The First Laws of Questioning
Jeb Blount discusses the first two laws of sales questions .
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The First Laws of Questioning
In many ways, questioning, is the key to sales excellence. Yet, all too often salespeople assume they have all of the answers and fail at this most important stage of the sales process.
Eric, a Sales Professional from New Mexico asks:
With only 6 months of experience in sales, I’m eating up the Sales Guy podcasts and everything I’m learning. Having said that, would you please do a podcast on sharpening your questioning skills?
Sales at its core is simply one person (the sales rep) solving another person’s (the buyer) problems. However, to solve a problem you must first uncover the problem. To do that you ask questions. It sounds pretty simple.
Unfortunately some buyers don’t know what their problems are and others hide the real problem, giving only surface information, because they don’t trust you. This can result in an awkward conversation that goes nowhere, or leads you down dead-end paths.
What happens next is typical for many salespeople. As soon as the conversation stalls they jump in and dump features and benefits. They start telling the prospect everything their products and services can do believing, if they just they provide enough information, they’ll convince the prospect to buy.
Alternatively, the salesperson walks away with a poor understanding of what the real problems are, and puts together a presentation and proposal that are off the mark. Later, after the deal is lost, they are flabbergasted to discover that their competitor took a completely different tact to win the deal.
This where the Sales Guy’s Laws of Questioning come into play.
Law #1: People won’t tell you their real problems until they feel connected to you.
Law# 2: Never make assumptions.
Imagine that a stranger walks up to you on the street and starts asking you a bunch of personal questions. How would it feel? What would you say? How quickly would you put your wall up, attempt to disengage and run the other way?
Now image how prospects feel the first time they meet a sales person. Most salespeople walk into sales calls and begin peppering the prospect with personal and business questions designed to build rapport and get information. The problem is its human nature to put up a wall when strangers start asking questions. With the wall up, they don’t reveal the real issues and you never get below the surface to uncover real problems.
The key to breaking through this wall is connecting. You connect by starting the conversation off with questions that are easy for your prospect to answer and that they will enjoy answering. Then you give your prospect your compete attention and become genuinely interested in what they are saying. The more you listen, the more they will talk, and the more they talk the more connected they will feel to you. As you connect you will have the chance to ask deeper, more strategic questions that will reveal their real problems. Of course this takes patience, practice, and discipline; because you must turn off all thoughts about your needs, wants and products and, instead, focus on your prospect.
In complete violation of The Sales Guy’s Second Law of Questioning, many salespeople walk through their new prospects door assuming that they know exactly what their prospect needs. After a little rapport building, these salespeople move right into their scripted pitch. They dump features and benefits and explain how their product or service is the perfect match.
This is an easy trap to fall into for new and tenured salespeople. I did this just recently with one of my prospects before catching myself. It was a good thing that I did because I was so far off the mark, if I had continued on I would have lost the deal.
Most salespeople assume, rather than ask questions, because they are in a hurry, bored, impatient, or lack confidence. However, you must never, ever assume that you have the answers or know the problems. Besides all of the obvious pitfalls of assuming, there is also an emotional trap. No one, not you, not me, not your prospects, likes to be told what to do. We resent it and either overtly or passively we will resist doing what we are told. However, when we make our own decisions, there is little that can stop us from moving forward.
The key is to get your prospect talking about what they want and need, no matter how obvious the problem. Take time to connect and have the patience to really listen. If your prospect stonewalls you, it might be time to reconnect, find someone else in the account to work with, or move on. No matter, what, until your prospect tells you what the problems are (real or perceived), do not assume that you know the answers.
So Eric, remember this, when you tell a prospect what their problems are it means nothing. But when they tell you, because you are connected, asking questions and listening deeply, you will close more business, make more money, and crush your competition every time.
This is Jeb Blount, the Sales Guy. Thank you for listening to the Sales Guy’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Getting the Deal Done. In future Podcasts we will explore questioning methodologies, listening skills and information gathering techniques for complex accounts.