Winning Sales Questions

Winning Sales Questions
550 Powerful Questions to Engage, Motivate & Differentiate

Jill Konrath, Selling to Big Companies
1. Questions, Questions, Questions 5
A Person of Questionable Character
Quick, But Important Tips
2. The Incredible Power of Questions 10
What makes some sellers so successful?
Pitching: a common, yet destructive sales behavior
The negative impact of short listening spans
3. What Customers Really Want 17
The trusted business advisor
Customers desired business results
Questions differentiate top sellers from competitors
4. Never, Ever Go for the Close 25
If only their closing skills were better
How to get orders if you dont close
Table of Contents
www.SellingtoBigCompanies.com Jill Konrath 2010 2
5. Selling Conversations, Not Sales Pitches 29
Diarrhea of the mouth
Repositioning: from pitching to discussing
The right way to prepare for sales meetings
Overview of an effective 1st meeting
Lean back! Lean back!
Final tips: guaranteed to make a difference
6. Highly Effective Initial Meetings 38
Open the Conversation
Lead the Discussion
Advance the Process
7. Powerful Executive Meetings 44
Knowledge is power
Questions on:
- Mission & vision
- Goals & objectives
- Industry/market trends
- Strategic initiatives
- Primary challenges
- Your customers customer
- Competitive landscape
- Corporate culture
- Organizational structure
- Departmental overview
8. Turning Prospects into Buyers 64
The fallacy of low-hanging fruit
Invest time with customers who arent ready to buy
Become invaluable to customers
Understanding the current situation
Uncovering problems and gaps
Exploring the Ripple Effect
Clarifying the value
9. Winning Competitive Situations 99
Whats the reason for a change?
Determining the decision process
Clarifying the decision criteria
Understanding players & politics
Finding out financial issues
Uncovering the showstoppers
10. Is Anyone Listening? 120
Listening tips & techniques
Get comfortable with questions
Final thoughts
About the Author 124
2010, Jill Konrath. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission from the author.
1. Questions, Questions, Questions
If I could show you a way to increase sales by 150%, could we do business today?
I hate questions like that. I feel like Im being set up and the seller will pounce on me as soon as the
trap is set. I also hate it when these same salespeople blab on and on about their wonderful
products.
Do you sometimes feel like you have to act like those salespeople when you put on your sales hat
on? Does the thought of doing it disgust you? If so, this book is for you. Youll find out how to sell
without self-serving spiels, manipulative techniques, strong-armed tactics or high-pressure closes.
It'll also help you take your sales to a new level a much higher level. By learning the skills in here,
youll immediately be better than 90% of the other people out there selling in business-to-business
markets.
But first, a little background.
A Person of Questionable Character
Asking questions is such a natural part of my life that for years I never even considered it a valuable
skill. It was just what I did. Perhaps Im naturally curious. Maybe, as some have suggested, Im just
plain nosy. But Ive always asked lots of questions.
My first real job was as a high school teacher. After several months, my principal came to observe
me in action. In our debrief session, he asked how he could help me improve my teaching skills.
Its better to know
some of the
questions than all
of the answers.
James Thurber
I 'd recently noticed that asking questions helped my teaching. Kids remembered things better
and could figure out how to apply the information to their lives. I want to learn more about asking
good questions, I told him. We never covered that in college.
Youre the first teacher I ever had who wantedto learn more about asking questions.
Principal, Hudson Senior High School
I was a bit surprised by the response. About a week later he came back and handed me a thick
book. Opening it to page 256, he showed me a paragraph on questions and told me it was all he
could find. Disappointed, I thanked him.
After several years, I left teaching and moved into sales with Xerox. Our new hire sales training
focused extensively on questioning skills. I thought Id died and gone to heaven. From the bottom
of my being, I understood what was being taught. When I leveraged my questioning skills with my
prospects, I got results!
However, understanding the complexities of the business world was a different matter. The politics
confused me and I struggled with the rationale behind decisions that were being made.
Why do you keep asking me all those questions?
Xerox Sales Manager
Fortunately, she answered most of my questions. But, there were times I drove her crazy with
everything I wanted to know.
When I left Xerox, I sold technology. I had a lot to learn. New product launches were particularly
difficult. When Marketing came to our branch with their dog-and-pony shows, my hand was
always in the air. I asked how customers currently did things, the problems they had with existing
methods, how these problems impacted their business and the value they got from the new
product.
Dont ask me that question. Youre the one in sales. Its your job to find that out.
Marketer, Computer Company
Those poor product managers dreaded presenting to groups I was in. Much as they tried to
discourage me from asking questions, they couldnt stop me. By then, I knew how important good
questions were for sales success. And, I needed this information so I could develop my own sales
questions to use with my prospects and customers.
Good, well thought-out questions make people think. As a seller, you want customers to be thinking
too. You want them to think about the true costs involved with their current processes, products or
vendors. When theyre making decisions to buy, you want them to think about the total cost of
ownership versus the lowest purchase price. Or, how to get the buy-in and support they need
inside their company into order to get the approval to move ahead.
In short, the questions trigger and direct your prospect's thinking. They give you much-needed
information. And, they engage your customer in the process and in building a relationship with
you. That's why mastering the art of asking questions is so important to your sales success.
Quick, But Important Tips
Here are some tips on how you can get the most value from this book:
1. Make the questions yours.
The samples in the book are simply guidelines. Some questions will work for you as is. Others will
need to be rewritten to work for your industry, market, customers and buyers.
2. Do role-plays focused on asking good questions.
Asking questions is a skill. It is not natural. That's why you need to practice it in safe situations. You
even need to practice how you word the question too. Sometimes just a slight change in
wording can turn a weak question into a powerful one.
3. Notice what works and what doesn't.
After you've talked with a prospect, write down questions that worked well so you can use them
again. Also, take note of questions that were confusing or seemed lame. You need to omit them
from future calls. Your challenge is to figure out the best questions you can ask at each stage of
your customer's decision process.
4. Develop your own Top Ten List.
Experiment with the various questions till you find some that always work for you. Bring this list into
your calls; refer to it in your meetings. It will keep you on track and youll accomplish much more.
5. Use the questions over a series of meetings.
Please dont cram all the questions you could possibly ask into one sales call. Too many
questions will backfire on you. Besides, you need something to ask the next time you meet.
6. Plan different questions for the different decision makers.
There is no one-size-fits-all set of questions. Some decision makers are concerned about how
things work. Others are interested in the financial aspects, decreasing costs, increasing sales or
gaining a competitive edge. Select different questions for each person.
7. Ask questions in a conversational manner.
You cant develop relationships with customers if they feel youre following a written script or
filling in a survey. Focus on the people and the discussion.
8. Be curious, find the hidden gems.
In my experience, the best stuff comes after the initial response. Ask 2nd and 3rd level questions
by exploring peoples answers and inviting them tell you more.
This is a resource book, not a one-time read. Keep it handy so you can refer to it whenever you
need some ideas for upcoming sales meetings. If you really want to understand the concepts
though, youll read it from start to finish probably more than one time.
Winning Sales Questions doesnt have to be read in a sequential manner either. If youre meeting a
hot prospect in an hour, skip ahead to the appropriate chapter right now. Thats where youll find
the help you need.
Keep this in mind all the times. By developing your questioning skills, you will win more sales. It's that
simple. It'll transform your relationships with your prospects and customers. Guaranteed. So let's get
started!
2. The Incredible Power of Questions
163% of quota. Thats what my numbers were after only seven months in my first sales territory at
Xerox. I was delighted how things were going, but not quite sure how theyd turned out so well.
One day Vern, a seasoned sales professional, cornered me in a narrow hallway of our offices. He
was a tall imposing man, much older than me. He had a long track record of success. His very
presence intimidated me.
Reaching out his arm to block my passage into our team room, he leaned close and said in his
deep, gravelly voice, OK, what are you doing to get all those orders. Tell me how youre closing
them.
My eyes grew wide with astonishment. I didnt know how to answer. I couldnt think of even one
time when Id asked a closing question.
Vern, I said slowly, dreading to admit the truth, Im terrible at closing. I really wish I could do it
better.
Cmon, he replied sarcastically. Dont try to pull one over on old Vern. You must have some
great closing questions with all the orders youre getting.
Honest Vern, Im really bad at it, I answered. In fact, Im so bad at it that my customers have to
close me. They usually end up asking what it takes to get a copier or if they can pay for it over
time.
He who asks is a
fool for five minutes,
but he who does
not ask remains a
fool forever.
Chinese Proverb
He looked at me, disgusted. So youre going to keep it a secret?
Im telling the truth, I replied, embarrassed. Im so bad at closing, that customers have to do it
themselves.
He walked away, shaking his head. He barely talked to me again for the next couple years,
convinced I was holding back my closing secrets.
Despite great success, there were many times in my early years that I felt like a poor excuse for a
sales rep. I didnt know how to close.
I had read many books on closing, but the tactics seemed so manipulative and trite. Just the
thought of asking, If I could reduce your costs by 10%, can we do business today? made me
want to throw up. I would never buy from someone who asked that.
I couldnt close. Maybe I should say I wouldnt close. I was certain that my inadequacy would soon
become evident to all and everyone would realize that my success was really a fluke.
Little did I know then that what I did during those sales calls would lead to even greater success
and it would continue till this day.
I was good at one thing and one thing only. I asked questions. Lots of questions. And the process
of asking questions always led to orders. Lots of orders.
What Makes Some Sellers So Successful?
It took another three years of selling for me to really understand why. That was when Xerox put us
through SPIN training, based on Neil Rackhams famous research. He found that the primary
differentiator between top sellers and average ones was their ability to ask good questions.
Rackham discovered that not all questions are created equal too. In his studies, some were highly
correlated with sales success, while others derailed or delayed the sales process. Top sellers also
used different types of questions depending on where the customer was in the decision process.
Rackham also found it didnt make one bit of difference if sellers asked open- or closed-ended
questions. This finding was (and still is) totally opposite to whats taught in most sales training. After
going through SPIN training, I finally understood why Id been so successful in sales. It was my
questions plain and simple. From that moment on, I dedicated myself to learning everything I
could on the topic. I learned that:
Salespeople who ask more questions are evaluated as more caring and concerned by their
customers.
When sellers ask lots of questions, customers rate them more knowledgeable about their jobs,
market and products.
Now ask yourself: Arent you more likely to buy from a caring, concerned and knowledgeable
rep? Of course you are. So would everyone else.
Pitching: A Common, Yet Destructive Sales Behavior
If its so darn obvious what people want when theyre buying, then why dont sellers ask more
questions when meeting with prospective customers? Look at these appalling statistics that are
based on sales call observations:
80% of the time when the seller is talking, hes telling the customer something and making
statements not asking questions.
The less time a seller has to spend with a prospective customer, the more likely she is to spend
the bulk of the time talking.
80% of the statements made by sellers are about their products or services not about the
customers interests or needs. Theyre pitching, not asking questions.
No wonder most people have such negative feelings about selling and salespeople. Most sellers
spend nearly all their time talking, talking, and talking. And most buyers feel that sellers only care
about getting the order, order, order. Buyers often feel their needs, issues and concerns are of
minimal importance to the seller.
Think for just a minute about your own sales calls. What percent of time do you spend talking versus
asking questions? If you want to get a good feel for it, ask a colleague to bring a stopwatch out on
some sales calls with you. What you learn may be surprising!
When sellers introduce new products or services, this pitching behavior gets even worse.
Rackhams research shows sales reps spend 30% more time talking about capabilities and features
than they do on normal calls.
So how do customers react to this pitching? From all the sales calls Ive observed, I usually see
three typical reactions:
1. How much does it cost?
When a seller gets this comment before needs have been uncovered and developed, the end
is in sight. No matter what the price is, the customer thinks its too high.
The seller, now on the defensive, tries to justify the value. Objections pop up one after the
other. But, in most cases its too late for the seller to recover.
2. Can it do ?
Customers ask some inane or trivial question that may or may not be relevant to their needs.
What theyre really trying to do is rule this product or service out quickly so they dont have to
change. Once again, the seller is on the defensive.
3. I bet you sell a lot of those.
What the customer hasnt said but rather implied is But not here. Again the seller has dug
himself a grave thats nearly impossible to dig out from in the short term.
The undeniable fact is this: Sellers talk too much and do far too little questioning. As a result,
customers erect impenetrable barriers that most sellers find impossible to overcome.
The opportunity to make a sale is lost before it has really even begun. The worse thing is the
sellers created their own obstacles. Thats right. By jabbering on and on about their product or
service, they actually create insurmountable objections.
The best way to handle sales objections is to not create them in the first place. And the only way to
do that is by staying customer-focused and asking questions.
The Negative Impact of Short Listening Spans
All right. Just one more statistic to throw at you. This is a big one. I had lots of trouble with it too.
Did you know that when sellers ask good, provocative questions (ones that require customers to
provide thoughtful or in-depth answers), it generally takes customers between 8 -10 seconds to
formulate a response.
Thats right. 8-10 seconds to think about their perspective, the implications, others views, politics, to
determine what they want to share with an outsider and all those things.
But average sellers dont wait more than 3 seconds before they start talking again.
Silence drives most people who sell crazy. They cant handle it. In just 3 seconds, theyre already
making related statements, answering the question themselves, rewording it, or going off in a
totally different direction.
