This is a technique that as far as I know was pioneered by Jeffrey Gitomer and he writes about it in his great book The Sales Bible, which is a must read for all salesmen (and we’re all salesmen). Asking good questions is a fundamental part of success in selling. Questions are how you identify your prospects needs, wants, and desires so that you can position yourself as the person who is going to fulfill those needs, wants, and desires. It doesn’t matter what you’re selling if you don’t know who you’re selling too.
For example let’s say you have a weight loss product. You have three prospects two male and one female. One male is twenty years old and wants to lose weight because he wants to have sex with more girls at his college. Male number two is sixty years old and is recovering from a heart attack and wants to lose weight so he can see his grandchildren graduate high school. The woman was recently divorced after she found her husband cheating on her.She wants to look good to attract men to spite him. However you know none of this until you start asking questions (granted they won’t tell you everything but once you become a good reader of people you’ll get it).
Question #1 – “How do you select (your product/service)
You ask this because you’re looking for what their primary buying motivation is. You want to find out what the main reason they pick a certain product or service is. For example with the people above. The first guy picks a fitness program based on how attractive it will make him to girls. The second guy picks one based on how healthy it’s going to make him. And the woman is going to pick one based on how attractive it makes her to men so she can have revenge. And so on and so forth. Everybody buys for different reasons, this question helps determine what the primary reason is.
Question #2 – “How do you define (what it was they said they selected products by)
So for example let’s say you’re selling a vacuum cleaner and you ask the prospect “How do you select a vacuum cleaner?” to which the prospect replies “Well dependability is number one for me”. You would then reply with “And how do you define dependability?”. Then the prospect is going to elaborate on what their main buying motive is in specific detail so you can get a better idea of what it is.Another way you could phrase this is “And what does dependability mean to you?”. If the prospect gives multiple answers ‘Well dependability and low maintenance are what I look for” you would then ask questions for him or her to elaborate on both.
Question #3 – “What makes that most important to you?”
So for example when the prospect said that “dependability” is what mattered most to him in a vacuum cleaner we then had him elaborate on what dependability meant to him. Now we are going to ask him what makes dependability the most important thing to him. Let’s say he says “Dependability is the most important thing because the last two vacuum cleaner’s I’ve had broke down and right before my father was coming for a visit”. Now you have more information about why that’s so important to him and how to sell him.
Question #4 – “If I could deliver (repeat back exactly want customer said they wanted using specific examples) then would I be a candidate for your business?”
So now that you know exactly what the customer wants you are going to ask them if you can provide those exact things if they’d be a candidate for your business. Remember to use specific examples from what the customer told you. E.g. “So if I could deliver you a vacuum cleaner that was guaranteed to never malfunction for five years and required absolutely no maintenance other than changing it’s battery every year at a reasonable cost would I be a candidate for your business?”. You’re addressing exactly what they want.
Question #5 – “Great! When can we begin”
Or a variation “Great then sign right here and I’ll get everything set up”. You get the point. Assuming that the customer answered in the affirmative to the previous question you are now going to ask for the order or when you can get a start date for a service. You’ve identified exactly what the customer wants, show that your product/service can deliver exactly what they want, they answered in the affirmative, and now all that is left is to sort out the details as to when they can start enjoying the benefits of your product or service and have their problem(s) solved. It’s as simple as that.
Summary
Practice using this technique with a friend or relative. Drill it until it becomes second nature to you. Remember sales is a developed skill not something anyone was every born with. Great salesmen like great people are made not born. Learn to identify the right buying motive of each of your customers by asking good questions and listening to the answers and you’ll go far in selling and in life.
Click here for the rest of the Sales 101 series.
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-Charles Sledge
