Selling Power provides an excellent article regarding a sales ability that is often overlooked – The Art of Asking Great Questions. Listening is an important sales skill that leads to qualifying success. But as the article points out, listening ability it not worth much if you cannot ask the right question.
You can€™t simply walk in a prospect€™s door and say, €œWhat are the issues you are struggling with?€ or €œWhat keeps you up at night?€ Today, you€™d be jettisoned out of the office by savvy executives who demand more researched, intelligent, and thought-provoking questions.
This approach is true no matter what you sell. The ability to ask good questions comes from good preparation and research. The days of “learning” about a prospect’s business in person are long gone. Prospects expect salespeople to have a general understanding of their current needs before the initial meeting (sometimes even before the initial approach or call).
This ability is quite evident when sourcing salespeople too. Some candidates respond to an ad yet do not recall any specifics from the ad. When asked about their fit to the position, they often regurgitate common talking points or simply state they do not remember the ad . . . at all. Red flag.
My favorite wisdom from this short article is found in point #3:
Don€™t assume anything. Don€™t assume you know what€™s important to customers. Even if you€™re right, you still need to provoke thought to make the sale. Witness what happened at IBM. Years ago, the company found new sales reps were growing their business for about 20 months and then they€™d plateau. In examining the problem, managers discovered that after 20 months, reps had so much product knowledge and customer experience, they could walk into an account and immediately tell the customer what would solve their problems. €œThey could diagnose a problem quickly, but they didn€™t give the customer a chance to talk,€ says Acuff. So even though their diagnoses were spot-on, they weren€™t closing sales. The lesson: even if you€™ve seen it all before, it€™s still critical to ask the questions.
One axiom we always live by is that prospects buy for their reasons, not ours.