A great opportunity to learn more about their customers vanishes into thin air. Gone forever.
Heres an important tip: Next time you ask a question, shut up and sit quietly. Count to 10. 1
thousand 2 thousand slowly.
I had to force myself to do that. It was painful. Downright painful. It took every ounce of energy I
had to keep my big mouth closed and not rephrase the question.
Yet when I managed to hang in there till 8 9 or 10, amazing things happened. Customers told
me incredibly important things. What they shared helped me understand them so much better. I
learned a lot more about their needs. The knowledge I gained helped me to figure out how my
solutions positively impacted their business. It gave me time to decide where to go next in the sales
call.
Nothing bad happened. Only good things. It was one of the hardest things in the world for me to
do, but the payback was huge.
After forcing myself to do this counting on every single sales call for a full month, I finally found
myself getting comfortable with the silence. I learned how to sit comfortably, just waiting. No
panic. No sense of urgency. Just a nice peaceful quiet that allowed really good things to emerge.
Tomorrow when youre in a sales meeting, try counting to ten. Yes, youll feel uncomfortable at first,
but I assure you its a phase that will pass in time. The value that you gain from the silence more
than offsets your personal discomfort.
Start now its worth it!
3. What Customers Really Want
Why should I buy your product? customers demand. How is it different from your competitors?
Thats always been a tough question, but in todays market its much harder to answer than ever
before. Buyers have never had so many high-quality, cost-effective choices available to them.
Even if your company offers something really unique, something beyond state-of-the-art, in only a
few months a bunch of copycats will appear.
In todays market customers assume that most products or services meet their minimal business
requirements of decent quality and decent service. So how do they decide? What criteria do they
use to determine which supplier to work with? If all things appear reasonably equal, what will make
them select one company over another?
Its you, the seller. Its not the product, service or company that makes the biggest difference these
days. Its you! Thats right, you are the new primary differentiator.
Its you!
On one hand, thats really exciting because you have total control over the outcome. If you do
your job exceptionally well, then you should win the business. On the other hand, if youre not
getting orders, its a statement that you personally are not doing what customers want. You! The
responsibility is on your shoulders.
Customers today are buying your skills, talents, knowledge, expertise, relationships and more. If you
dont give them what they want, theyll buy from someone else.
Inquiring Minds
Want to Know
~ National Inquirer Ad
The Trusted Business Advisor
Customers want to work with people who consistently bring value to their organization. They want
a trusted business advisor who truly understands their:
Vision and mission Culture, values and beliefs
Industry and marketplace Goals and objectives
Strategy and critical initiatives Challenges, issues and concerns
Customers and competitors
Customers want another brain focused on improving their operation, reducing costs, increasing
operational efficiency, creating business opportunity, driving sales and beating the competition.
Because theyre so busy with the day-to-day tasks of running the business, they have little mental
energy left over to think strategically or sort through the information overload. Often its easier to
live with the status quo.
There is no doubt about it decisions take lots of time. Think of the time needed to determine if
change is indeed warranted and a worthwhile investment. Think about all the time researching
alternatives and figuring out which option is best. Think of all the time spent even after a decision is
made to get up and running with new products, systems, services and solutions.
At no other time have customers so desperately needed extra trained brains focused on their
company. Highly knowledgeable sellers are ideal people to fill this position. Their ideas, insights and
information can be invaluable to customers. What these sellers contribute to their customers helps
them achieve their critical business results.
Customers Desired Business Results
While each customer is different, most are hoping to realize similar business results. Specifically, you
can expect most of your customers to want:
Increased profits Reduced costs
Predictable revenue streams Profitable growth
But these arent the only things customers want just the grand total of many other business issues,
costs, challenges and drivers that contribute to them. You can, depending on the products or
services you sell, look for ways to help in areas such as these:
Driving costs out of the supply chain
Increasing time-to-market
Improving operational efficiency
Decreasing employee turnover
Increasing customer loyalty
Differentiating from competitors
Removing excessive waste
Increasing response time to changing market conditions
Eliminating bottlenecks in workflow
Minimizing product defects
Reducing customer complaints
Increasing cross-selling conversion rates
Improving market share
Reducing cost of goods sold
Eliminating overtime and high labor costs
Expanding their customer base
Ensuring compliance with new governmental regulations
Stimulating new business opportunities
Maximizing technology infrastructure
Increasing workload without adding additional staff
Top sellers consistently look for ways to help their customers achieve the results they want. And
thats what you need to do also if you want to be a trusted business advisor.
Questions Differentiate Top Sellers from Competitors
The only way sellers can achieve trusted business advisors is (drum roll) by asking questions.
Not by blabbing everything they know. Not by telling customers what changes need to be made.
Not by talking endlessly about their new products or services.
Questions are key to developing this new relationship. Theres no doubt about it. Its only by asking
well-planned, thought-provoking questions, that sellers establish themselves as trusted business
advisors to their customers.
With intelligent business-oriented questions, top sellers get to the heart of whats important to their
customers. They use questions to explore impediments that block their customers ability to
achieve the desired business results. They use questions to define the gaps that exist between
todays reality and future goals. They use questions to find out exactly where and how they can
help their customer be more successful and how their offering fits into the solution.
Asking insightful, customer-focused questions enables you to:
Demonstrate your positive intentions.
Questions show customers youre concerned about what happens in their business, not just
closing the deal. Unless customers feel you care, theyll never open up and share critical
information. Instead theyll get you out of their office as fast as humanly possible.
Increase your credibility; make you appear more competent.
Frame your questions with your industry, market, customer and competitive knowledge, to
significantly increase your competence quotient.
Read the two questions below. Which seller do you feel is the most capable and competent? If
you were a customer, which seller would you want working with your company?
Terry: Are you satisfied with your turnaround time?
Pat: Based on my experience, reducing turnaround time is a critical issue for printers today. I
would assume your situation is the same? (pause; customer smiles and nods)
As you look at the flow of print jobs from when they enter your company till theyre ready
to deliver to your customer, where are the primary bottlenecks in your operation?
Which seller did you choose Terry or Pat? If youre like most people, you picked the second one.
By skillfully weaving her knowledge in, Pat asked a much more insightful, in-depth question. She
obviously knows whats going on or she sure sounds like it!
Help customers think, analyze and assess.
This is highly valuable to customers. Like I said earlier, customers dont have a lot of time to think
about all the things coming at them. Their jobs are too demanding and their deadlines too
short.
They may not have experience in certain areas, so its hard for them to figure out if changes would
help. Or, they have few connections outside their own organization so have a small frame of
reference about whats possible or even available.
For example, say you told me that you were really frustrated and upset because you just lost a big
sale. Most likely youre thinking about where your next order is coming from and how to quickly
replace the one that fell through the cracks.
However if I wanted to help you understand how much was really at stake and how you could
benefit from my sales training, I would ask:
What is the impact of that lost sale on your income over the next five years?
Whats the typical amount of add-on business you get from existing customers? How much
additional income is lost because of this?
How does your competitors win affect the markets perception of your companys
products/services?
How much extra time does it take to close another sale the size of the one you just lost?
What was the opportunity cost (what you could have been doing with your time/resources) of
that lost sale?
In reality, if youve invested lots of time trying to get the order and lost, its extremely costly. Its
much higher than just the lost commission on one order. Most sellers, sales executives or business
owners dont know how much a lost sale really costs them or their company. If they did, a lot more
time, money and effort would be spent in professional development.
So in working with your own customers, think about how you can use questions to help them
understand their processes better. Theyre in the same bind you are. They dont have time to think
about more than just what has to be done today. Thats why sellers who help their customers think
are so highly valued.
Uncover and develop needs
Most customers live in a less-than-perfect world. They almost always have concerns, issues, and
challenges. They have bottlenecks, frustrations, rising costs. They live with tons of aggravations
and workarounds. Things cant get done fast enough. Theyll keep the status quo alive and well
until:
- Things get really bad and theyre faced with a crisis.
- They understand the true cost of their current ways.
- They figure out they cant get where they want with their current systems, technologies or
processes.
By asking questions to uncover these latent needs, you will uncover many more selling
opportunities than you can imagine. You will also have much less competition than you could ever
dream of. And, when the customer finally decides to change, youll be in the drivers seat not
another seller.
Do you want to be a trusted business advisor for your customers? Its a great role to be in, but its
hard to get there. Sellers who are elevated to this status are not rah-rah fast-pitch artists.
Trusted business advisors are conscientious, deliberate thinkers who apply their brainpower to
improving their customers business. These people are great at asking questions; its one of their
very best skills.
4. Never, Ever Go For the Close
I never did learn how to use closing techniques to get orders. I tried. Believe me, I studied and
practiced them all.
But I could never imagine myself doing an Alternate Choice Close with a prospective customer
who was investing lots of money on something new. Mr. Customer, would you like your new high-
speed, big buck computer in pink or blue? Would you prefer we deliver it in four months or six
months?"
If that doesnt sound stupid, I dont know what does. Those trite techniques seem to assume the
buyer is a buffoon who can be easily manipulated by just the right closing question.
Incredible as it may seem, lots of sales trainers still teach these dated, gimmicky techniques. Dont
fall for those charlatans. Dont let anyone talk you into going for the close. Dont believe it when
they say, Getting a no means youre one step closer to a yes. You are not. A no is a NO!
If Only Their Closing Skills Were Better
In my years as a sales consultant, Ive been asked to fix many sales organizations. I cant tell you
how many times Ive heard:
We need to improve our sales reps closing skills. Theyre missing too many deals, losing too
often to the competition. If they would only close better and more often, our numbers would be
way up there.
The important
thing is to not stop
questioning.
Albert Einstein
When I hear this, I swallow hard and do everything I can to maintain my composure. More than
anything Id like to jump on their desk and scream, You idiot. Closing isnt the problem! If your
people get better at this stupid skill, your numbers will go down even more.
Instead I smile and patiently explain:
Closing problems are symptoms of something thats been missed earlier in the sales process. Its
usually caused by one of two things. The seller:
1. Didnt invest enough time understanding the customers needs, issues and concerns before
they started talking about their product.
2. Or, they didnt understanding the decision-making process or assessment criteria before
proposing a solution.
Interestingly enough, sales management almost always agrees that this is probably true. But in a
frantic desire to get orders quickly, their focus immediately goes to the grand finale the Close.
How To Get Orders if You Dont Close
1. Focus on questions.
They are the absolute foundation for getting customers to beg you for the order. Without good
questions, youre fighting an uphill battle all the time. Endless product pitches wont get
customers to ask, How soon can we get one? Forget it. It wont happen if you dont ask good
questions.
2. Suggest a logical next step.
Purchase decisions that involve large sums of money, some degree of perceived risk and
multiple decision makers arent made in one sales call.
A seller who closes right away ends up looking like a nave fool like they dont have a clue how
decisions are made. There are tons of next possible steps; it all depends on what product or service
you sell. Perhaps you need still need to meet additional people in the company. Maybe a
demonstration is next or you need to test the customers application.
Keep advancing the sales process one step at a time. All you have to say is:
The logical next step would be for your team to meet with our engineers to look at what youre
trying to accomplish.
As a next step, we should schedule a presentation with your marketing staff.
Why dont I take this info and get back to you next Tuesday to go over it. By then Ill have
additional questions.
Dont try to rush the decision process. If you do, you miss the chance to build strong relationships
with customers. If you give them all the information on your first call, they have no reason to talk to
you anymore. Youre out! So keep working with your prospective customers. Advance the sale one
step at a time. Plan your next step before you go in. Sometimes you might not get there, but youll
move further than if you just ended the call and said, What next?
Dont forget to keep asking questions!
3. Listen for that beautiful word WE!
We. Its my favorite word in sales. As soon as a customer starts talking we, the sale has been
made at least to the person who said it.
- We need to figure out how to get it into this years budget.
- We have to get HR in right away. Unless theyre involved early, decisions are delayed.
- We need to set up a meeting with __.
This doesnt mean you can lean back and take it easy now. But it does mean that one person in
company is now working with you to move the decision process along. Its a huge step. And it
happens naturally. Its a result of the time and effort you put in asking questions, learning about
their business, listening to their goals and objectives, challenges and concerns.
Because you ask high quality, high impact questions youre in much better position to shape the
right solution for the customers. Youll also understand which of your strengths to maximize and
which to minimize.
Your questions have increased your credibility. They stimulated customers thinking and motivated
them to take action. They showed you cared and wanted to help customers with their needs.
Because you didnt close, but offered a sequence of logical next steps, you built your relationships
even further.
If you keep selling with questions, youll never have to close again. Of course you wont always get
the order, but youll get far more orders than you ever expected. And customers will be asking you
for the order, not the other way around. Remember: the questions count not the close.
5. Selling Conversations, Not Sales Pitches
Did you know that the word sell has its roots in the Swedish word selvig, which means to
serve? Its funny how the meaning has changed so much over time. Now when people think of
selling, they immediately think of used car salespeople who play ridiculous pricing games. Or, they
think about telemarketers who call at the dinner hour with a spiel about new siding or furnace
cleaning.
In reality though, a person who is highly successful in business-to-business sales doesnt behave one
bit like Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, Gordon Gekko in Wall Street or any of the lurid
characters in Glengarry Ross.
