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Written by Hamish Knox; President of Sandler in Calgary, Canada
Creating accountable, sales focused organizations in Calgary
“I didn’t hear any close ended questions at our last joint sales call. Maybe I missed them.”
“No, I don’t ask close ended questions.”
“Because?”
“At my previous company my Sales Manager didn’t believe in them. He said that they ‘could help a prospect get rid of us if they said ‘no.’ We also did a half day course on asking ‘consultative’ questions and the instructor kept saying ‘only open-ended questions.’”
“That makes sense. Thanks for telling me. Curious, what was the context for “the prospect would get rid of you if they said ‘no’”?
“The big one was when we attempted to close. Something like, ‘would you like to move forward with our proposal?’ Another one was when we had new features or products. Instead of “can I tell you about” my previous Sales Manager coached us to say, “I’d like to…”
“Good examples. Thank you. In both of those cases was your question focused on your needs or your prospect’s needs?”
“I guess my needs.”
“And what you’ve learned from me since you joined our organization is?”
“To be focused on the prospect and discovering their pains instead of trying to push my agenda on them.”
“True. Aside from your experience with your previous Sales Manager and the half day course you took, what’s holding you back from asking a close ended question?”
“I don’t want the answer to be ‘no.’”
“Why?”
“Because that means that I won’t get their business.”
“Sorry?”
“Well if they say ‘no’ then that stops our conversation and I feel pressure to give them a reason to say ‘yes.’”
“Ah, you want to ‘overcome’ what you perceive as an ‘objection.’ If you believed that either response, ‘no’ or ‘yes’, was great what would change?”
“What do you mean either is ‘great’? I want to get a ‘yes.’”
“I understand where you’re coming from. Not part of our conversation today, but later this week let’s talk about the mindset of ‘go for no.’ May I share why I believe either response is great?”
“Of course.”
“Because I’ve come to understand that there are no ‘magic’ questions that will cause a prospect or client to share truth with me. Not that they don’t want to, but people tend to be guarded around salespeople, fair?”
“Totally, I wouldn’t spill my guts to a salesperson. They’d probably take advantage of me.”
“And your role here is…”
(Sheepishly) “Sales.”
“You feel that way about salespeople even though it’s your role. Totally normal. So in that case the close ended question is the starting point for a line of questions that will eventually get me to truth.”
“Okay, I get that, but I’m still hung up on what to say if they say ‘no’.”
“The hang up’s probably more in wanting them to say ‘yes.’ What might shock you is you say the same thing whether they say ‘no’ or ‘yes.’”
“What?”
“Actually, ‘why?’ A soft, subtle, gentle, ‘why’ does two things. First it keeps them talking and second you get closer to truth because you’ll use whatever they say next as a jumping off point to ask a third question, which is usually where your prospect reveals their true intentions to you.”
“It’s that easy?”
“Simple, not easy. To be effective with a close ended question your ‘why’ can’t sound aggressive and you have to observe all of your prospect, body language and tone, as well as actively listen to what they say so you can formulate a good question to respond after they answer ‘why.’”
“I like the idea, but I’d like to practise first before I try this out with a prospect.”
“Sounds good to me. Let’s set up some time to practise before the end of the week.”
Until next time… go sell something.
Crash-a-Class
Social Selling
When: Wednesday September 12th
Time: 8.00-10.00AM
- Social selling isn’t:
- Social media
- Networking
- Marketing
- Selling
- Social selling is using virtual tools and networks to:
- Create mutually beneficial relationships
- Connect with more of the right prospects
- Add more, qualified opportunities to your funnel
- Increase your credibility with your network
Join us at our latest Crash a Class session and you’ll get:
- A simple structure for identifying the right targets on social media
- A credibility enhancer through 5-3-1 rule
- Templates for cold messages that create real conversations with the right prospects
- An understanding of how and when to PUTT (pick up the phone)
- Insights into the Attitudes, Behaviors and Techniques that create success with social selling
Whether you’re an experienced social seller or looking to test out another way of connecting with prospects join us on September 12. Leave your laptop at home and come prepared for an engaging, interactive discussion on social selling.
Reserve your seat today Limited Seating.
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