What’s the best way to ask a question? What phraseology is most likely to get you an answer to the question? What technique should I use to ask the money question? These are all fodder for sales training classes. Trainers spend hours devising new ways to ask simple questions and overcome salespeople’s resistance to asking the question. The fact is that there is no one right way to ask. So just ask. The resistance you feel to asking is based on your belief systems. The best way is to ask the question on your mind in the context of the conversation you are having and ask it using your words. The trainers words will probably not fit, the words you get from a book will probably not fit. Every situation is different and every prospect is different … even in the same company selling the same product. So if you need to know or are just curious or are trying to get to a deeper level … just ask.

Urgency is an integral part of the compelling reason to buy. It may seem that knowing when they need something defines the urgency. However, consider the difference between these two situations. “I need it by June 3^rd because I am making a presentation to the board of directors on June 4^th.” OR  “ I want it by June 3^rd “.  Sometimes it is a good idea to ask what happens if you don’t get it by June 3^rd? If they say “no big deal we’ll get it in July, then there really is no urgency. If they describe a problem that will occur then there is real urgency to get the purchase made.  Knowing when the decision must be made is good to know. But knowing why it must be made by then is critical to establishing urgency.

Don’t avoid what the prospect is resisting in the sales discussion because it may point to the real problem. It is a natural tendency to avoid difficult topics of discussion. So when the prospect either refuses out right to discuss something or skirts the issue it is imperative that you steer the conversation to those topics. If they outright refuse to talk about it ask why they don’t want to discuss it. If they are skirting the issue just ask questions to get to the heart of the matter. If you don’t do this your sales conversations will be filled with “happy talk” and you will come away thinking that it was a “great conversation.” When sales people tell me it was a great conversation it usually means that no progress was made on the sales call. the sales call may be uncomfortable for the prospect but that may be necessary to help them with the problem they are having.

Joe Friday Just wanted the facts … the information … unadorned. Salespeople need more than information. Just knowing what the prospect wants is not enough. You need to know why they need it. What happens if they don’t get it? What is the context behind the need? Is there a compelling reason to have it? Is there a cost monetary or otherwise to not having it? How is their life affected by not having it? Who else thinks we need it? Who else is affected by not having it? How is the operation affected by not having it? How did we get along without it up to now? Are there alternatives they have considered and rejected? Why did they reject them? Anyway, you get the idea. If you were the salesperson who only knew what the prospect needed, don’t you think you would be at a disadvantage to the competitor who had the answers in great detail to all of the above questions? Don’t be that salesperson!

Sales theory is great … as far as it goes. I’m not against theory, after all I teach it. But theory is only the beginning. We can talk about what potential compelling reasons to buy are in general. We can get more specific and identify specific compelling reasons for your industry (in theory anyway). When your marketing department gets involved they talk about your value proposition, which is another way of saying what compelling reasons are you aiming at fixing. But do you know why your actual real live current customers actually bought from you. Did you just show up at the right time? Is it something you said? Is it one particular feature of the product or service that appealed to them? Don’t you think it might be important to know? Maybe other people have the same issue. Maybe it will change what you say on your next sales call. Maybe it will give you an idea of how to conduct the next sales call. Maybe it will give you an idea of how to better configure your service. Maybe … well you get the idea. Maybe it would be a good idea to ask???

Excuses kill personal growth. Personal growth happens when we overcome a self-limiting belief (like people buy based on price) or a hidden weakness (like a high need to be liked). When you make an excuse for lack of performance (our prices are too high, our software is too slow) then you are not focusing your energy where it needs to be focused. You are looking outside and not inside. The biggest problem is that by not looking inside yourself you will never uncover the obstacles that are holding you back. So even if the software gets faster, and your prices get lower, your performance will only increase marginally and will only last as long as those conditions persist. You will be like a basketball player who can only score when guarded by someone shorter and slower than him. You want to be more like the top basketball players who work on their game all summer, so that when the season starts they can score from anywhere on the court no matter who is guarding them.

When you are introduced to the right person at the right time and in the right way your chances of closing the deal rise dramatically. So how do make sure all of that happen? The real key is making sure that the people you count on to refer you have a good understanding of the problems that you fix. That is totally different than what you actually do to address the problem. It is not important for your introduction sources to understand how good you are at laying bricks or the unique manner in which you lay them. It is important for them to understand that you are looking for clients who need a wall built, or a builder who is unhappy with his current bricklayer.

There is one right time to close. It is not on your schedule …. It is on the prospect’s schedule. So how do you know when that is? The best way to find out is to ask the prospect. Just because you need a sale this week does not mean they need to buy this week. There is an old traditional close called the “price goes up on Monday” close … or more properly, the impending event close. It was relatively effective and is still used extensively. But it only works if the prospect actually care that the deadline passes. If they are price insensitive or they don’t care if they lose the benefit that disappears at the deadline, then it won’t matter. The best practice is to determine the timing early in the sales process and then fit into it.

It’s always OK to ask a question of a prospect. AS LONG AS you keep it in the area of business. Fear of asking questions is related to a fear of rejection or a need for approval. Salespeople who fear asking questions are afraid of looking too pushy or of not knowing something they should have known. If you are not sure if it is ok to ask this video gives you a really simple (and cool) way to find out. the technique only takes about 4 seconds and the answer as to whether it is OK to ask or not comes from a very authoritative source. I made a list of 17 questions that only top salespeople have the guts to ask.   If you click on the link below I will send you the 17 questions along with an offer for a short program on the 3 essential elements of the prospect’s compelling reason to buy. If you are already (or were) a client you can have the the 3 essential elements program free by sending me an email at danc@caramanico.com .

 send me the 17 questions

In sales failure is inevitable. No one closes 100%. Weak salespeople run from failure and in so doing unknowingly increase their chances of failure. If you ask the tough questions up front you will determine quickly whether or not you should pursue a prospect or move on to more on to prospects you have a better chance of closing. Stock traders live by the axiom “let your winners run and cut your losses short.” The skill is in determining quickly which prospects have a high probability of closing and which ones you should “cut short”. To do this you need to risk failure by asking questions you are not comfortable with, call higher in the chain of command, etc. in short, get out of your comfort zone and stop running from failure. In sales, failure is like death and taxes … not fun things but there is no way around them. By the way, for me personally this was a tough lesson to learn when I got into sales. Because in my previous career as an engineer, we did not tolerate much in the way of failure. People get testy when bridges fall down or buildings collapse. Luckily for us salespeople, no one ever dies from a bad sales call.