Top sellers are totally customer-focused, from start to finish. They see their job as helping customers
be more successful in whatever way they can. Top sellers know if they help customers achieve their
goals and objectives, that sales will be a natural outcome.
And, in the process of doing this, they become invaluable and indispensable to their customers.
Competitors have an impossible time trying to dislodge them.
Diarrhea of the Mouth
Hopefully by now you understand just how important questions are in making this happen. But
knowing this on an intellectual level is a whole lot different from putting it into practice.
Unless you try to
do something
beyond what you
have already
mastered, you will
never grow.
Ralph Waldo
Emerson
Its still amazing to me to see what happens to intelligent, talented people when they have to sell.
It seems like everything they know about how to relate to people and whats important in
successful relationships flies out the window.
When they put on their sales hat, they become caricatures of the very worst salespeople
imaginable. Gifted consultants with an incredible grasp of human dynamics start blathering like
idiots. Technologists who know how to gather vast amounts of information to build customized
solutions suddenly are overcome with diarrhea of the mouth.
Even seasoned sales professionals behave like this at times. For example, the minute the customer
asks about their new product, they fall off the bandwagon. Their consultative selling skills are
nowhere in sight.
Over and over it happens. Before going into a sales call, virtually all sellers think, What can I say?
How can I prove were better than their current suppliers? What do I need to do to convince them
to do business with us?
Then when they sit down in front of customers, guess what happens. Blah blah blah.
Customers ask a question; they answer more blah blah blah. Customers ask another
question and the cycle continues.
After the sales call, if you analyzed what happened to those sellers in their one-hour meeting,
youd find that they probably talked between 45 and 50 minutes. Now thats ugly!
When this happens, sellers totally lose control of the sales call. The discussion veers into whatever
direction that customers want to take it. Often this leads to talk about features, capabilities and
pricing deadly areas to talk about until value has been established.
Sellers must take off that stupid sales hat. It causes them to revert to deeply imbedded, outdated
perceptions of what salespeople do.
Its this ridiculous behavior that makes selling so hard. It creates obstacles. It makes customers say,
Thanks for the info. If we ever need some, well call you. And the seller is quickly escorted out the
door, never to return again.
Repositioning: From Pitching to Discussing
You probably hate it when you feel you need to convince someone that your product or service is
better than anything else available. I know I sure do. The good thing is, customers hate it too.
Stop it! Now! Dont be the kind of seller that disgusts you.
You already know how to talk to people. You already know how to ask questions. You already have
decent conversation skills. There is absolutely no reason why you cant have a good discussion with
prospective customers. Its just that when you put on that stupid sales hat, you dont use your
innate skills.
Next time you have a sales meeting, think: How can I provide value in this meeting? How can I
help this customer run their business better? How can I help her achieve her goals and objectives?
How can I be of service?
You certainly cant find out if youre doing all the talking. Thats why asking questions is so darn
important.
The Right Way to Prepare for Sales Meetings
Nolan Ryan, a famous baseball player, once said, Pitching is easy. Its practice thats hard. When
I first heard this, I thought how appropriate it was to the sales profession.
For most sellers, its easier to pitch than to invest time in rigorous preparation for upcoming sales
meetings. Most sellers will also avoid role-playing unless theyre forced to do it. Its too bad
because this is their only chance to practice without a live customer in front of them.
Imagine Nolan Ryans success if he only threw balls during games. Do you think hed have the
record he does today? Of course not. He wouldnt have lasted one season in the big leagues.
Yet few sellers prepare extensively for sales meetings or practice new skills in safe environments.
Instead, they march right into the sales call and wing it. Their old stereotypes quickly kick in and
their out-of-control pitch is hurled at prospective customers.
In todays competitive market, unprepared sellers arent going to make it. Here are several things
to do to get ready for upcoming sales meetings:
Pre-Call Research
Learn as much as you can about your customer before you make the call. Check out their web
site and annual report. Look at how they portray themselves. Read their most recent press
releases. Learn about their distribution channels and their coverage. Try to decipher their core
competencies and most pressing business initiatives.
Check on how their stock prices have fared in the past 12 months.
Go beyond the scope of this particular customer. Learn more about the broader marketplace
in which they participate. Is it on the rise or declining? What are the industry trends? How do
these trends impact your targeted company?
Find out who their customers and major competitors are too. Finally, look for any tidbits of
information relevant to your particular offerings.
Determine the Meeting Type
Did you contact the customer to set up the meeting or did they call you? Are they ready to buy,
investigating whats out there, or content with the status quo even though it may not be
perfect? Did they just buy a similar product or service from another vendor?
If you initiated contact, you probably have some ideas how your customers business could be
improved. Of course, you still need to learn more. If nothing else, you still need to determine if
there is a fit between their needs and your solutions.
If a prospective customer called your company, they have something on their mind. The more you
learn about what it is before your meeting, the better off it will go.
Are you meeting with an executive, department head, technical evaluator, committee member
or end user? Dont forget that different people in companies have totally different needs, issues
and concerns. Its imperative to build that into your meeting plan too.
Write out your Top Ten Questions
If your questions arent planned ahead of time, youll have greater than a 90% chance of
reverting into that disgusting pitching behavior. After observing thousands of sales calls, I can
virtually guarantee thats what will happen.
Less than 5% of sellers can lead an effective sales meeting without a list of questions to guide the
discussion. But, because these 5% are almost always the top performers, theyre the ones who
are most likely to prepare questions. Go figure!
To prepare, ask yourself what you need to learn about this customer. What do you need to know
to find out if you can help their business? Thats your starting point for creating questions. As
much as possible, customize the questions for your particular customer. When youre meeting
with customers, set up your questions by sharing what youve learned in your pre-call research.
In preparation for todays meeting, I spent several hours in a couple of your stores analyzing
your product mix. Based on your customers demographics, what do you find are the most
effective marketing strategies?
After writing down a question, jot down several key words to remind you to ask 2nd and 3rd level
follow-up questions in the key areas youve identified. For example, my questions for a VP of Sales
might look like this:
What are the biggest challenges facing your sales force today?
a. Competition
b. Differentiation
c. Pricing pressure
d. Turnover
How satisfied are you with your product launch process?
a. Time-to-profitability
b. Channels
c. Competitive inroads
After this chapter, the rest of the book is full of questions for you to use in sales meetings. Read
through the information at the front of the chapter first to ensure the questions are right for the type
of call youre going on. Customize them so they fit with your industry, your markets and your
customers.
But most of all USE THEM! If you want a sales discussion you have to ask questions. If you want to
be a valued business advisor and resource to customers, you have to ask questions. If you want to
increase sales against competitors, you have to ask questions. If you want customers to beg you to
do business with them, you have to ask questions.
Plan your questions before the meeting and make sure you use them. Its the most important thing
you can do.
Remember If you ask questions, youre in control of the sales meeting. If customers ask all the
questions, theyre in control. And youll soon be off on tangents that can negatively impact your
sales efforts.
Make questions your friend. They easily guide you through client meetings in a quiet, non-
threatening way. They enable you to stay on task and focused in your work. And, they help
customers better understand your what you and your company can do to help them.
LEAN BACK! LEAN BACK!
People always laugh when I say this. But after observing many sales calls, I discovered that when
sellers lean forward they switched from a consultative mode into a pitching mode. Think about it
before you laugh too hard I bet you do too!
Imagine this: Youre a web site designer meeting with a potential corporate client. The
conversation is going well. Suddenly the customer says: Were disappointed with how poorly our
site is doing in attracting new customers. Do you do any work in this area?
You smile inside. Hot prospect, you think. Instantaneously your posture changes you sit up
straighter. Of course we do, you reply brightly, reaching into your briefcase for a brochure.
Placing it in front of the client, you lean forward and the pitch begins.
Strange as it may seem, most sellers dont even notice when they switch into this pitching mode. It
just happens in a euphoric sort of way. For years, I struggled to make sellers aware of this change in
behavior because they were about to create major obstacles for themselves. Nothing worked.
Finally one day I told a rep that if he leaned forward one more time I would personally shove him
back into his seat right in front of the prospect. He laughed. But at our next sales call, I was
stunned at what happened.
When the prospect asked about our new system, the rep grinned from ear-to-ear, ready to share
everything hed just learned. Gearing up for his product pitch, he leaned forward then of all the
sudden stopped. He glanced over at me, winked and slowly leaned back.
Without missing a beat, he asked the customer, How did you hear about it? Amazingly this rep
was able to stay in a consultative, questioning mode the entire sales call something hed never
done before. Afterwards he told me it was the leaning forward thing that worked.
Important: If youre on an early sales call with a prospective client and you catch yourself
leaning forward, immediately LEAN BACK. This keeps you in a consultative mode.
If you dont notice yourself doing this till you have a brochure out and youve started your spiel,
wrap it up as quickly as possible.
Then lean back and say, Im sorry. I get really excited about our technology (process/systems).
But today Im here to learn about your business to see if we can help you increase sales (cut
cost, increase productivity). Then immediately ask another question from your list.
6. Highly Effective Initial Meetings
Effective meetings follow a simple, proven process. Here are the steps to follow to ensure you have
a productive first sales call. Please use them as guidelines, not absolutes. The timeframes given
assume a one-hour meeting. And remember, good meetings focus on your prospective customers
and whats important to them not your product, service or solution.
I. Open the Conversation (5-10 minutes)
Customers from big companies dont have a lot of time for meaningless chitchat and
relationship building these days. Be cordial and friendly, but business-focused at all times.
A. Make the introductions
Take a few minutes to learn about the decision maker's job and responsibilities. If the decision
maker invites others to the meeting, make sure you to introduce yourself and learn their names.
Find out what why they're attending and what interests they have relative to the business issue.
B. Confirm times and agenda
Before you get started, double check to see if times have changed since you set up the
meeting. If your customer has to run to an urgent meeting in 30 minutes, you need to adjust your
game plan or come back later. Reconfirm the purpose of the meeting also to ensure there are
no misunderstandings.
You might say, As I explained earlier, we work with high tech firms to increase brand awareness
and drive sales. In our time together today, I'd like to give you a little background on how we
address these issues, find out what your company is doing in these areas and see if we have
grounds for further discussions. How does that sound?
Notice the professionalism and leadership in this overview. It shows that you have a clear plan
for the meeting. Decision makers feel better immediately; they know their precious time won't
be wasted.
II. Lead the Discussion (40-45 minutes)
You want to create a dialogue not make a pitch. Lay the groundwork by sharing information
of high interest to your prospects. Then invite them into a discussion by asking questions that
make them think.
A. Set the stage (5 minutes)
Customers need more grounding about what your company does than the brief 1-sentence
description given above. When you arranged the meeting, the decision maker was enticed by
something you said.
Now is the opportune time to give a brief overview of the business results a specific client
achieved with your product, service or solution. Explain the challenge the customer faced, how
you helped them, and the results they achieved. You can also share your insightful ideas or go
over the important information you brought to the meeting. The previous chapter explains what
to do in detail.
B. Transition to questions
As quickly as you can, shift the focus to the decision maker where it belongs. To do this, simply
say, That should give you a good overview about how we help our customer solve their
problems (or achieve their objectives). The most important thing is to find out if this makes sense
for your company. In preparing for today's meeting, I noticed that (insert data re: company's
direction, Triggering Event, other info uncovered in research). I was wondering how "
Unless you plan your transition, it's sometimes hard to stop talking especially if you're goaded
on by questions from the decision maker. An effective transition is part of your sales call plan.
C. Focus on business issues (35-40 minutes)
Prior to the meeting develop a minimum of ten insightful, powerful questions you can use to
lead a business-focused discussion. Corporate decision makers are always interested in talking
about their business. They wouldn't be taking time to meet with you unless they truly wanted
help solving their problems or achieving their goals.
Have the questions handy so you can refer to them. If you want, show the client how youve
prepared for the meeting theyll be impressed. But dont give them the list of questions or
they'll just rattle off the answers.
Ask your questions in a conversational manner to accomplish these things not like a
schoolteacher giving an oral test. Questions build relationships, establish rapport, demonstrate
your competence and show that you care.
Remember, this is a discussion not a sales pitch. Listen to their answers. Be interested. Learn as
much as you can. Take copious notes of everything that's said not just the parts you find
interesting.
III. Advance the Process (5 - 10 minutes)
When you focus on questions, your one-hour meeting flies by. Even if the decision maker seems
oblivious to the time, it's important not to overstay your welcome. Draw attention to the clock.
See if you're invited to stay longer. If not, it's time to wrap up and advance the sales process to
the logical next step.
A. Summarize your understanding
Since it takes multiple meetings to do business with big companies, on you first call you don't try
to share everything you know, ask every question you want answered or hand out every piece
of collateral in your briefcase. Instead, show your professional expertise by summarizing what
you learned about their critical business issues and the value of resolving them.
Corporate decision makers are also interested in learning more about how you work with
customers who had similar problems, what your process was in working with them and how they
benefited from working with your firm.
Do not, under any circumstances get into a discussion of your product or service. This will be the
hardest thing in the whole world for you to do, but it's essential. Remember, corporate buyers
don't really care about your offering only what it can do for them. They also realize that in a
short one-hour meeting, you cant possibly offer them a well-thought out solution. They dont
expect one.
