closed questions as it is easy to fall into ‘interrogation mode’ by asking lots of closed questions rather than a few strategic open questions.

Over the years I have met many people who are looking for help to close sales quicker and/or easier and the first thing I ask them is “what happened in the first appointment”, “what needs of the prospect are you meeting” and “why would this prospect want to buy your product or services?”

When we discuss their questions they are usually very surprised to find out that they are asking the same stock-standard questions that most people ask and they typically aren’t that interesting either. Imagine how repetitive and un-interesting it is for your prospects to be asked the same questions over and over again?

Ask yourself, “are you asking questions that all your competitors are asking or are you making your prospects think?”

Here is a quick test you can take to see if you are asking the same questions as your competitors or whether you are making them think. In your next appointment:

1. Does the prospect start to give you a summary of the information you need before you have the chance to ask any questions?
2. When you do ask a question, does the prospect answer it relatively quickly or do they take a moment to think about their answer?
3. How often do you hear your prospects say “that‘s a great question, I hadn’t thought about that?”

As I said, asking great questions isn’t easy but once you start you will really notice the difference in your appointments. Spend 5-10 minutes before your next appointment thinking about the questions you will ask and write them down so you don’t forget them in the meeting!

Here are some to get you started:

1. How will these issues impact the organisation in the future?
2. How do they impact you?
3. What do you look for in a potential supplier (or partner)?
4. What do you like about your current supplier?
5. What do you like about them?
6. Is there anything that you don’t like?
7. What would make you change suppliers?
8. How would you like to see it working (perfect world)?
9. What is your decision making process?

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This sales article was written by Karen Andrews, Director of Shine Sales Solutions, a Sydney based Sales Coach and Sales expert that works with businesses to increase their sales through strategy development, sales coaching and mentoring.

It’s all about planning and preparation

It’s amazing how many sales people and business owners I talk to who under-estimate the value and importance of planning and preparing for a first appointment.

In the early days of my sales career making this change had the single biggest impact to my sales success. Besides, there is nothing worse than leaving an appointment without having the information you require simply because you forgot to ask the question.

The objective of the first sales meeting is to build rapport with the buyer and understand not only their needs but the priority of these needs.

Planning your appointments and taking a strategic approach helps to:

• Reduce the chance of surprises in the appointment
• Create a more professional impression
• Increase the likelihood of achieving objectives, and
• Reduces stress

Take a couple of minutes prior to every appointment and think about:

What value are you offering your prospect by having this meeting? What’s in it for them?

What would you like to achieve in this meeting (keeping in mind it is often difficult to close the sale in the first meeting)

What situations or events are occurring in their business or industry that could create an opportunity for you?

What ‘high-level’ questions will you need to ask to uncover their needs, current problems or areas they would like to improve? For example

“What has prevented you from addressing the problem before and what has changed now?”
“What would be the consequences of not dealing with the problem at this time?”

Are there likely to be any objections or reasons that the prospect may not be interested in pursuing any further? If so, what can you say to overcome these objections and move it to the next stage?

Having a list of pre-prepared questions written down in front of you keeps your appointments effective and efficient, for both parties. Many of you may think this makes you look unprofessional, however, in my opinion the opposite is true. It makes you stand out from the crowd and shows the prospect how serious you are and how important this appointment is to you.

Explain at the beginning of the appointment, the reasoning behind it; that you don’t want any pertinent information to be missed or forgotten.

Having these questions written down will also help to:

• Improve your listening skills. You give the prospect your undivided attention because you don’t have to worry what to ask next.
• Keeps the appointment flowing in the direction you want and keeps everyone on track. Particularly if the conversation or prospect goes off on a tangent.
• Obtain all the key information you need to move to the next step.
• Keep you focused and stop you from “selling” too early in the appointment

As they are talking, make notes and highlight any ‘hot buttons’ or ‘key points’ separately that you will need to go back to. Do not interrupt and start ‘selling’ until you have finished asking all your questions, even when you hear something you know you can fix or when pressed by the prospect.

Interrupting stops the train of thought, stops them from sharing further information and stops you from getting a complete understanding of their needs and their priority of these needs.

When you have finished asking questions, go back and clarify anything that you need further information on to ensure your complete understanding. In addition, paraphrase the buyer's concerns to indicate your understanding, and clarify the problem that needs to be resolved. For example;

"So what you would like to do is improve the conversion rates of your sales team so all members are consistently meeting their budgets, is that correct?”

Once you have a complete understanding, you are ready to move to the next stage.

This sales article was written by Karen Andrews, Director of Shine Sales Solutions, a Sydney based Sales Coach and Sales expert that works with businesses to increase their sales through strategy development, sales coaching and mentoring.

If you liked this article, subscribe to our monthly Sales Success ezine. You will learn...

* Easy ways to increase your sales and grow your business
* Simple strategies to sell yourself, even if your not in sales
* How to generate sales easier and quicker!

Enter your details at the top of the page or click here