Archives for May 2020

Asking a leading question can lead you, the questioner, right into a dead end. Any question whose intent is obvious to the prospect can bring the conversation to a place where the pressure is back on you. For example, if you ask, “are you happy with your current supplier?”. The prospect can see immediately that if they say “no” to that question, it gives you an advantage. So, they will always say “yes, we are happy”. You then have to take up another line of questioning. That line is at a dead end prompted by the way you asked the question. Prospects do not want to be led into a trap, so choose your questions carefully. In fact, in this case, you are better off making a statement. You could say “I assume you are happy with your current supplier”. Now the prospect can agree with you and you can move on to another topic or they can disagree with your statement (prospects generally like to disagree with salespeople, It is their instinct). In this case it feels safer to the prospect to admit they are not 100% happy and you can take the conversation from there.

If you have a sales question you would like to discuss follow the link to schedule a call:
https://calendly.com/dancaramanico/callwithdan

Questions are the tools of the trade for salespeople. But top salespeople do not show up to sales calls with a preplanned list of questions ready to ask. The sales call should be a conversation in which the salesperson unobtrusively steers the conversation in a way that all of his or her questions get answered. All the while the prospect should feel like he was controlling the conversation. There are two problems if you come to the sales call with a preplanned list of questions. The first problem is that you will be more focused on your questions than what the prospect is saying, and you will miss important cues the prospect gives you. The second problem is that the questions inevitably will not fit the situation. You will look a lot like a person with a hammer looking for a nail to hit. What you should do instead is to prepare a list of the information you need to find out. Then, steer the conversation in that direction. The exact format of the question will form itself in your head at the appropriate time and will be more natural sounding to the prospect. Trust in your ability to find the right words if you get to the right place. Then, concentrate on getting the conversation to the right place.

If you have a sales question you would like to discuss follow the link to schedule a call:
https://calendly.com/dancaramanico/callwithdan

When something seems obvious to you, you may feel self-conscious about asking the next logical question. For example, When the prospect says they want the new software operational by July 1st, it may seem obvious to you that they need to place the order by April 15th to allow for delivery, installation and training of the new users. It seems obvious because in your first meeting you had discussed lead time. So, you forecast it that way. But what was obvious to you may not have been obvious to the prospect because they were not thinking about delivery or they just forgot about the lead time. They were planning on ordering by June 1st due to some internal procedures. They thought that was plenty of time. By May 1st, your boss is getting antsy because the PO is not in yet. Sales meetings are held. Uncomfortable questions are asked. Pressure is applied to the salesperson to close the order. Trust in the salesperson’s and the sales manager’s forecasts has taken a hit. Delivery schedules are impacted. Overtime may have to be worked to meet the deadline. Profit margins suffer. This situation has just become way more messy than it had to be. All of this could have been avoided had the salesperson not thought that “it was obvious that the order has to be placed in April to meet the deadline”. This example is a trivial example but is played out hundreds of times in more serious situations. All the salesperson had to do was not make an assumption and ask when the order would be placed. Just remember to take nothing for granted and that nothing is obvious. Then ask a question. You life will be way less messy if you do.

If you have a sales question you would like to discuss follow the link to schedule a call:
https://calendly.com/dancaramanico/callwithdan