B. Suggest the logical next step
Then, without making a big deal of it, simply recommend a good option to move the process
forward. This is the logical next step you were working toward from the onset.
You might say, Usually when I work with companies on product introductions, the next step is to
set up a meeting with the product manager to get a better understanding of the launch plans
already in place and where gaps might exist. Can we get a meeting set up with this person in
the next couple weeks?
If you've had a good discussion, it's highly likely that your prospect will have already suggested a
next step. If so, great! Get it on the calendar. If your prospect missed an important step, offer it
up as another idea, "Ms. Biggie, I'll get going on your recommendation right away. Also, based
on my experience, we need to talk with the IT department as well. Can we get that set up too?"
Ending meetings like this advances the sales process to its next logical step. Its honest and full of
integrity. Its just simply suggesting the next logical thing that you both need to do to determine if
your offering is a good fit for their business.
Final Tips Guaranteed to Make a Difference
1. Ask easy questions first to warm up customers and get them talking before you hit the tough
stuff.
Dont jump right in with Whats the most critical issue facing your IT department today? People
arent ready to answer the tough questions till theyre more comfortable with you as a person.
2. Take notes.
Theres no way you can remember everything your customers say. Even if you could, customers
are skeptical of your ability.
When I go out to eat, I hate it when waiters dont write down my order. Because I have lots of
special requests, I dont trust their memory.
My experience has shown me that things get easily get screwed up or forgotten even with
good notes!
3. Be curious.
If you follow interesting paths of conversation, youll learn lots more about your customers
business. Sometimes these journeys are the most productive of all.
4. Leave your brochures and samples at home.
If it takes more than one meeting to close the business, then youre much better off if you go in
with just a notebook and pen. This way you wont be tempted to veer off into product-focused
sidelines. Your discussion will stay centered around customers needs, issues, concerns and
challenges.
7. Powerful Executive Meetings
If your product or service offering has a broad organizational impact, costs lots of money or
involves considerable risk, it is highly likely that your sales process involves your customers high-
level executives.
If youre meeting with CEOs, CIOs, CFOs or other C-level players, it is absolutely imperative for you
to converse with them about things theyre interested in. And let me tell you right now they could
care less about any technical details or how youre going to make things happen.
Senior executives are looking at the big picture. They have a vision of the future and their thinking
is focused out 3-5 years. Theyre concerned about things such as shareholder value and achieving
a competitive advantage. You must talk their language if youre meeting with them.
The questions in this section help you engage in peer-to-peer discussions with C-level executives.
But, to really have credibility with the top execs, you cant just throw out the first question, wait for
the answer and then throw out the next one. Instead, you must have strong understanding of their
company, industry, marketplace and customers.
Real credibility comes when you can discuss topics theyre interested in for at least 15 20 minutes.
Thats about all the time theyll spend with you initially. Share an idea with them. Ask a few
insightful, powerful questions. Get their input. And then, get yourself directed to the people in the
organization who are in charge of the decision with the executives blessing.
To really ask is to
open the door to
the whirlwind.
Anne Rice
Knowledge is Power
Knowledge is power when youre selling to big companies. The more you know about them, the
better position youll be in. Before you meet with any executives, do your research first. Use these
questions to guide your pre-meeting research on the internet. Visit a public library and ask a
research librarian to help you find out some of this information.
Even after all your pre-meeting research, there will still be gaps in your knowledge. Thats why
candid conversations are needed with key internal personnel. Pick out different questions to ask
your various account contacts. The more you know the better. And, if you talk to a large number of
people in the organization you can test what youve learned to verify its accuracy.
Youll learn much more about whats happening to the company on a strategic level when youre
talking with the senior executives. Through conversations with them, the companys direction,
goals, and challenges will become clear. This kind of information is essential for developing an
effective account strategy. When you have a good understanding of your targeted customer, you
can align your offering with whats important to them.
Youll have a good chance of winning their business if you can help them:
Achieve their vision, goals and objectives.
Capitalize on or minimizing the impact of industry trends.
Attain their organizational initiatives.
Solve key challenges theyre facing.
Improve customer relationships/loyalty.
Leapfrog ahead of competitors.
The questions in this special chapter are perfect for use with your customers executives. Theyre
focused on whats important to him or her. Theyre high-level, big-picture questions.
By asking them, youll gather the vital information you need for implementing your account
strategy and positioning your solution so that your customer wants it. Without the knowledge you
gain from asking these questions, youre operating in the blind. And, if you dont ask them, youll
never be able to fend off the savvy competitor who does.
And, youll be developing relationships with top-level executives at the same time!
Mission & Vision
On your website, I saw that your corporate vision is ___. Can you explain this to me in more detail?
What is your vision for this organization in the next five years?
How will your group be different in the next several years because of this vision?
How does your corporate mission/vision affect the direction your company is pursuing and the
decision it makes?
Your annual report describes your mission/vision as __; can you tell me what that means?
A sudden bold
and unexpected
question doth
many times
surprise a man
and lay him open.
Sir Francis Bacon
Goals & Objectives
Where do you see your company headed in the next 2-3 years?
What are your five-year goals and objectives?
What are your primary goals and objectives in the next 12 months? Next 3 years?
In your opinion, how realistic and achievable are these goals?
What are your organizations stretch goals?
How will your company be different 3-5 years from now?
What do you see as your key objectives in this area?
What key elements must be in place for you to achieve these goals and objectives?
What do you consider to be the critical success factors for achieving these objectives?
What is it going to take for your company to meet these goals?
How does your company measure success?
What are your key performance indicators?
What are the top priorities of your executive staff?
What milestones do you use to ensure youre tracking toward your goals/objectives?
Industry/Market Trends
What are the primary trends impacting your business today?
The three major trends I see happening in your industry are: 1)__, 2)__ and 3)__. Are any of these
critical?
If answer is no, ask, What trends are impacting you most?
If answer is yes, say, Tell me more about that.
What external influences are having the most impact on your business? (i.e., governmental
regulations, value of dollar, technology, changing demographics)
In the upcoming years, which trends do you feel will have the most affect on businesses like yours?
Based on these industry trends, where do you see your business in the next 3 years?
How is your business doing relative to the trends?
Are you growing (shrinking) at or faster than the rate of growth (decline) in your market?
What are your plans to take advantage of the new trends emerging in your industry?
A wise man
doesnt give the
right answers,
he poses the
right questions.
Claude
Levi-Strauss
What are the biggest threats facing your industry today? What do you anticipate theyll be in 3
years?
Based on these trends, what is it going to take for your company to be successful in the future?
What is your company doing to protect itself from these threats?
What legislative changes are pending? Will their impact be positive or negative for your business?
How have the new government regulations impacted your organization?
What impact has all the marketplace consolidation had on your company?
In your industry, where is the stock market value migrating?
What economic and environmental trends could affect your market in the next 5 years?
What is the biggest opportunity for your industry in the next five years?
In your industry, where is the most growth expected?
Whats your perspective of the most exciting future market for your company? Industry?
How are changes in (economy, technology, demographics, etc.) affecting companies like yours?
In the past year, which events have had the most impact on your organization?
What affect has the influx of new technology had on your company?
Strategic Initiatives
What are your critical success factors?
What are the 2 or 3 critical success factors (things that must happen) that your business must get
right in order to succeed?
Why are these so important?
What gets in the way of making these things go right?
What initiatives has your company undertaken to ensure your goals and objectives are met?
What are your organizations core competencies? What is the company doing to strengthen its
business relative to its core competencies?
What are your plans for growth?
What are your companys primary growth drivers? (i.e., customer loyalty, new product
development)
How will you achieve your organizations growth goals?
How is your company changing to compete in the global marketplace?
Beware of the
man who knows
the answer before
he understands
the question.
Author Unknown
Is your organization more focused on increasing revenues or market share?
What changes are you making (or have you made recently) in your go-to-market strategy?
How are your distribution channels changing? What are your primary initiatives in this area?
How is your organization integrating e-commerce into your overall marketing and sales plans?
Are you partnering with any other organizations in any major __ (sales, manufacturing, distribution)
initiatives?
How is your company handling the economic recession? What are you doing to cut costs? Drive
sales?
What initiatives are underway to drive costs out of your supply chain?
How are you integrating your global branding strategy?
How would you describe your marketing philosophy? What are the primary initiatives underway in
this arena?
In what ways is your organization utilizing technology to create a competitive advantage?
What are your plans for increasing revenue? Cutting costs?
In order to differentiate your organization from its competitors, what is your company doing?
What efforts are underway to increase operational efficiency in the organization?
What plans do you have in place to achieve the goals and objectives you shared with me earlier?
How well prepared is your company for the upcoming year?
What initiatives are underway to address the new government regulations?
What is your company doing to differentiate itself from the other major players in the industry?
What changes is your organization making to prepare itself for the future?
Are you planning to move into any new markets in the upcoming year?
How does your company plan to grow? Acquisition? Mergers?
Primary Challenges
What are the biggest challenges you face in growing your business?
What are the most critical issues facing your organization today?
What are the major challenges facing your industry? Your business?
What are the primary obstacles to achieving your goals and objectives?
Good questions
outrank easy
answers.
Paul A. Samuelson,
Economist
What gaps must be closed in order for your company to be successful?
What areas of concern are confronting your industry today?
From a marketing perspective, what are the biggest challenges your firm is facing today?
From a business perspective, what are your top three sources of pain?
How prepared is your organization to achieve its objectives in the upcoming year?
In this turbulent economy, how would you describe your companys most pressing challenges?
From what I understand, the market for __ is shrinking (growing). How is this impacting your
organization?
What are the primary concerns that you and others in the industry are facing right now?
You said your market is growing (shrinking). From your perspective, what are the biggest challenges
associated with this?
What kept your company from achieving the objectives you established last year?
What might keep you from addressing the challenges youve described? From accomplishing
your primary goals and objectives?
Your Customers Customer
Who are your top customers? Could you describe your typical customer for me?
What are the demographics of your customer base?
What things are most important to your customers today?
How are your customers different today from what they were 3 years ago?
What are your customers demanding more of/ less of today than a few years ago?
How do you see your customers changing in the upcoming years?
What are your customers critical business issues today? What do you expect them to be in a few
years?
What do your customers expectations from companies like yours?
What are the major competitive pressures your customers facing?
In the upcoming years, what is it going to take to maintain a leadership position with your
customers?
In what ways does your company help customers solve problems or improve business operations?
It is not the answer
that enlightens, but
the question.
Eugene Ionesco,
Dramatist
How does your company help its customers solve their critical business issues and achieve their
objectives?
What are the key reasons your customers buy from you?
What are your biggest customers asking for today? What will it take to provide that?
How do your targeted customers perceive your organization?
If you asked your key customers what your primary strengths and weaknesses are, what would they
say?
How do you see your customer base changing or evolving in the next 3- 5 years?
What other vendors (suppliers, partners) do your customers use in addition or instead of your
company? Why would they choose these vendors instead of your company?
If you asked your customers to compare your company with its competitors, what do they feel are
your competitive strengths? Shortcomings?
Competitive Landscape
Who are your major competitors today?
What companies do you consider as your primary competitors?
What types of companies are likely to be competitors in several years?
From what industry or markets do you expect new competitors to emerge?
How will your business model need to change to address competitive pressures?
What differentiates your company from your primary competitors?
In your opinion, what is your primary competitive advantage?
How do the competitors view your position in the industry?
How do your competitors position themselves with your customers?
What do your competitors stress as the reason to do business with us?
The key to wisdom
is knowing all the
right questions.
John A. Simone Jr.
Corporate Culture
How would you characterize your companys culture? What words best describe it?
What are the defining values that drive your organization? What values have made this
organization so successful?
How does your company see itself? (leading edge, paternalistic, solid, innovative)
How do your employees feel about working here?
How would your employees describe your organization to their friends?
Within your industry, how does your organization want to be perceived by your customers?
Competitors? Employees?
How is your company perceived in the market today?
Would you describe your organization as being more marketing, sales, finance, or engineering-
driven? Explain.
How responsive is your organization to change?
Are you trying to change your corporate culture in any way? Could you tell me what youre doing
and why?
Ask, and it shall
be given you.
Bible, Matthew 7:7
Is your organization typically an early adapter in the marketplace or do you generally make
changes when the market demands it?
What image does the company project to its customers or market?
How do you communicate your vision, values and strategic goals to your employees?
As we work together, is there anything I should be sensitive to regarding your culture?
Has the current business climate changed the way your company does business? Can you
explain?
What does your company value in its employees?
How has your recent __ (merger, acquisition, downsizing) impacted the corporate culture?
Organizational Structure
Could you help me understand how your organization is structured?
- Business units
- Subsidiaries
- International
- Divisions
- Departments
- Markets
Can you tell me about the various divisions? Business segments?
How do the various __ (business units, divisions, departments) interact? What autonomy do they
have? How and what do they share?
How would you describe the subsidiaries relationship with corporate?
In your opinion, will this organizational structure support your goals/objectives or will changes need
to be made? Explain.
Have there been any recent reorganizations? Could you tell me about them what changed and
why?
Are any major restructurings currently underway or planned in the near future? What is their
purpose? Timing?
Know how to ask.
There is nothing
more difficult
for some people,
nor for others,
easier.
