{"id":2589,"date":"2015-06-26T10:32:00","date_gmt":"2015-06-26T15:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/?p=2589"},"modified":"2015-06-26T10:34:20","modified_gmt":"2015-06-26T15:34:20","slug":"cultural-qualifying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2015\/06\/cultural-qualifying\/","title":{"rendered":"Cultural Qualifying"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>He was telling me about sales training he held for the entire sales team.\u00a0 The focus was on negotiating and, more specifically, how to ask the right questions to qualify the opportunity.\u00a0 The Asian sales reps balked at some of the questions based solely on their approach to qualifying.\u00a0 Let\u2019s just say they prefer to take a more passive, unquestioning approach which leads to prayer rug forecasts and lower revenue.<\/p>\n<p>Obviously there are some cultural issues when it comes to qualifying.\u00a0 Anyone who has been to Japan knows that there are certain formalities you have to follow to honor your counterparts.\u00a0 However, I would argue that the qualifying issue is an individual issue.\u00a0 At the risk of sounding overly simple, sales is a difficult profession that requires a skill set that is uncommon to the majority of the population.<\/p>\n<p>The training that my friend provided was not provocative, excessive nor \u201crisky.\u201d\u00a0 It was simply communication made clear by a sound questioning strategy.\u00a0 This approach is the essence of qualifying.\u00a0 It spans cultures.\u00a0 It leads to the important point that if you are attempting to hire stronger salespeople, you must incorporate an assessment to get an x-ray of the salesperson\u2019s abilities.\u00a0 Do they have the right mix of talent and motivation to ask the difficult questions required for successful selling?<\/p>\n<p>If you are looking for a solution, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.selectmetrix.com\/Assessing_Main.html\" target=\"_blank\">we can help.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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 training he held for the entire sales team.\u00a0 The focus was on negotiating and, more specifically, how to ask the right questions to qualify the opportunity.\u00a0 The Asian sales reps balked at some of the questions based solely on their approach to qualifying.\u00a0 Let\u2019s just say they prefer to take a more passive, unquestioning approach which leads to prayer rug&hellip; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2015\/06\/cultural-qualifying\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","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":[6,31,9],"tags":[535,31,184,1226,1750,97],"class_list":["post-2589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-assessing","category-leadership","category-sales-techniques","tag-culture","tag-leadership","tag-qualifying","tag-qualifying-sale","tag-sales-management","tag-select-metrix"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Oho-FL","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2105,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2009\/09\/q-is-for-qualifying-questions\/","url_meta":{"origin":2589,"position":0},"title":"Q Is For Qualifying Questions","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"September 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I come across this often \u2013 a company wants to hire a superstar salesperson and the hiring manager\u2019s first instinct is to find a loquacious talker.\u00a0 Perhaps you have seen this approach too?\u00a0 Clearly no readers of the Hire Sense would administer this approach in their hiring. Right? Ok, maybe\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":[]},{"id":1399,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/01\/qualifying-is-in-the-questions\/","url_meta":{"origin":2589,"position":1},"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 &quot;Communication&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Communication","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/communication\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1551,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/05\/a-quick-questioning-tip\/","url_meta":{"origin":2589,"position":2},"title":"A Quick Questioning Tip","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"May 5, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This tip comes from the Selling Power archives: Never ask a question without first explaining why you're asking. Nirenberg says, \"Just asking a question puts the listener on the spot. However, if you let him know why you're asking, it makes him a partner,\" Nirenberg goes on to explain, \"People\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":1754,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/10\/ask-the-tough-questions\/","url_meta":{"origin":2589,"position":3},"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":1775,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/11\/quoting-is-not-qualifying\/","url_meta":{"origin":2589,"position":4},"title":"Quoting Is Not Qualifying","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"November 3, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I run into this topic often and it is one worth defining.\u00a0 Many companies value quotes as strong sales activity.\u00a0 Now don't get me wrong, quotes are a step in the sales process and typically one that occurs before a close.\u00a0 However, companies that have under-defined sales processes often choose\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":2608,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2015\/07\/2-habits-that-undermine-salespeople\/","url_meta":{"origin":2589,"position":5},"title":"2 Habits That Undermine Salespeople","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"July 28, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Supposition \u2013 something that is supposed; assumption; hypothesis Think of supposition, in sales parlance, as being synonymous with stereotyping.\u00a0 This is a dangerous approach to sale in that once you start making assumptions, you start derailing your qualifying skills.\u00a0 In most prospect situations, once you stop truly qualifying you are\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":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2589","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=2589"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2591,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2589\/revisions\/2591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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