Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/84809
SALES & MARKETING It's Your Questions That Make The Sale BY JOHN GRAHAM The selling debacle Even though buying cycles seem to stretch out longer as buyers require more time to make decisions, salespeople are doing their best to close quicker. Much of what's popular in selling, such as sales techniques, figuring out a prospect's hot buttons and schmoozing and even relationship building, can be enormously overrated. Here's the problem. Simply put, too much of what passes for "best practices" in sales focuses on what the salesperson should do to get the order, starting with a perfected "elevator speech." To make the concept tomer is ready to buy. Trust makes the difference Faced with such a reality every working day, Simply put, too much of vivid, the salesperson is like the classroom teacher of 30 or more years ago who was the "instructor," the one who was in charge and who passed informa- tion to the often passive and less than attentive "learners." The result? Good salespeople with great what passes for "best practices" in sales focuses on what the salesperson should do to get the order, starting with a perfected "elevator speech." products and services that are a good fit for their customers lose sales because they take the role of "instructor," passing information to passive and often inattentive "learner-customers." Such behavior is understandable. Whether it's the unpredictability of an extended buying cycle or the fear of a competitor entering the picture, they sense the possibility of losing the sale and immediately response by getting into a "control mode," cutting corners, taking short- cuts and jumping to the close before the cus- OCTOBER 2012 26 THE JOURNAL it becomes clear that the critical component for making more sales is gaining the customer's trust as quickly as possible. It has always been important, but never as much as it is today. Trust is the bond that endures no matter the length and dif- ficulty of the selling cycle. To be totally clear about trust, it doesn't de- velop from schmoozing, mak- ing unverified or exaggerated claims, or providing incom- plete information. Today's customers are doubters; they've been burned too often. They want value –– lots of value –– for their money. To put it simply, they don't trust salespeople. Much of the success of Ama- zon.com and Apple is built on recognizing customer doubt by keeping their promises. Distrust is so fundamental today that those who ask a friend, family member or coworker for a referral, engage in their own vetting process before making a decision. Creating trust Salespeople understand the trust issue and they have their own views about how to develop it. We've heard most of the solutions: respect, acting with integrity, being responsible, sin- cere, honest, truthful and on and on it goes. Unfortunately, the words are generalizations, lacking specificity –– they don't mean anything to customers. So, the question remains, what do salespeo- ple do to create trust? Answer: trust develops be- tween customer and salesperson when the salesperson asks the right questions. It's the ques- tions that create value, understanding, and confidence. Yet, salespeople like to talk about "meeting customer needs." They talk about it, particu- larly in their presentations. But what does "meeting customer needs mean? Not too much. If anything, it's abstract and non-specific, more like a "view from 30,000 feet," where you see everything and nothing at the same time. "Meeting customer needs" is meaningless –– unless a salesperson fills it with content by tak- ing the time to ask the right questions. And now the questions The goal of asking questions is to probe until it's clear the customer is satisfied. Of course, the questions will differ based on your research of the prospect. They don't need to be complex, but they must drill down to the heart of the issue. In emergency rooms throughout the United States, a series of three simple questions has replaced complex, computer-based calcu- lations for assessing patients who are experienc- ing heart problems. The simplicity of this approach belies the careful study that went into its development. It requires an investment of up-front time to un- derstand the prospect, but it's an investment well worth making. The questions are key and here are examples of questions that help create trust –– Getting started questions: • What problems are you experiencing? • What's going on now that bothers you?