Baltasar Gracian
Are there any dotted-lined or matrixed relationships within the organization?
Can you describe and draw out your organizational/departmental structure?
What is the internal balance between marketing, production, finance and R&D personnel? Which
group seems to lead the companys decision-making?
In the organizational structure you just described, who reports to whom?
Where does your department fit in the organizational structure?
Who are the key players?
Who, inside or outside the company, influences your key decision-makers?
Are there any external consulting groups that have high influence with your key people?
Departmental Overview
Could you give me an overview of your department?
How has your department changed over the past 2-3 years?
What changes do you anticipate making in the upcoming years?
What are your departmental objectives for the next 12 months? 3 years?
How do your departmental objectives fit in with the goals and direction of the organization?
What are the top three priorities in your area this year?
How is your department addressing your top priorities?
What are the most pressing problems today in your department?
What are the greatest challenges your department faces in achieving its objectives?
What major initiatives are currently underway in your area?
Can you help me understand the business issues or needs that are driving these initiatives?
What are you trying to accomplish with the projects youre working on?
Ones first step
in wisdom is to
question everything
and ones last
step is to come
to terms with
everything.
Georg Christoph
Lichtenberg
Of all the things going on in your area, which are the most important? Why?
What other areas in the company does your group interface with? Can you describe your
relationships and interactions with these areas?
Which departments of the company are your customers areas that you supply information
(product, service) to?
Which areas of the company are your suppliers they give you information, product and services?
How would you describe the relationship between the departments you interact with and your
group?
What are the primary bottlenecks between the your department and __ (marketing, logistics,
manufacturing, legal)?
Are any cross-functional initiatives currently underway? Can you describe them and tell me what
youre trying to accomplish?
What needs to change in order for your area to be more successful?
Summary
Use these questions as guidelines for your discussions with executives. What you learn will not only
be fascinating, but essential for your sales success. Please, whatever you do, do NOT talk products
or services. These top-level people dont want to hear about it.
Be well versed on whats happening in their industry and specifically to your prospective customer
prior to meeting with the executive. Know as much as you can.
While the amount of information you need to know when working with a big company may initially
appear daunting, the good news is that you dont have to know it all when you begin.
The questions in this chapter should help you better understand what you should be looking for
and learning while youre pursuing or expanding business with large corporate clients. And youll
know what to talk about when youre with the senior executives!
8. Turning Prospects into Buyers
Have you ever received an RFI (Request for Information) or an RFP (Request for Proposal)? Ever
had a customer call you in to give you a presentation?
This happened to me several times early in my sales career. I was elated, ecstatic it wasnt often I
had such hot prospects. These people were ready to buy! Usually I had to do tons of work to get
companies to this point. Visions of effortlessly earning big commission checks floated through my
mind.
I created detailed proposals, thick with all sorts of product info. I prepared elaborate
presentations. I made arrangements for my more technical colleagues to accompany me on the
big day.
Guess what happened? I almost always lost the business.
It didnt take me too long to figure out that something was wrong. My proposals, presentations and
demos were fundamentally sound, so it had to be something else. But what
The Fallacy of Low-Hanging Fruit
I started asking around and got some pretty interesting responses. One top rep told me not to
waste my time on low hanging fruit in other words, companies who are ripe to buy.
Question
everything. Every
stripe, every star,
every word spoken.
Everything.
Ernest Gaines,
Author
I asked why. He explained that by the time a company issued RFPs or called for a beauty
contest, the decision had generally been made. And, usually another vendor was already in tight
with the decision makers helping craft an RFP that played to their strengths.
Why would they go through this charade? I asked naively.
To make it look like they thoroughly researched the matter and selected the best possible option,
he answered.
This was all new to me and it didnt make sense. But after awhile, I started to understand what was
happening. Then I focused my sales efforts on helping my customers establish must have criteria
for their solution that only my company could meet.
Over the years Ive had the opportunity to work with some exceptional salespeople. Virtually every
top seller Ive talked to knows that pursuing low hanging fruit is not the ultimate pathway to sales
success. Its not a shortcut either. You just cant get into the sales process that late and expect to
win when other vendors have established deep relationships.
Invest Time with Customers Who Arent Ready to Buy
To win sales, you have to get in early before customers decide to take action. This is absolutely
NOT a waste of time. Rarely are customers totally satisfied with how things are going in their
organization. Sure there are situations when a company isnt a prospect. If theyve just invested in
a competitive solution, are in the midst of massive reorganizations or in severe financial turmoil
its not a good time to sell to them.
But like I said earlier, most people in big companies today dont have a lot of extra time. They often
live with problems for years until they explode. They dont have time to investigate if better ways
exist. Thats why theyre such good prospects.
Smart sellers gladly invest time helping customers find out how they can run their business more
productively or less expensively. They willing invest time looking for opportunities for their customers
to increase sales and enhance customer loyalty.
Become Invaluable to Customers
Because these sellers waste time and mental energy on helping customers with these things, they
become invaluable. Did you hear that? INVALUABLE.
If youre invaluable, customers often buy without calling in competitors. Profit margins are higher.
Decisions are made more quickly. Youre brought in on even more opportunities.
Investing time on customers who arent ready to buy involves asking lots of questions. Not just from
one person in the company, but from many. Its about constantly poking around, learning more
about their challenges and understanding what they truly mean to the company. Its about
exploring the financial, operational, human and business aspects of whats going on in the
customers business.
Remember Vern, the seasoned Xerox sales rep who demanded that I share my secret closing
techniques? If he were a little savvier, he would have asked about the questions I used to get
customers to literally beg me to sell them a copier.
Its the questions that make the difference. I stumbled on it, but only after years of improving my
questioning skills. Neil Rackhams research confirmed it.
The question-based process described in this chapter turns customers who are merely frustrated
with the status quo into active, eager buyers. Youll never find a more effective way to make this
happen.
Understanding the Current Situation
When you first start a relationship with a customer, its imperative to get a good basic overview of
whats happening in their business. You need to find out what theyre doing and how theyre doing
things as it relates to your offering.
Start out by asking Situation Questions. They help you get your arms around the customers
situation. When youre new to an account, theyre perfect to ask at the beginning of your needs
assessment.
One thing thats good about them is that theyre easy for customers to answer. Because of this,
they warm things up for the more difficult questions that follow.
Usually sellers feel pretty comfortable asking Situation Questions because theyre safe. But this
often leads to overuse. Ive been on way too many sales calls where these are the only questions
that sellers ask.
There are two sides
to every question.
Protagoras,
(485 BC to 420 BC)
Thats bad. Really bad! Customers get bored answering these questions because theres nothing
in it for them. When they get asked too many, they shut down. Customers dont like spending time
with amateurs who havent invested time learning about their organization.
Rules of Thumb
Never ask questions when the answer is readily available to the public.
That means you should avoid questions about the number of employees, the product line, plant
locations, annual revenue, and so on. Annual reports and web sites are full of this kind of
information. Check them out.
In a training session I was doing a few years ago, we were sharing memorable moments in our
sales career. Ill never forget the man who told about a recent call hed made to a senior-level
executive at a large manufacturing company.
Not having done his homework, he used the early part of the meeting to ask general questions
about the organization. Finally, after one-too-many of these data-oriented questions, the Vice
President reached over to his credenza, grabbed their annual report and threw it down in front
of him.
Read this, the VP said caustically. When youre done, come back and talk to me. Needless
to say, the sales reps credibility was shattered and he never did end up doing business with the
company.
Prospective customers dont like to waste valuable time sharing information you could find
yourself with a little effort. Do your research before the meetings, not during them.
Dont ask all your questions in one meeting.
Relationships take time to build. Ask questions that give you a broad understanding of the
account, their direction, initiatives and challenges.
Save the detailed information for later. Marketing departments often give salespeople detailed
qualification questions to determine if an account is truly a prospect. Many of the questions
they provide are really focused on implementation issues not about uncovering and
developing needs. Dont let marketing convince you to ask these questions first. They dont sell,
they just eliminate and often very prematurely.
Use follow-up meetings with customers to explore the issues, needs and concerns you
uncovered the first time you talked. This will give you time to think about their situation in more
depth and to plan better questions.
Another reason you dont want to ask all your questions at once is that you need a reason to get
back into the account. Customers must see you multiple times to trust your capabilities,
competence and motive.
So dont rush things. Go slowly. Go deliberately. Get to know your prospective customer over
time and youll be much further ahead.
Combine questions, if at all possible.
Over the last ten years, Ive spent lots of time working with companies on product launches.
During training sessions, the marketing and technical people generally share everything you
could possibly want to know about the new product. Then I work with the sales force to help
them figure out how to sell it effectively.
Developing the right questions to ask are an integral part of what I teach. During one session I
conducted, a rep was talking about an account he thought would be perfect for this just-
released product.
Excitedly, he shared the questions he was going to ask in an upcoming sales call. One after the
other, they tumbled out in rapid succession:
- What system do you use for this application?
- What software do you use?
- How long have you had it?
- Who do you use for support?
- Where does the information go when youre done with your job?
- What system is that person using?
- What software?
Stop, I finally said, putting my hands over my ears. I feel like Im being interrogated by the
Gestapo. All you need is one question.
He gave me one of those yeah-sure looks.
Just say, Tell me how the work flows through your operation. I said. When your customer
answers, youll learn whats going on. The rest of your questions will come out during the course
of normal conversation. Better yet, ask for a tour of his plant. Youll learn even more.
Dont ask a question if its not related to what you sell.
I know you think this is pretty dumb, but it happens an awful lot. Heres an example: Lets say
youre in corporate real estate sales. You always ask about the number of employees because
its essential for determining space requirements.
Wanting to be conversational, you could also ask about your customers turnover rate or if its
hard to find good people. These are problems you cant solve. You may think its nice to show
interest in their business, but really youre wasting time yours and theirs.
Never ask Why? after customers answer these questions.
Asking people why after they respond to your fact-finding questions makes them feel like you
doubt their intelligence.
They feel like they were really asked, Why, stupid? Thats what they hear, even though you
didnt say it. People get defensive. They shut up and stop talking. Thats not what you want to
happen.
If you really want to know why, ask something like this: What thinking went into developing the
process? or How did your company decide to do things this way?
Key Words
The key words found in Situation Questions are pretty easy to spot; theyre full of all those
journalistic words: who, what, where, when and how. Pay attention to the key words as you plan
your questions. If too many of them ask for factual data, youll have lots of trouble selling!
What When Demonstrate
Tell Show How
Where Explain How much/often
Sample Situation Questions
Listed below are a number of Situation Questions you can ask your customers. Select those that are
most relevant to your product or service. You may want to customize them so that theyre right
on. Or, use the questions below as guidelines to develop your own.
How are you currently handling __?
Describe your supply chain and fulfillment process?
What are you doing now in the area of __?
The last time we spoke you said you had an issue with __; what have you done to solve it?
Of the services you currently offer, which ones provide the biggest margins for your firm in
descending order?
How do you measure success working with your current vendor?
Where do your new business leads currently come from?
- Do you formally track where your leads come from?
- How do you know if your lead generation programs were successful?
What is your future direction in this area?
What type of system is in place to do __?
Can you please walk me through the process from beginning to end?
How does __ move through your department? Your company?
What types of devices are you using to __?
Do you currently do __ in-house or do you outsource it?
What have you done to address the new government requirements?
When do you plan to __?
What improvements have you made in this area in the last year?
What improvements will be needed in the next several years to ensure growth?
Can you show me how the document flows through the organization?
Whats the rationale behind the decision to do things that way?
When your department finishes its work, what happens to it next? To which area in the company
do you hand it off?
What area/group is upstream to yours in the production process?
What products are you currently using to handle your __ needs?
How do you handle situations like __?
How much __ is needed on a monthly basis?
Where does the __ take place?
Who currently handles your __?
Can you describe how you do this?
What equipment (vendor, process) are you using?
Situation Questions DONT increase sales. But, theyre necessary because they ground you in
whats happening in the customers business. Overuse decreases your abilityto get the sale, so use
them sparingly. Make broad questions from many small ones.
Uncovering Problems and Gaps
Finding out about the customers challenges, difficulties and concerns is essential for effective
selling. If customers are totally happy with how things are today, there is no reason to change.
Thats why Problem/Gap Questions are important to have in your sales tool kit. You need to
uncover issues, challenges, bottlenecks and dissatisfactions with their current products, processes
and systems.
Sometimes things are fine the way they are today, but the customer has some future objectives
they want to achieve. In this case, their problem is found in the gaps their current systems,
suppliers or processes wont enable them to get where they want to go.
Look for latent problems ones that havent flamed up yet and screamed for resolution. Most
sellers dont explore this area, so by pursuing these hidden problems, you get a leg up on
competitors.
Many sellers are uncomfortable asking Problem/Gap Questions. They feel its impolite to ask about
difficulties the customer is facing. Or, they feel these questions are too personal and customers
wont want to share this kind of information.
If you feel this way, let me tell you one thing GET OVER IT!
A prudent
question is one
half of wisdom.
Sir Frances Bacon
You cant help customers improve their business and you cant achieve your own goals unless
youre willing to be uncomfortable. Selling is not about you. Its about helping customers achieve
their goals and objectives or removing obstacles to their success. Its about solving current and
future problems. Period.
