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• What do you want to accomplish and in what time frame? • What makes you dissatisfied with what you're currently using? • What do you like? What don't you like? • What do you expect from a sales rep? Before meeting ends questions: • What's better or worse than what you have now? • How did you feel about this meeting? • Is there anything that seems to be missing? • Do you feel you have adequate information? • Do you feel uneasy about anything? • Where would you like to go from here? • Are my answers sufficiently understandable and complete? • Did I probe sufficiently to understand your situation, your needs? • How can I improve my presentation? • Was I more helping or selling? Then, what happens afterthe sale becomes the most important component in the sales process. Yet, salespeople often ignore it as they move on to the next "opportunity" and never look back, leaving the customer disappointed and even "jilted." However, this is the critical point at which the customer becomes either Emissary or Enemy. This is when trust becomes real. After the sale, follow up with questions, whether a week or a month later: • How do you feel about your purchase? • What have you been thinking about? • Do you have any doubts, issues or concerns? • What questions do you have? • Is there anything you would like to be differ- ent? • Is there anything you would like me to do? If a feeling of trust has developed with the customer, be sure to ask for a referral. Questions transform the selling process As valuable as information is for a successful sales process, asking probing questions produces more than just information. It's the most effec- tive way to help customers become deeply in- volved in a dialogue –– a conversation –– that becomes an intriguing exercise in further dis- covery. It's the way for the sales process to be- come an adventure, rather than a drag. On top of that, it's the way they come to recognize that their salesperson is serious, con- cerned and thorough. It's through the ques- tioning experience that customers become loyal partners, who are invested in the sales process rather than disengaged observers and passive participants. The relentless task of asking questions also helps customers clarify their thinking, discover what they may have missed, revisit their as- sumptions, and reconsider their opinions.It's the way to build trust and get to the right results. In effect, the salesperson's role is to create a stage on which the decision making process is acted out. Ultimately, it's the way to help cus- tomers avoid making an unsatisfactory decision. They should never need to say, "I wish I had known that before I made my purchase." The task of today's salesperson goes way be- yond product knowledge and even "solutions." It's to help customers discover possibilities they may not have considered or even thought about. It's your questions that make the sale. T J John R. Graham of GrahamComm is a marketing and sales consultant and business writer. He publishes a monthly eNewsletter, "No Nonsense Marketing & Sales." Contact him at johnrg31@me.com, 617-774- 9759 or johnrgraham.com Quick, Neat, Inexpensive Permanent, Safe Revolutionary Flex-Mend IF YOU CAN USE - The Most Used BestWritten Most Affordable Most Successful WWW.GRAYSONSCHWEPFINGER.COM Sales Program EverWritten Open Flex-Mend, a mending product that matches the appearance and texture of bottom closure materials used by most manufacturers in the mobile home industry today. Flex-Mend currently meeting all requirements for use as bottomboard by the mobile home indus- try. It has been solid-coated with specially formulated high tech adhesive, and has an easily removed paper release liner. It goes on like a band-aid! *Free Shipping Flex-Mend™ is now available in 28" wide by 25', 50' & 100' rolls (233 sq. ft.) or in convenient tape form 4" x 180 feet or 6" x 180 feet. For the name of your nearest distributor call 1-800-462-1775 No. 19 on Get It Quick Page OCTOBER 2012 27 THE JOURNAL