The one who controls the sales process is the one asking the questions or put more accurately the one who is getting answers to the questions asked is the one who controls the sales process. Selling is all about identifying a person’s problem or desire (often called their main buying motivation) and then convincing them that your product or service will solve that problem and fulfill that desire. A salesman has to be a detective in some regards finding out what a prospect wants (and really wants) then helping him to fulfill that want.
For example say you’re selling a sports car. And you have two prospects. One prospect wants to have a nice sports car to impress women as he drives around another wants a nice sports car because he spends his weekends racing his buddies. Both these men want the car but for different reasons. As a salesman you have to figure out what each reason is and then make that product or service fulfill that reason. Just giving a presentation without asking questions is going to end up with you missing lots of sales.
Questions To Identify Wants & Desires
Use questions to draw out what a prospect wants and desires. In the example above when asking the man who wants the impress women when he drives around he’s going to say something about it. Now he probably won’t come right out and say it and he’ll start by mentioning something about reliability but when you keep asking questions you are going to start to hit on the real buying motive. Imagine if you didn’t ask questions and went on and on about how fast the car was and the man would have walked away and bought from someone else who took the time to figure out his main buying motivation and then addressed it.
Questions are also used to lead a prospect to where you want to go. Like I said in the introduction asking questions (and getting answers to those questions more importantly) allows you to control the sales process. Which is essential for success in selling. You are the leader taking the prospect to the buying decision. You are a guide leading them through the forest to where they want to go. And where they want to go is the town of “my problem is solved”. And the only way to know which town is “my problem is solved” for the prospect is to ask enough questions so you can figure it out. Never guess, always ask.
Listen!
One of the most important sales tips that I can ever leave with you is this, know how to listen. Really sit back and listen to what the prospect is saying. Don’t just focus on the words that are said but also body language, tonality, inflection, and everything else that goes into communicating. You want to see what the prospect means which can be different from what they say. Don’t interrupt the prospect or jump to conclusions allow them to let out everything that they want to let out and then think about your response.
Gives things time to settle, you don’t always have to be talking. And as a matter of fact being the salesman who never shuts up is just going to turn the prospect off and have him go buy from someone else. So shut up and pay attention to what the prospect is saying (and not saying). Remember people buy through emotions that they later rationalize with logic. A prospect wants to know that you are someone who cares and is going to listen to them. Heck half the reason someone buys (if not more) is because of how much they like you.
Summary
It’s also good to always ask open ended questions as opposed to yes or no questions. The more information that the prospect shares with you the more likely you are to be able to fill the prospect’s needs. And that is what selling is all about. Combine good listening skills with good rapport building skills and you’ll be head and shoulders above all the other salesmen around you. Ask questions to lead the prospect to the sale. Then listen intently to the answers. Eventually you’ll find what they really want, and it may be vastly different from what you thought they wanted in the beginning. Again never guess, always ask.
If you have any questions you would like to see answered in a future post send them to me at charlessledge001 (at) gmail (dot) com. If you found value in this post then I would encourage you to share this site with someone who may need it as well as check out my books here. I appreciate it. You can follow me on Twitter here.
-Charles Sledge