If you truly are a customer-focused person, you must ask Problem/Gap Questions. It might take
some getting used to, but you have to do it. If you dont, youre letting your own discomfort hurt
your existing and prospective customers.
Rules of Thumb
Just because customers are frustrated or dissatisfied does not mean they are ready to buy.
Many sellers are ecstatic when they hear customers say Were concerned about or We
have problems with... Theyre ready to jump in immediately and talk about their products or
services.
If this happens to you, STOP! Right away!
Think for a minute about yourself. Just because your car is giving you problems doesnt mean
youll automatically spend $25,000 to replace it. Just because youre frustrated with your
computer doesnt mean you want to buy a new one, much less take the time to learn how to
use it.
LEAN BACK. Customers arent ready to change until the cost of the problem outweighs the cost
of the solution. Ask questions that explore the ramifications, implications and effects of the
problems on their business.
When customers share a problem, find out Why its a problem.
Yup! Now you can ask Why? Why is it a problem? Why do people complain? Why does it take
so much extra time? Why arent they satisfied? If you dont, youre likely to leap to unfounded
and erroneous conclusions. You dont know enough about the customers business. Find out
why.
Dont assume something is a problem.
Lots of sellers know way more than their customers about whats good or bad performance. But
they may not have a clue about how their customers feel about how theyre doing. Its critical
to check out your customers perception.
For example, say you ask your customer, How many do you produce per hour? and the
response you get is 350. Because you work with lots of organizations, you know that 350 is
absolutely terrible. All your other customers expect at least 900.
Your big urge is to jump in and say, Ooh, thats awful.
But what if the customer is proud of 350 because just six months ago it was 125. Unless you ask
about their satisfaction level, you could commit a horrible blunder.
Unless an evaluative word is in Problem/Gap Questions, they wont uncover customers
problems or identify gaps. (See chart on next page.)
Some sellers are uncomfortable using words like difficulty, trouble, or struggling. If thats you, did
you realize many questions can be rephrased positively and still get the same response?
Example: What are your biggest concerns? can become Where would you make
improvements?
Example: What are your primary problems with the system? can become How satisfied is
your staff with the systems operation?
Key Words
Problem/Gap Questions that contain these key words help sellers find out areas of dissatisfaction.
They search for problems: Where isnt the customer happy? What could be changed to make life
better? Where are the gaps between how customers want things versus how they actually are
today?
Bottlenecks Difficulties Trouble
Challenges Dissatisfaction Barriers
Problems Satisfaction Critical
Changes What if Struggling
Improvements Concerns Frustrations
Complaints Evaluate Why - but only after a problem is stated
Gaps Improve
Hassles
Sample Problem/Gap Questions
Listed below are a number of Problem/Gap Questions you can ask your customers. Select those
that are most relevant to your product or service. You may want to customize them so that theyre
right on. Or, use the questions below as guidelines to develop your own.
What are the biggest challenges you face today in growing your business?
What are your most pressing problems today in the __ department?
- Why is it a problem?
- Why does it take so long?
- Why are your customers complaining?
- Why arent the time frames being met?
What difficulties do you experience in your ___ process?
- Why is this a problem to you?
How satisfied are you with the way things currently are running?
As you analyze your current situation, where does the biggest productivity bottleneck seem to be
occurring?
Typically in organizations, things get dropped in the hand-off from engineering to marketing.
- Do you experience that problem here?
- Can you tell me about it?
On a scale of 1-10, how would you evaluate your present supplier? Why?
What are the biggest complaints you get from customers? Other departments?
What problems could arise if you dont make changes in how you do things?
What are the biggest barriers to achieving your goals?
Looking at your current systems (methods, processes), where are areas for improvement?
Based on where you want your company to be in 2 years, what systems (technology, processes)
must change because they wont support your future direction?
If you compare where you want your organization to be in 12 months to todays situation, what
gaps exist?
Based on how youre doing things today, are there areas for improvement?
What challenges are created by your current way of doing things? Why?
Whats currently working well? Not so well?
What would you personally like to see improved around here? Why?
In what areas is additional efficiency (speed, cost reduction, turnaround time) needed?
Where are the current bottlenecks in your processes?
If you could improve your process, what would you change first?
How satisfied are you with the existing process?
What are your most pressing problems today related to staffing?
What are the major barriers youve encountered in implementing change initiatives in the
organization?
In order to achieve the objectives youve established for this new initiative, what improvements still
need to be made?
What are the biggest obstacles you face in meeting your objectives? Why?
From a business perspective, what are your top three sources of pain?
What could be improved in the way you currently do ___? Why?
Where are the biggest frustrations and hassles in how things are currently done? Why?
Are you worried about the __? Are you struggling with __?
Are you satisfied with your present equipment (vendor, process)?
What are the downsides of how youre currently doing things?
Isnt if difficult to do __ with your current process?
Whats causing you to have these problems?
Problem/Gap Questions are not directly correlated with sales success, but without them you cant
uncover customers needs. Dont be afraid to ask these questions. To help customers improve their
business, you have ask about problems and gaps.
Exploring the Ripple Effect
When customers express dissatisfaction with the status quo, its imperative for you to understand all
the ramifications of their situation before offering any solutions. Usually their problems and gaps
have a Ripple Effect meaning other people, procedures and departments are affected by it.
And, there are often significant costs associated with the Ripple Effect some direct, some
indirect, and some opportunity.
As a seller, you could easily tell your customers about the negative impact of their current
processes or product. But customers wouldnt believe you. Theyve heard one sales pitch too
many in their lives and would think it was just another ploy to get their money.
Customers must go through this thinking process themselves. Top sellers have the ability to guide
people through the exploration of the Ripple Effect with the skillful use of questions.
Thats what Impact Questions are for and theyre highly correlated with sales success. Top sellers
ask tons more than average sellers who may not ask any. If you want customers to ask you for the
order, these questions are the key to making it happen.
When should you ask Impact Questions? Use them after your customer expresses dissatisfaction
with how theyre doing things or when they share that their current ways cant handle their desired
future.
Did you know that when customers say theyre unhappy, most sellers move right into a pitching
mode? Thats true. They immediately shift gears and start trying to sell. And usually theyre not
successful.
Business people
ask the wrong
questions all the
time.
Jack Foster,
How to Get Ideas
Customers still dont understand all the related issues caused by the problems, frustrations, hassles
or bottlenecks theyre living with. They dont consider all the cascading effects that the
bothersome irritation is creating throughout their organization.
Sometimes customers, because theyve never thought about it, arent even aware that these
ramifications even exist. Other times they think they just have to live with the aggravations because
thats how things are. To the best of their knowledge, no solution exists.
For years I limped along with an antiquated computer. But until I upgraded, I had absolutely no
idea how handicapped I was. Because I home office, I didnt see other people using computers in
ways I couldnt. I didnt know the productivity gains I could get from switching. I didnt know, I
didnt know, I didnt know. Thats how many customers are they dont know.
Thats why Impact Questions are so valuable. They help customers explore the vast Ripple Effect
created by the frustrating problems theyve grown accustomed to living with.
Rules of Thumb
Make sure you know the business ramifications yourself before you make sales calls.
Im always amazed how few sellers take the time to really know the Ripple Effect caused by not
using their product or service. Understanding the full range of ramifications is essential. You cant
sell without knowing them.
Sometimes whole companies are just plain off in knowing the real value of their offering. One
company I consulted for sold consumables into the printing industry. When they introduced this
one new product, everyone was elated.
It was truly state-of-the-art and provided outstanding color quality.
But many sellers never made the connection between the excellent color and the ability to:
- Reduce labor costs (one customer cut staff by 1/3).
- Cut waste (significant financial saving).
- Decrease customer turnaround time (by 1-2 days).
- Optimize existing equipment (delay $100,000 purchases).
- Add additional workload (30% growth handled with less staff).
- Decrease costly customer changes.
- Create a competitive edge in market.
This was the real value of their new product. It solved many of the problems that most printers just
lived with in the past. And look at the vast Ripple Effect customers experienced with the old way!
Customize your Impact Questions.
Most of the questions in this book are purposefully generic. After you determine the multiple
ways that the lack of your product or service impacts your customers business, then youll need
to develop your own questions.
Since these questions are so powerful, the more you can customize them to your customers
unique situation, the better sales results youll see.
Dont be afraid to explore additional business ramifications.
Sometimes good open-ended questions can turn up some things you never knew about.
Maybe no one in your company knew about these things either. Be curious and find out ask
those 2nd and 3rd level questions where you explore your customers answers in more depth. Be
curious! The pay-off can be huge.
Use close-ended Impact Questions to show your knowledge and expertise.
Because you work with many different companies, its likely that you have a much broader
understanding of the customers situation than they have. This is a great time to demonstrate
via questions that youre truly an expert in your field.
For example, your close-ended questioning might look like this:
Seller: You said youre having trouble handling this application. Ill bet youre also getting a
lot of 309 error messages too?
Customer: Right.
Seller: And then you have to shut everything down and go offline for half an hour till its
fixed? Right?
See how closed-ended questions cut quickly to the real issues and demonstrate how well you
know your stuff.
Key Words
Impact Questions take customer problems and extend them. Some people say these questions
Go for the Pain. They ask them to make their customers feel absolutely miserable with their
current system and drive them to a change.
I disagree. Most customers havent fully explored the business ramifications of their current systems,
processes, or vendors. Its your job as a professional to help them understand these things. These
questions help customers realize the Ripple Effects of their problems, difficulties, bottlenecks and
dissatisfactions. By asking them, customers learn the true impact of their current method of
operation. This is highly valuable for customers.
Notice how each question in the section below contains the following key words.
Impact Consequences Problem with X lead to problem
Affect Ramifications Y
Effect Cause additional And then what happens
Implications problems with:
Sample Impact Questions
Listed below are a number of Impact Questions you can ask your customers. Select those that are
on. Or, use the questions below as guidelines for developing your own.
How do these problems affect profitability?
How does the difficulty with __ impact performance?
How do your problems with __ prevent you from achieving your objectives?
(After a statement of a problem/concern)
- And then what happens?
- What are the consequences of that?
- And what does that, in turn, impact?
What are the implications for your organization if those problems arent addressed successfully?
Whats the Ripple Effect of the problem you described? What other areas are impacted?
You mentioned a concern with turnover. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions based on my
experience working with companies in this area for many years?
- How is that impacting your:
- Customer satisfaction?
- Training costs?
- Hiring costs?
- Productivity in the area?
- Unemployment taxes?
- Cost of temporaries?
- Error rate and rework?
If these cross-functional problems continue, what affect will it have on customer service?
- Sales?
- Production?
- Operating costs?
You said you had problems with __?
- How do you measure __?
- What is it now?
- What would you like it to be?
- What would the impact be if the problem were eliminated?
- How do you quantify it annually?
- Over a three year period, whats the financial impact then of not doing anything differently?
If the management team doesnt buy into the new process, what impact will that have on its
success?
If quality isnt consistent, what happens to sales?
- Production schedules?
- Costs?
- Customer service?
- Time-to-market?
Have problems with __ ever lead to problems in other areas?
If __ isnt done correctly, what are the ramifications for your group?
How will the financial cutbacks youre facing impact your ability to serve your customers?
What are the affects of these problems on revenue? (Other departments? Customer service?
Turnover? Legal issues?)
Besides your group, what other parts of your organization are being affected by this problem?
What other areas of the company are impacted by this bottleneck you described?
You said its hard to do __. What affect does this have on your turnaround time? (Meeting
deadlines? Partnership relationships? Overtime?)
Based on my experience with __, if you have problems with that, it often leads to problems in __
areas too. Is that happening here?
What other departments are affected by this problem?
What is the financial impact of the problems youre having with __?
What affect does this have on __?
If you are doing things this way, I suspect youre also having problems with __ too. Am I right?
What are the risks of doing nothing?
What is the operational impact of the problem you described on the various departments?
Which group is impacted most by the slow __? (Service? Turnaround times? Processes? )
Does the difficulty in doing __, lead to bottlenecks in this other area?
Impact Questions are critical! You must ask about business ramifications if you want to be
successful in selling to major accounts. Top sellers use them often, average sellers rarely.
These questions are highly valuable for customers, who often learn as much as the seller when they
explore the Ripple Effect of their current methods.
Clarifying the Value
After youve explored the vast Ripple Effect of your customers problems, its time to determine the
pay-off they would get from resolving them. If in fact, there are many costly ramifications from their
current way of doing business its time to move your customer into taking action to change
things.
Value Questions explore the pay-offs customers get from making a change. Youll love them.
When customers answer these questions, they tell you how their business would be better if their
problems were solved and their gaps closed.
In essence, customers are selling themselves on why they should move to your product or service.
Value Questions totally replace those disgusting, manipulative closing questions that sleaze-bag
sellers ask: If I could show you a way to double your sales, would you buy from me today?
Youll never have to ask, Do you want to buy? and feel like your whole life is dangling on the line
while you wait for customers to answer. Imagine that! No more stupid, life-threatening closing
questions. Just easy-to-ask questions that are totally normal in everyday conversation.
And thats not all! Research shows that two days after sales calls, customers remember less than 5%
of the benefits you shared about your product or service. Thats right, less than 5%! If thats all they
remember, why bother talking at all?
