In trying to establish a prospect’s fit with our offering, it’s natural to want to uncover all the details about their situation that can help us make our case. What that often leads to, however, is a stream of questions that focuses only on product areas or applications.<\/p>\n
And it’s not just junior sales reps who do this. I once listened to a regional sales manager for a large financial services company grind his prospect into the ground with his questions, each one having been designed to justify the features of his offering. Afterward, he thought he’d done a good job. But judging from the pain that grew in his prospect’s face with each additional question, I think “inquisition” is a much better description.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I sat through some “inquisitions” and it isn’t pretty.\u00a0 If you have any people-reading ability, you can see the discomfort on the prospect’s face.\u00a0 Heck, I was uncomfortable and I was with the salesperson.<\/p>\n
1. Find out what their situation is like today<\/strong>\u2014without trying to shape the conversation to fit your offering. Just ask your prospect what’s going on, what’s working, what’s not working, etc. Listen to the answers without trying to make points you\u2019ll use later. Just have a conversation. It works wonders on building trust.
\n2. Ask where they’d like to be in the future.<\/strong> Ask “What are your big goals?” or “What would a perfect world look like?” Again, don’t frame your question in any way<\/em> that could be construed as setting up your offering. I realize it takes patience, but spending a few minutes establishing your prospect\u2019s big picture is invaluable.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Have you noticed that the best salespeople are usually subtle?\u00a0 They have a way of moving through a discussion that is conversational in tone, but focused in purpose.\u00a0 Some are so good at it that you don’t even notice if you are involved in the discussion. ManageSmarter.com offers up an article with a direct analogy of sales questioning – comparing it to dating.\u00a0 What I appreciate is the author’s description of how salespeople are trained to ask leading questions.\u00a0 This is not a subtle approach as you will see from his example in the article.\u00a0 The primary issue here is that you lose rapport quickly when you go down this… 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":[14,9],"tags":[952,184,151,187,953],"class_list":["post-1706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-communication","category-sales-techniques","tag-leading-question","tag-qualifying","tag-questioning","tag-sales-qualifying","tag-wrong-sales-question"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Oho-rw","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3203,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2016\/07\/reading-microexpressions-a-key-to-sales\/","url_meta":{"origin":1706,"position":0},"title":"Reading Microexpressions A Key To Sales?","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"July 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"In a word...yes. We spend a fair amount of time working with salespeople to access their empathy and read the prospect in a qualifying situation. \u00a0This ability is one of the keys to all successful selling. This article from Harvard Business Review provides a thorough breakdown of this topic. \u00a0A\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Communication"","block_context":{"text":"Communication","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/communication\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/microexpression-collage-2-1200x675.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/microexpression-collage-2-1200x675.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/microexpression-collage-2-1200x675.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/microexpression-collage-2-1200x675.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/microexpression-collage-2-1200x675.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2166,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2009\/11\/subtle-moronsi-mean-oxymorons\/","url_meta":{"origin":1706,"position":1},"title":"Subtle Morons…I Mean Oxymorons","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"November 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I have seen versions of this statement appearing in quite a few sales ads: The ability to work well independently and within a collaborative environment I think I understand what they are saying, but it is a poorly constructed bullet point.\u00a0 Independent salespeople tend not to work well in collaborative\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Employment Ads"","block_context":{"text":"Employment Ads","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/employment-ads\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1399,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/01\/qualifying-is-in-the-questions\/","url_meta":{"origin":1706,"position":2},"title":"Qualifying Is In The Questions","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"January 31, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Successful selling is far more than being a smooth talker.\u00a0 It requires the ability to listen attentively and move within the conversation.\u00a0 This principle is discussed in a ManageSmarter.com commentary titled Build Sales Relationships: Consultative Questioning. The opening recollection of the author's first sales position is excellent: I marched into\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Communication"","block_context":{"text":"Communication","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/communication\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2526,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2013\/04\/interrogating-a-prospect\/","url_meta":{"origin":1706,"position":3},"title":"Interrogating A Prospect","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"April 11, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Questions are the backbone of qualifying any sales opportunity.\u00a0 Yet, many salespeople seem to flounder with this approach and I believe it comes from over coaching\/training.\u00a0 Ask this series of questions, use this linguistic trick, turn the tables on them\u2026improper use of these \u201cmoves\u201d stands out to every prospect. To\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Communication"","block_context":{"text":"Communication","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/communication\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1545,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/05\/3-sales-hiring-inhibitors\/","url_meta":{"origin":1706,"position":4},"title":"3 Sales Hiring Inhibitors","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"May 1, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Even bad salespeople can appear to be strong in a face-to-face interview situation.\u00a0 This reason is why sales recruiting is truly different than any other form of recruiting.\u00a0 Reviewing resumes and assuming abilities is is a fool's errand.\u00a0 Yet, there are certain aspects of general recruiting that can that hinder\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hiring Salespeople"","block_context":{"text":"Hiring Salespeople","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/hiring-salespeople\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42491,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2019\/05\/14-tips-for-improving-communication\/","url_meta":{"origin":1706,"position":5},"title":"14 Tips For Improving Communication","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"May 16, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Is there anything more important in sales than being able to effectively communicate?\u00a0 I dare say no - it is a crucial skill for any sales or sales leadership role.\u00a0 This Entrepreneur article states that 55% of communication is nonverbal.\u00a0 I have seen other studies estimating that number to be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Communication"","block_context":{"text":"Communication","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/communication\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Screaming-Communication.png?fit=560%2C315&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Screaming-Communication.png?fit=560%2C315&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Screaming-Communication.png?fit=560%2C315&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1706","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=1706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1706\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}