Last week I talked about preparing questions that allow your prospect to verbalize, identify, their chief, dominant needs, desires and wishes – the source of their pain, their greatest challenge, their primary issue etc. – the “heart” of what they need.

Yes “needs” here, because our products are “need specific” – products do specific things that only they are designed to do. So, we say products are “need specific” and we also say, “If you can’t sell to a need then go do something else.” With all due respect, this is the essence though not the totality of selling. Because people still buy what they want! (Another blog!)

Let’s look at some questions that invite your prospect to verbalize:

• What specifically do you want / need to accomplish?
• What are you looking for that you haven’t been able to find?
• What do you like most about your current provider?
• What have your seen that’s particularly interesting to you?
• Why would you consider another vendor?
• What time frame do you have in mind?
• What budget do you have established?
• How soon would you like to get started?
• Who else other then you of course, in involved with this decision?
• And on and on…you could easily think of 500 more questions just like these.

Your preparation determines which questions you ask. Did you notice all of the questions were open-ended? All encourage dialogue. All help the prospect verbalize THEIR concerns. And require you to give them your undivided attention (listen).

Some will talk more than others. Be patient! Listen! Prospects buy at their pace, not necessarily ours. Let them do that with your guidance, not your domination. And enjoy the results.

Submitted by: Richard Dickerson

(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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In all my years of selling and facilitating (quite a few), one of the things I’ve noticed most consistently about salespeople is that they are so eager to get to the close. We as salespeople have been indoctrinated to believe that sales success is measured only by completed sales. But we could complete more sales by NOT focusing so much on the close.

Stop trying to get there so fast! Getting there quickly means forcing the prospect to make a buying decision based on OUR timetable not theirs – and that simply doesn’t work. We could complete more sales by spending more time — slowing down so we could speed up.

We should spend more time on pre-call planning and formulate powerful questions that would lead us to a prospect’s pain much more quickly and efficiently. We should uncover pressing needs, desires and wishes by spending extra time preparing our questions, and referring to those questions to sell our solutions. After all, isn’t this what our prospects really want?

Investing extra time early in the sales process means having to spend less time later in the sales process – time that’s often spent floundering around in front of the prospect if we haven’t done our homework.

For example, if through my pre-call planning I realize that a prospect is facing certain issues or is likely to be dealing with particular problems, I can develop my questions around these issues or problems. By doing this I focus my sales interview on confirming my information and allowing my prospect to talk to me about his or her situation. The more they talk, the more likely they are to buy (all things being equal).

As I listen to my prospect’s response, I can ask additional questions in a conversational way to demonstrate understanding, empathy, and attention to my prospect’s situation. This enhances trust, rapport and attention and increases the likelihood of closing the sale – which is exactly the goal we set out to achieve!

Submitted by: Richard Dickerson

(3 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

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Finalizing the transaction… isn’t this what you have been waiting for?

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This and other podcasts are available to download at itunes to help your selling career. If you have never used itunes and need help to download and install it click here for a tutorial.

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Take a moment to think about NOT making these common positioning mistakes:

• Relying too much on cold calling
• Appearing as a pest or as pushy to your prospect
• Coming across as desperate to make a sale
• Coming across as a stereotypical, fast-talking salesperson
• Immediately dropping your price, rate or fee
• Being a product pusher or data-dumper
• Too much social talk

Instead of mis-positioning yourself with these old school tactics, take 5 more minutes and think about incorporating these strategies as a way to position yourself as a resource:

• Research the organizations your customer belongs to and join them (associations, clubs etc.)
• Read the publications / materials your customer reads
• Search the web for information related to their industry
• Ethically and professionally gather information about their customers
• Talk to other salespeople who sell to their organization and find out what they know (NOT those who sell the same products and services you sell)
• Dress one notch above your customer – appear as an expert who knows the importance of respect and image
• Work smarter, longer, harder than your competition

Begin (gradually) to include these as more effective ways to position yourself. Add one at a time to your toolbox. You’ll be amazed at the result – from just 5 more minutes.

Submitted by: Richard Dickerson

(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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Thanks for participating. Please visit the Ask Bill post and rate the questions that you would like Bill to discuss next week.

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