We need to ask
the right questions
to reveal the
answers.
Jonas Salk
But customers do remember over 90% of what they said. So, rather than wasting all your time trying
to sell customers on your benefits let them talk. By answering the Value Questions, customers
remember the plusses of your solution. After all, they said it, not you. 90% retention!
But wait, theres even more: If customers remember the value your offering provides, they tell
others about it. With these Value Questions you develop a whole new sales channel key
employees wandering around their company spouting the benefits of your solution. They will be
selling for you even when youre not in the account.
Immediately replace any old-style closing techniques with these incredibly high pay-off Value
Questions. Customers will sell themselves AND others in their company for you. All you need to do is
advance the sales process to its next logical step.
Rules of Thumb
After you ask these questions, sit back and listen.
Thats right, Im telling you to lean back again. If youre sitting on the edge of your chair drooling
for the order, youve lost it. Remember youre having a discussion, a conversation. Lean back,
breathe deeply and dont look over-anxious.
Take good notesespecially right now.
Your customer is telling you the value of solving his or her business problems. This information is
invaluable for future presentations and proposals. If you dont capture it at the time you hear it,
this irreplaceable information may be lost forever. Dont take this chance. Always take good
notes.
Be careful not to turn these questions into old-style manipulative closes.
It can easily happen. Some sellers just cant get those If I could show you a way techniques
out of their head. If your questions come out like this, everything youve done to be consultative
is lost. Customers think youre just another peddler.
Key Words
Value Questions turn the discussion away from the negative and focus on solving the problem.
Theyre positive and solution-oriented. Ask them after youve explored the Ripple Effect the full
ramifications of your customers business problems and gaps.
Also, explore your customers answers in depth to make sure you really understand the pay-off they
get from your product or service.
Help Useful Useful
Important Alleviate Better
Aid Assist Worth
Relieve Improve Value
Sample Value Questions
Listed below are a number of Value Questions you can ask your customers. Select those that are
on. Or, use the questions below as guidelines for developing your own.
If that problem could be solved, what value would it provide for your organization?
- What is the value over an 18-month period?
- 3-year period?
Why do you think a new system would help solve the problems youve described?
If your new product comes out on schedule versus 3 months late (which you say is typical), how
does that affect its overall lifetime profitability?
Why is it important for you to fix __?
Help me better understand why cutting turnaround time is so important.
What major benefits do you expect from implementing a new ___ system?
In what other ways would it assist your company if this function were outsourced?
If you could save 40,000 minutes per year in this department, what would your staff do with the all
the extra time?
If those steps could be eliminated from the process, what would that mean to the organization?
How important is it for you to find a better way to address the issues you mentioned? Tell me more.
What is it worth to you to free up additional space? Time? Resources?
If you could do the same amount of work with 33% fewer people, what type of savings would your
realize annually?
How would making a change enable your organization to better meet its goals and objectives?
What financial (and other) benefits would you receive, if you could shorten the lead-time? Reduce
the time to market? Eliminate the bottleneck?
How would saving significant time in ___ be of value to your group?
If you solved this problem, what would you be able to do that you cant do now? What does that
mean to you?
What benefits would you realize if that issue was resolved?
How would getting a new system (process, vendor) that can handle those needs be useful to your
organization?
Are there any other ways it would help?
You said you could save lots of money by changing how youre currently doing things; what will
you do with the increased cash flow?
Would it be useful to have a system that did __? In what ways?
Can you tell me how shortening the turnaround time would be valuable to your organization? To
your customers?
How would it help if you could __? Tell me more.
What is it worth to your company to reduce/increase __?
If this situation were remedied, what is the most important benefit for your sales force?
Are there any other ways that improvements in operational efficiency would be of value?
Why is doing something about this situation important to you?
These questions are HIGHLY correlated with sales success, yet most sellers hardly ask any. If they
did, their job would be so much easier. Customers actually sell themselves and others in their
company. No more closing!
Summary
Good questions are the key to turning customers who are merely frustrated with their current
situation into active, eager buyers. But insightful, business-oriented questions dont just roll off your
tongue when youre with a customer. They require planning.
To develop them, first analyze your product or service offering to determine the problems you can
solve. Then, explore the Ripple Effect what other problems are caused by the problems? Finally,
think about the true value you can provide.
When youre all done with that, create a list of 10 primary questions you want to ask your customers
when youre in a meeting. This Top 10 List will guide you through your sales calls keeping the focus
on your customer where it belongs.
If you follow this process, you will significantly increase your sales success in major accounts. It
makes all the difference in the world!
9. Winning Competitive Situations
Karen, a sales rep who worked for me, came into my office one day and plopped down on a chair
the very picture of discouragement. I asked what was wrong.
I spent hours helping this customer understand how to improve their workflow, she said. They
finally decided to change. Our system is the perfect fit and they know it. But five minutes ago, they
told me they were going to look around. Everything I did was a waste of time.
Ever been in this situation? I have many times. And like Karen, I was totally discouraged at first.
Then I finally realized that customers make two very separate decisions.
The first decision is Should we change? and the second one is Whats the best option for us? As
sellers, we have to make two distinct sales.
The first sale, which is covered in the previous chapter, focused on using questions to discover
customer problems, explore the Ripple Effect and assess the value of making a change.
Investing time with customers before they decide to buy puts you in a stronger position. You learn
their business, establish relationships with key players and have opportunities to demonstrate your
knowledge and expertise.
By the time they look at options, youve helped set some decision criteria, established trust and
proven youre a valuable business resource. Even though you were the person who helped them
understand why a change was imperative, you still havent won the business yet.
What concerns
me is not the way
things are,but the
way people think
things are.
Epictetus
Once customers decide to invest money in a new solution, they move to the second phase of the
decision process. They MUST look at alternatives. Unless youre a long-term preferred supplier or
trusted business resource, your customers are compelled to evaluate the various options that
could solve their problems.
At first, theyll consider factors such as this:
Can they upgrade existing equipment, processes or systems?
Can they handle the problem internally or is an outside supplier needed?
Should they outsource the function entirely?
As your customer sorts through all the alternatives available to them, new decisions pop up:
What criteria should they use to evaluate these options?
Whats most important to them?
What results to they want to achieve?
How can they decide between the suppliers?
Its at this stage of the customers decision process that RFPs and RFIs are issued. Its also the time
for presentations, reference checking, demonstrations, visiting install sites, testing applications and
reviewing proposals. Its tough to enter the decision process at this stage of the sales process. But in
order to increase your likelihood of winning the business, theres still so much more you need to
learn. When youve found a hot prospect one who is actually looking for your product or service
and has money budgeted for it dont make the classic eager-beaver mistake! What is that, you
might ask?
Well, this hot prospect is interested in learning all about your offering right? Theyve asked you to
come in to talk with them about it or to give a presentation to a committee right? If youre like
most sellers, you can hardly wait for this opportunity to present. Finally, you can share all your great
capabilities with someone whos interested and wants to buy. Frantically you pull together
everything you need. Perhaps its a PowerPoint presentation, brochures, samples or testimonials.
Youre all set to go in and WOW them.
Whats my advice to you right now? Dont!
Giving a presentation without the necessary background knowledge is the quickest way to lose
this opportunity. You dont know enough yet. And until you learn more, anything you say or do at
this point is like shooting in the dark. You may even inadvertently talk yourself right out of this
opportunity. In short, heres what you still need to learn:
Why theyve decided to make a change and what theyre hoping to accomplish.
How decisions are made in their organization.
Who is involved in the decision process and whats important to him or her.
What criteria will be used in evaluating the options and the relative importance of the
various criteria.
Any financial or budget considerations you should be aware of.
And, what could possibly stop the sale from moving ahead.
Once again, questions are essential to your sales success.
Thats the focus of this chapter what to ask when your customer is evaluating options.
Whats the Reason for a Change?
If youve been called into an account when the customer has already decided to make the
change, these questions are imperative to ask. They help you understand where the customer is
coming from and why a change was deemed necessary.
Sample Questions
Why are you making this change?
What were the initial problems that led to your organizations desire to make a change?
What are all the issues that you hope this solution will successfully address?
You said that __ was an issue that you were hoping this new offering would improve.
- Have you had problems with __ in the past?
- What was the impact of these problems of your organization?
- What other areas were affected besides yours?
- How will you know with certainty that youre getting exactly what you want with a new __?
- What pay-off would you anticipate receiving if this problem were eliminated?
From what you described, the need to change is acute; what has stopped you from doing
something about it till now?
What process did you go through to determine your needs?
Dont be afraid
to ask dumb
questions.
Carl Sagan
What do you want to see accomplished as a result of this change?
What could happen that would make this no longer an organizational priority?
What prompted your company to look into this?
If no action were taken on this initiative, what would happen?
From your perspective, what would you expect to be different after the new system/process was
implemented?
What are the costs of continuing with your current systems (processes, vendor, partner)?
Who wants this problem solved most? Why?
What does solving the problem mean to your department? To your organization?
What is your company hoping to achieve by implementing this new solution (technology,
program, system)?
What are the primary drivers behind your decision to make a change?
Lookers or Buyers?
Sometimes customers just want to learn about whats available in the market. They havent
committed to making a change yet. Theyre not convinced that its a good investment of
corporate resources.
If you find this out after asking these Reason-for-Change Questions, be willing to help them but also
realize that they are NOT a hot prospect.
You might want to suggest a thorough needs assessment to help them determine if making a
change would be of value. Be willing to offer this, as opposed to pressing for the order. Remember,
theyre not yet convinced its time to buy.
If they agree to your needs assessment proposition, its time to go back to the questions in the
previous chapter. Make sure you understand their problems and challenges first. Then explore the
business ramifications of what theyre currently using or doing.
Most of your competitors wont do this. Theyll push hard to get the order, perhaps even alienating
prospective customers along the way. Rather than slowing down the sales process to solidify the
opportunity, they move full speed ahead.
If necessary, be willing to take a step back. If customers arent ready to spend the money, realize
that by helping them understand their situation better you can demonstrate your expertise and
commitment to their success.
Determining the Decision Process
To be successful in sales, you need to make sure that all your bases are covered. Whos making the
financial decisions? Technical decisions? Whos a real influencer? This knowledge is critical to
formulate an effective account strategy. There are two excellent books on this subject: Strategic
Selling and Power-Based Selling. I highly recommend them both.
Sample Questions
Who, besides yourself, is involved in making the decision to move ahead with a project to address
the issue you described?
When were you hoping to get started on this project?
When do you expect to be achieving your desired results?
In your company, what does it take to get a decision of this magnitude made?
- What are all the steps that your organization has to go through so that the decision makers
feel comfortable going ahead with the process and with their ultimate selection?
- What different decisions will be made at each step of the process?
- Help me understand the relative time frame for each of the steps?
- Are different people involved at different steps of the process?
- Can you tell me about each of them and if they might have different criteria for evaluating
their alternatives?
The power to
question is the
basis of all
human progress.
Indira Gandhi
Based on my experience in decisions like this, finance and legal typically need to get involved.
Should we be talking to them soon?
Could you outline the steps and process for your committee will go through to reach a decision on
this project?
Who is the person who has the final say on going ahead with this purchase?
If you decide to go forward with a purchase/project, when would you see it beginning?
How do you see this process rolling out?
If you decide to use external resources, how would you determine which vendors (suppliers,
service providers) to evaluate?
What other areas in the company will be affected by this decision? Should we get them involved
early?
What will it take to establish a business relationship between our companies?
Do you have any internal resources that could potentially solve or address your problems?
When your company is considering a major capital outlay, who is involved in the budgeting
process?
Is a committee involved in making this decision? If so, can you tell me about its make-up?
Is there anyone on the committee (in the decision process) who might be opposed to going
ahead with this? Can you tell me more?
Based on your knowledge of the key players, does anybody have preferences for a particular
vendor (professional services firm, product, supplier)? Whats behind this preference?
How can I/we help you as you move through your evaluation process?
Clarifying the Decision Criteria
These questions help you understand exactly what is involved in the customers decision process.
You must understand their process, requirements and priorities. You also want to know how
customers perceive your offering and your competitors. In working with customers at this stage,
your job is to help them understand why your company gets the job done better than competitors.
If you dont know whats important to customers, you cant do your job effectively. The answers to
these Decision Criteria Questions will be integrated into future discussions, proposals, presentations
and more. Thats why these questions need to be asked.
Sample Questions
What criteria will be most important as you evaluate the alternatives?
What alternatives are you considering?
How will you be evaluating these alternatives?
What factors are critical to this decision?
As you make this decision, what does your committee view as must-have capabilities? Nice-to-
have capabilities?
How do you measure success working with your current supplier?
What are your requirements/expectations regarding this new product (service, solution, process)?
A pair of good
ears will drain
dry a hundred
tongues.
Ben Franklin
How will you select the right resources (suppliers, service, product)?
What other companies are you looking at?
Do you already have an established relationship with any of the other companies youre
considering?
If you already working with __ company, why would you consider other options?
You mentioned that customer service and turnaround time are important factors in your decision.
How will you evaluate companies in these areas?
When you say service is important in your decision, can you tell me what types of things youre
including in your definition?
Whats important to you (your company) in a relationship with a company like ours?
What are your criteria for establishing a new business relationship?
Whats important to you in a business partner?
