I once witnessed high
school students compete in a mock trial competition, battling it out in a
courtroom with actual judges, with each team having to take turns being the
prosecution and the defense.
During one of the mock
trials, a student in the “prosecution role” became visibly frustrated when he
wasn’t getting the answers he needed out of a defense witness, no matter how
many times he re-asked the question.
When the trial was over,
the judge addressed each student and gave them constructive criticism.
Back to Basics Phone
Skills Training Course
Do you want your sales
team to eliminate call reluctance, set more qualified appointments and increase
their close rate?
His advice to the
prosecution attorney/student:
“If you don’t like the
answer, maybe your question was the problem!”
How true is that!?! Not
only for attorneys but salespeople as well.
As I watched this
situation play out in the courtroom, I could easily see how this same scenario
happens every day with salespeople and their prospects.
A salesperson gets a
prospect on the phone, randomly picks a few questions to ask, prospect’s
answers are short, guarded, ends up asking “how much is this?” (and not the
“buying signal” kind of question – no, not that one. This one is the “get me
out of this call” question.
Both parties soon get
frustrated, and the call ends with the sales rep saying they will send over
some information followed by:
“How about I follow up
with you next week? Is Tuesday or Thursday better for you?”
And to no one’s surprise,
the prospect is a no show.
This happens every day in
every industry.
BTW, I should point out
that this is why companies do not need “industry” specific sales training. The
problem isn’t “product knowledge.” The problem is there’s a primary “sales
knowledge” gap.
Phone sales reps
worldwide are making calls to prospects with no game plan or strategy other
than to be a “Captain Wing-It” and hope for the best.
And when the economy is
booming, companies can get away with that strategy for the most part.
But when the low-hanging
fruit is dried up, companies can’t afford to have order takers disguised as
sales reps, making outbound calls OR handling the few warm leads that may
trickle in.
It would be best if you
had sales tacticians who are well prepared to handle the sales call from A to Z
over the phone.
If you’re not sure if you
have a sales group of tacticians, in your next sales meeting, ask the team one
question:
“What is the purpose/goal
of your first sales call to a prospect?”
If you have a team of 10
reps and you get four different answers, you have a problem. (If you want to
know the correct answer, watch this short video)
The same drill could be
used in another scenario:
What is the first sales
question you should ask once you get a prospect past the OVS (Opening Value Statement),
You realize that once you
get a prospect on the phone and complete your opener (OVS), you have to start
the conversation by asking a sales question – you know this, right??
Look at it this way:
When you are about to
make a sales call, it’s like you’re in the batter’s box.
Your objective is to get
on base.
If you have a successful
opener, that means you are now on 1st base. The only way to get to 2nd base is
to ask the right questions that engage your prospect further into the
conversation.
3rd base is where you are
giving a presentation to a qualified prospect.
You won’t know if they
are FULLY qualified unless you ask them some questions.
TIME
OUT:
If you just said, “I
already know my prospect is qualified before I call them,” you do not know the
meaning of a qualified sales prospect. So let me help you here.
What’s
a Qualified Sales Prospect?
A fully qualified sales
prospect is a prospect that:
1.
Has a problem that you can help solve, and they want help
solving it (Note, when cold-calling, they most likely don’t realize they have a
problem – and you can’t call them a tell them they have a problem because they
will doubt it. So you have to ask the right questions that, based on their
answers, uncover if a problem exists or not)
2.
Is the purse-string decision-maker or at the very least
influences the decision-maker(s)
3.
They can afford your solution to their problem should they
decide they want it.
You need ALL THREE of
these things to be TRUE to have a qualified sales opportunity.
How many deals will you
close if they are missing just one of those “checkboxes”?
The answer is ZERO.
Now, your company process
may have leads that get marked as SQLs (Sales Qualified Leads)
Some companies use this
term to identify leads that match specific criteria to trigger a sales call.
But a prospect can never
be a sales-qualified opportunity if they miss one or more of the three
“checkboxes” I outlined above.
And the only way you will
find out if your prospect is a qualified opportunity is to ask the right sales
questions, in the proper order, in the right way/tone, and by listening to the
prospect’s responses and appropriately interpreting their answers.
Knowing how to do that
means you’re a tactical sales rep, and you will close more sales than those who
are not. It’s that simple.
What
Sales Questions to Ask?
Here’s a quick outline of
the sales question categories that need to be addressed:
·
The Engagement Question (this is your first question after the
opener)
·
Opportunity Size Question
·
Pain point(s) Question (Buying Motive)
·
Identifying the real Decision-maker(s)
·
Timeframe
·
Ideal Solution
·
Price Point Question
Note: The sales questions
categories are universal* – it’s the actual sales questions for each category
that will be unique to you and your company/industry. I put the * because
occasionally, a question like “opportunity size” is not needed.
Now, how many of you just
said, “I can’t ask my prospect all these questions; they will hang up!”
My response is, not only
can you ask these questions, but you MUST ask them to do your job to its
highest level if you want to close more sales.
The key is you have to
know what specific questions to ask, why, and how.
You want to sharpen your
sales skills to the point that if your company took away your base salary but
increased your commission %, you would not miss a beat (or a mortgage payment).
And the secret to having
that type of confidence is knowing what sales questions to ask.
The days of being “Captain
Wing It” is over.
Asking better sales
questions is essential to becoming a high-powered earner.
– Michael Pedone
Michael Pedone is the
CEO/FOUNDER of SalesBuzz.com – On-demand sales courses that teach B2B phone
sales techniques that work.
https://www.salesbuzz.com/phone-sales-questions/
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