You’re on a road trip and as night falls you start to look for a place to sleep. You see a hotel and decide to check it out. Speaking to the receptionist you ask, “Any rooms available and how much a night?” You get confirmation; there is a room available and for a reasonable price. You feel satisfied that you have received the most informed outcome and book in for the night.
Sure you may have found a place to rest your head but is it the best outcome you could have achieved? Perhaps at the hotel down the road breakfast is complimentary and it’s not so close to the nightclub that keeps you up till the wee hours of the morning.
A simple refocus of you questions could have opened up a multitude of possibilities.
Consider if instead you asked; “May I inspect the room first before I decide and are there any extras included in the room’s price?” Imagine the difference it could have made. The instantaneous relief felt after you spied the nightclub directly outside the room’s window. At which point you decide you can find somewhere better and quieter.
This better outcome was achieved just by asking better questions.
Now think of the value you could bring to your prospects and clients by asking the right questions. A higher quality question is one that creates a learning experience for both the questioner (you) and the person being questioned (prospect, client) or both. Better questions are powerful and knowing how to use them effectively has a huge impact on your success.
In order to ask quality questions, it’s essential to be conscious of current behaviours and thinking. Ask yourself, are you asking great or bad questions?
Great questions-
• Open up possibilities
• Put the questioner in control
• Help devise a better outcome for all parties
• Ignite hope
• Identifies gaps prospects can’t see
• Moves the sale along
• Lead to new insights
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Bad questions-
• Stalls the sales
• Result in one-word answers
• Leave parties stuck
• Create assumptions
Write down the answers you think you will receive based on your current questioning habits. Remember the quality of your questions determine the quality of your responses and the information you’ll receive. Finally act on these insights, are they resulting in the answers you require; can you progress with your current repertoire?
At the end of the day you are both there for a common goal, to create a mutually beneficial future for both parties- so what are you going to ask to reach this?
Here are three stages for qualifying prospects.
1) Create piece of mind
You are there to be a problem solver, but you won’t find out how to fix their issues if you don’t let them first talk. First find out about your prospect’s current situation, create real conversations and let them know you care- build rapport.
2) Diagnose, don’t prescribe
Don’t be pushy or needy. By allowing them to talk, the more they will divulge. You are there to ask the right questions at the right time to hear the critical information they have never shared before.
3) Ask, listen and repeat
Asking question is as much about the quality of the questions as it is listening to the answer. Drilling down to the real needs of your prospects helps you expand your view of the problem, rather than keeping it narrowly focused.
Re-position your questions based on their responses using open-ended questioning.
At the end of the meeting, you may ask, “Did you find this meeting informative?” this is an example of a closed-ended question, one that can be answered with “yes” or “no”. Asking yes and no questions isn’t engaging and doesn’t get either you or the prospect thinking. Refine your questions to yield more information and become more informed of your prospects thinking. As an alternative ask, “Did you find value in attending this meeting; if so please can you tell me why?”
There’s a stereotype out there of a salesperson being very chatty, an image of someone that won’t let their client get a word in edge-ways. In truth, any great salesperson will spend only 20% of the time talking (mainly asking questions) and 80% of the time listening to their client. One of the top qualities of a closer is the ability to dictate the conversation. Nonstop talking is just ineffective.
Great salespeople know how to make that 20% count because exciting things happen when you ask the right questions.
If your questioning techniques are not yielding the results you desire, perhaps it’s time to ask yourself why this is so and what you can do about fixing it?
Thank you for reading, please comment below. Let’s start a conversation about B2B sales techniques.
Ask The Wrong Question and Get a Bad Outcome
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