{"id":1077,"date":"2007-07-19T11:34:16","date_gmt":"2007-07-19T16:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/07\/sales-success-is-in-the-questions\/"},"modified":"2007-07-19T11:34:17","modified_gmt":"2007-07-19T16:34:17","slug":"sales-success-is-in-the-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/07\/sales-success-is-in-the-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Sales Success Is In The Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A common myth &#8211; the best salespeople are great talkers first and foremost.&nbsp; Most people have heard that one&nbsp;yet it is simply not true.&nbsp; The ability to communicate effectively involves speaking <em>and<\/em> listening &#8211; it is difficult to find strength in both of these abilities.<\/p>\n<p>ManageSmarter.com offers <a href=\"http:\/\/www.managesmarter.com\/msg\/content_display\/sales\/e3i5a3cd0a582351d9fdabff63b7e9b43d1\" target=\"_blank\">The Power of Questions<\/a> which is on topic for this discussion with a good analogy:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The most effective way to control the sale is to ask more questions.<\/p>\n<p>Selling is like driving a car: The person who asks the questions sits in the driver&#8217;s seat and controls the direction of the sale, while the passenger\u20ac\u201dthe person who answers the questions\u20ac\u201dgoes along for the ride. Unfortunately, many sales people feel that they are selling when they respond to their prospect&#8217;s questions. They mistakenly believe this will demonstrate how smart or knowledgeable they are and will help their prospect make a buying decision.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Objective listening ability is one of the most important skills for any sales position.&nbsp; Beyond that ability, asking the right question is just as important.&nbsp; The ability to listen is of little value if the question did not prompt the right information from the prospect.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Instead, your reps need to ask high-quality questions that will make your prospect think and will demonstrate your company&#8217;s knowledge and expertise.<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Here are three tips to developing good sales questions to pass on to your team:<\/p>\n<p><b>1. Determine your key objective. <\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>2. Consider the person you will be speaking with.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>3. Use &#8220;what&#8221; questions.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>You can read the article for the author&#8217;s specific suggestions for each tip (especially point #3).&nbsp; It is well worth the read.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A common myth &#8211; the best salespeople are great talkers first and foremost.&nbsp; Most people have heard that one&nbsp;yet it is simply not true.&nbsp; The ability to communicate effectively involves speaking and listening &#8211; it is difficult to find strength in both of these abilities. ManageSmarter.com offers The Power of Questions which is on topic for this discussion with a good analogy: The most effective way to control the sale is to ask more questions. Selling is like driving a car: The person who asks the questions sits in the driver&#8217;s seat and controls the direction of the sale, while the passenger\u20ac\u201dthe person who answers the questions\u20ac\u201dgoes along for the&hellip; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/07\/sales-success-is-in-the-questions\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"","bgseo_robots_follow":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sales-management","category-sales-techniques"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Oho-hn","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1754,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/10\/ask-the-tough-questions\/","url_meta":{"origin":1077,"position":0},"title":"Ask The Tough Questions","author":"Lee Fratzke","date":"October 15, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"In talking with sales managers over the past month or so there is one reoccurring statement that I am hearing - their sales cycle has been extended in this economy.\u00a0 It isn't that they are not closing sales, it is just taking a bit longer.\u00a0 Buyers are certainly more deliberate,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sales Management&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sales Management","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-management\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1582,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/05\/12-strategies-for-asking-questions\/","url_meta":{"origin":1077,"position":1},"title":"12 Strategies For Asking Questions","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"May 20, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This article from Selling Power offers suggestions for salespeople when questioning prospects.\u00a0 The author makes some excellent points with one that stands out - number 9.\u00a0 I have edited the content for length. 1. Qualify prospects You can quickly establish if this \"suspect\" is a qualified prospect with a few\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Communication&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Communication","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/communication\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1405,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/02\/defining-the-sale\/","url_meta":{"origin":1077,"position":2},"title":"Defining The Sale","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"February 5, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Salesopedia.com offers an excellent article titled Top Salespeople Win at the Numbers Game.\u00a0 The article is a bit of a promo for a specific selling system, but the author provides a list of questions that all sales managers should retain. In the last 6 months: 1. What is the average\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sales Management&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sales Management","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-management\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2589,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2015\/06\/cultural-qualifying\/","url_meta":{"origin":1077,"position":3},"title":"Cultural Qualifying","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"June 26, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I ran into an old coworker, whom I consider a good friend, at a coffee shop this Friday morning.\u00a0 He is the VP of Sales with 75 or so direct reports.\u00a0 His company is international with a majority of their revenue occurring in Asia. He was telling me about sales\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Assessing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Assessing","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/assessing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/06\/questions-when-hiring\/","url_meta":{"origin":1077,"position":4},"title":"Questions When Hiring","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"June 1, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Jill Konrath has a great post about salespeople who come on \"like a bull in a china shop\" when trying to sell to prospects. Her cure for these salespeople: You need to create conversations with decision makers. And, there's only one way to do this. You need to ask questions\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1022,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/06\/its-all-in-the-questions\/","url_meta":{"origin":1077,"position":5},"title":"It&#8217;s All In The Questions","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"June 22, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Selling Power provides an excellent article regarding a sales ability that is often overlooked - The Art of Asking Great Questions.\u00a0 Listening is an important sales skill that leads to qualifying success.\u00a0 But as the article points out, listening ability it not worth much if you cannot ask the right\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring Salespeople&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring Salespeople","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/hiring-salespeople\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1077\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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