What alternatives are you considering?
If you determine that several companies meet your needs, what other criteria become important
in your decision?
What is your organizations overall purchasing philosophy?
What are your vendor selection criteria?
Do you typically sole source purchases or do you prefer to have multiple vendors?
What skills would you look for in someone who could help you in these problem areas?
Looking at all the criteria youve established, how do you prioritize them?
Knowing that all criteria arent created equal, how do you weight the various factors involved in
your decision?
As you evaluate companies (solutions, products, services, suppliers) like ours, whats important to
you in a relationship?
Based on what youve learned so far, what do you think are my organizations (product, service)
strengths and weaknesses?
Looking at your criteria, how do we currently stack up against the other companies wanting to do
business with your organization?
If quality (service, support) is a critical part of your decision, how will you evaluate the various
solutions?
What do you feel are the most important attributes of a supplier?
Understanding Players & Politics
Once you understand who is involved in the decision process, its time to learn more about the
individual players. Much as we sometimes hate it, politics is often a huge part of the decisions that
are made.
Being aware of what makes key players tick, their background, issues, concerns and values is
essential information for developing your strategy. If you want to win, pay attention to these
details they do make a difference.
Often, if you have a coach in the account, you can ask him or her these questions about the
others involved in the decision process. They can give you an insiders awareness of whats really
happening or their perception of it.
Sample Questions
Whats at stake for him or her personally with this decision?
How long has he been in this position?
What are her primary responsibilities?
What are his top three priorities?
Whats important to her?
To get thine ends,
lay bashfulness
aside; who fears
to ask, doth teach
to be denyd.
Thomas Herrick
What are his key issues and challenges?
How would you describe the critical issues affecting her area of responsibility right now?
What is his charter? What is he trying to accomplish?
How would you describe his decision-making style? Management style?
On what initiatives does he spend the bulk of his time?
What were her primary accomplishments in her previous position?
What does he hope to achieve with this project? What would it mean to him and his organization?
Who might oppose a decision along these lines and for what reasons?
Who is in favor of moving ahead and why?
Finding Out Financial Issues
The more you know about the economics of the decision, the stronger your strategy. There is one
caveat here: Dont let lack of funding grind your sales efforts to a halt. If someone wants something
badly enough, it has always amazed me how fast funds can appear. They just get pulled from
some other less urgent priority.
Sample Questions
How much money has your company allocated for this solution?
Im curious how was that amount of funding determined?
Im sure youve established a budget for this decision. Can you give me an idea of what kind of
money were talking about?
Where does funding for a project/product like this come from?
Could you explain your budgeting process for this project?
How does your organization go about cost-justifying a purchase for this type of product/service?
What hurdle rate does your company require for its investments?
What return on investment (ROI) are you looking for and within what time frame?
You can tell
whether a man
is clever by
his answers.
You can tell
whether a man
is wise by his
questions.
Naquib Mahfouz,
Author
What does your organization consider a good payback period?
What guidelines do you use to justify a capital expense?
If you cant afford the entire solution at once, are you interested in evaluating ways to get started
in the right direction?
Does your company prefer leasing versus a direct purchase?
How else might you consider funding this decision?
Is it easier to get this approved through the capital budget or through operating expenses?
Uncovering the Showstoppers
Ask these questions at the very end of the decision process when you know that your customer
wants to do business with you, but they havent yet signed a contract.
Showstopper Questions uncover customers final concerns items that can grind the whole sales
process to a halt. Just before customers are ready to buy, they get scared. What if things dont
work out? What if its a bad decision? What if What if What if?
In the technology industry, customers may worry about if the supplier will be around next year. In
consulting, customers may be concerned about who will be actually doing the work. If customers
are remote, service issues are always a concern. If a company has downsizing, customers worry
what it means to them. And everyone worries about if theyre getting a good deal or not.
Customers typically have final concerns in these areas:
- Installation
- Delivery time
- Training
- Service quality or availability
- Quality of deal
- Industry rumors
- Past experience
- New management
- Financial viability of vendor
- Your capability in delivery results
Did you hear that?
I didnt hear
anything. Put that
question another
way.
Ernie Banks,
Chicago Cubs
- Their organizations readiness to move ahead
- Sole practitioners lack of scope
Making big decisions is high risk; careers can rise or fall based on how things turn out. And most of
all, nobody wants to look like they made a stupid decision.
As a seller, its your responsibility to surface these final concerns. It might seem like youre raising red
flags by asking them, but let me assure you that its not the case. Youre just double-checking. If
you dont ask, everything you worked so long and hard for could disappear overnight.
Think about your own company. What concerns might prospective customers have about your
organizations ability to deliver their desired results? What concerns have you or others in your
company already encountered? Be bold and bring them up next time youre near the end of a
sales cycle.
Ask Ask Ask. If you dont, the customers hidden fears may be enough to stop the show.
Sample Questions
What final concerns do you have prior to going ahead?
Are there any potential barriers to us doing business together?
Are you aware of any obstacles to us working together on this project?
Is there anything else we need to cover? Any areas where you still have questions or concerns?
Is there anything else you want to tell me or that you think I should know to ensure things go
smoothly as we work together?
What Do You Do Next?
Its so easy to get excited at this stage of the sales process! Finally, someone wants to buy your
products. At last, a client wants to hire you (or someone like you) for a project. After all the doors
youve knocked on and rejection youve experienced, its such a joy to find a buyer who actually
is interested in your offering.
Remember, youll make a huge mistake if you start pitching your product or services right away.
Instead, ask your prospective customer some questions from each chapter of this book.
Understanding all the factors involved in the customers buying process is essential for developing
an account plan or even knowing what to do next. What you learn enables you to:
Determine if youre actually a good fit and can help the customer achieve their objectives.
Identify good reference accounts (other customers with similar problems or wanting similar
outcomes).
Determine the urgency of the decision and assess how much time and effort to put into
winning the business.
Ensure youre meeting with all the right people even if theyre not currently in the loop.
Know which of your capabilities to highlight because its important to the buyers and its a
competitive advantage of yours.
Know what youll need to minimize in the buying process because youre not strong in that
area, its not critical and your competitor has an advantage.
Assess what you need to do to meet the customers financial requirements for making major
investments.
Plan a competitive strategy.
Determine how youll approach and work with each of the people involved in the decision-
process based on their own unique perspectives, values, talents, preferences and
personal/professional wins.
Resolve situations that may be hidden, but could prevent the client from going ahead and
doing business with you.
But the questions themselves arent the end of the journey. What you do with the information and
how you process it is the key. Take the information you learn and pose questions to yourself:
What does this information really mean?
How does my customer see things and what does that mean I have to do if I want him/her
to understand the value of my offering?
How do I fight those tough competitors with integrity?
What obstacles might I encounter and how can I eliminate them by proactive thinking?
Powerful, insightful questions are the best sales tools you have. Ask them. Process the information.
Create and implement account strategies. Its the only way to win sales in highly competitive
markets.
Successful selling is always based on a solid foundation of knowledge much of which is learned
by asking insightful, powerful questions. Become an expert at this skill and youll have more
business than you can handle.
10. Is Anyone Listening?
All through this book, weve talked about the incredible power of questions. There is another half to
this equation listening. All top sellers practice excellent listening skills. If they didnt, their high
integrity, high impact questions would go to waste.
Here are some ideas that help you improve your listening skills and demonstrate to your customers
that youre really interested in what they have to say:
Write Your Questions Down
If Ive said this once, Ive said it a hundred times. Now, heres another good reason why you need
to do this: Research shows that brains cant listen and think at the same time.
Without written questions, sellers are constantly thinking about what to say, do, or ask next. If sellers
do this while customers are talking, they dont hear what was said.
Whats lost? Valuable information for one thing. Also customers dont like bad listeners; respect
and credibility diminishes, while the perception of self-serving behavior increases. No seller wants
that kind of rap.
Get Comfortable with Silence
If you remember, earlier in this book I told you that the average seller couldnt stand more silence
and doesnt wait more than three seconds before jumping in again. But if the question was really
good or highly provocative, the average responder takes 8-10 seconds to reply.
No question is so
difficult to answer
as that to which the
answer is obvious.
George Bernard
Shaw
Practice counting to 10 while you wait. Even if you only make it to 6, youve doubled your listening
time. There is an old saying in the sales profession that He who talks first loses. While that may be
true in tense negotiation sessions where there is a winner and a loser, it doesnt really apply to
everyday sales discussions with customers.
But sellers who talk to fill in the gaps do end up losing some things: valuable customer information
and the customers respect. Thats pretty darn important if you ask me!
Use Non-verbal Behaviors
Maintain eye contact with the person who is talking, but dont stare. If youre looking around,
fiddling through your briefcase or distracted in any other way, customers will sense it. Nod your
head and smile as you listen. This encourages people to continue talking.
Use Conversation Encouragers
These are just simple phrases that, in conjunction with non-verbal behaviors, really show customers
youre listening. Conversation extenders include comments such as:
I see.
Wow!
Keep going.
Hmmm.
Thats interesting.
Yes.
Thats a new perspective.
Use Conversation Extenders
Phrases such as the ones listed below show people youre really interested in what they have to
say. And, they keep people talking. The information that comes out as people expand on the
topic is often the most valuable of all. Use phrases such as:
Tell me more.
Could you describe that in more detail?
Would you expand on that?
Im not sure I understand that; could you go into more depth.
Why? Why? Why?
What happens then?
Being a good listener is an incredible gift you can give your customers. I strongly recommend you
invest time learning more about being a better listener and practicing the skill too.
Final Thoughts
I fully realize that I have not succeeded
in answering all of your questions
Indeed, I feel I have not
answered any of them completely.
The answers I have found only serve to
raise a whole new set of questions,
which only lead to more problems,
some of which we werent
even aware were problems.
To sum it all up ... In some ways I feel
we are as confused as ever,
but I believe we are confused on a higher level
and about more important things.
~ Anonymous
About Jill Konrath
Jill Konrath is an internationally recognized author and sales strategist in the highly competitive
business-to-business market. She's a popular speaker at annual sales meetings, kickoff events and
professional conferences. Her focus? Helping sellers crack into corporate accounts, speed up their
sales cycle and win more business. Jill's first book was the award-winning Selling to Big Companies,
a Fortune magazine "must read" and Amazon Top 25 Sales Book for over 4 years. Her second book,
SNAP Selling (May 2010), shows sellers how to increase their effectiveness with today's crazy-busy
buyers.
Contact Info
Phone: 651-429-1922
Website: www.SellingtoBigCompanies.com
Email: info@sellingtobigcompanies.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jillkonrath
Twitter: @jillkonrath
12-CD Set, Recorded live
60 minutes each w/Q&A
Getting Into Big Companies
Volume 1:
Building Your Sales Foundation
1. Cracking the Corporate Code
2. Finding Customers Ready to Buy
3. Developing Strong Value
Propositions
4. Winning Big Clients When You're
Not a Huge Company
Volume 2:
Launching the
"Getting In" Campaign
1. The Elusive Corporate Buyer
2. Crafting Your Account Entry Plan
3. Creating Enticing Value Propositions
4. Avoiding the Seduction of Low
Hanging Fruit
Volume 3
Breaking Through Sales Barriers
1. Setting Up Appointments with Ease
2. Dealing with the "Tough Stuff"
3. Awesome Initial Meetings
4. Tapping Into Your Sales Genius
What People Say
Only $349
Stop struggling to crack into corporate accounts. Learn how to
capture the decision maker's attention, shorten your sales cycle, set
up meetings, eliminate objections and more.
Thanks for articulating the sales
process in such a fantastic way.
Since using it, I've landed 14 new
clients in 6 weeks with projects
ranging from $50,000 to well over
$1,000,000.
Kent Speakman, Suitcase Interactive
You helped me get my foot in the
door rather than bang my head
against it. What's the ultimate value
to me? About $90,000 in the first
year alone.
Dan Markovitz, TimeBack Management
Using your strategies, I called the
CFO and left a value proposition
focused voicemail. The next day,
the Operations Vice President
called me! This process took 90
more days to complete, but last
week we won a verbal
commitment for $5M in business
plus there's potential for $10M more
next year.
Jim Cox, IC Systems
Ordering instructions on
the next page.
Self-Study Program
Yes! I'd like to order the Getting Into Big Companies Self-Study Program
for only $349 + $19 shipping/handling
I'm looking forward to getting it 10-14 business days. Here's the info you need to get it to me as soon as possible.
My Name: __________________________________________________ (as it appears on credit card)
Payment Type: Check (enclosed) Credit Card: Visa AMEX Master
Card Number:
Exp. Date: /
E-mail: _________________________________________ Phone: _________________________________
Delivery Instructions:
Company Name: (if sent to your office)
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Street: ________________________________________________________ Apt/Suite # ______________
City/Town _____________________________________________ State/Province: _________________
Zip/Mailing Code ______________________________ Country ________________________________
Note: For delivery outside North America, shipping & handling is $39.
Mail Completed Form To:
Selling to Big Companies
2227 Foxtail Ct., St. Paul,
MN 55110, USA
Email Form To:
jill@sellingtobigcompanies.com
If youre not satisfied
for any reason, you
will get a full refund
no questions asked.

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550 Powerful Questions to Engage, Motivate & Differentiate

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