Ask Questions-Don't Tell

Did you enjoy what you had for dinner last night? You are probably wondering what this question has to do with sales? Please bear with me for a moment. Think about what you did when you read the question. First, your mind flashed back to dinner last night. You very quickly re-evaluated your meal. You decided all over if it was a meal to remember or a meal to forget.

Here's the point. I was able to direct your thinking by asking you a question. You thought about what I wanted you to think about. This is a simple illustration of the power of a question. By wielding that power, you can direct an individuals thinking. That's what makes asking a good, well timed question the most EFFECTIVE SALES TOOL THAT YOU HAVE. The decision to buy your product/service takes place in your customer/prospects mind. A good question from you helps focus and shape the direction in which the buyers mind works.

Without first asking questions, you're reduced to working on assumptions about the needs and wants of your customer. Good questions give you the answers you need to make the sale. Asking good personal, not intrusive, questions of your customers will show your sincerity and will help build a strong relationship. The focus and precision of your questions do more to give your customer the perception of your competence than any product knowledge that you would TELL them.

The road to sales success is paved with good questions. Master the art of questioning, and you'll dramatically improve your sales.

Bob Rada, C.I.S.

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Check-up from the Neck up

Many of the problems you face in your day to day sales activities might lie in how you perceive yourself and your profession. At the root of our psychological resistance toward selling may lie false beliefs about other people and our performance. Answer true or false to the following statements. Your answers will help point up misconceptions that could be holding you back.

1. True or False: To consider myself worthwhile, I must be a winner in every sales situation.

2. True or False: Others are to blame for my poor sales performance.

3. True or False: When I don't get that big sale, I feel that it's the end of the world.

4. True or False: It's easier to delay hearing a possible rejection than to face it head-on.

5. True or False: I can't change my selling style.

According to Gary S. Goodman Ph.D. your answers should have been false. Here are the facts to replace the fallacies.

1. Not even the top pros come out of every sales interview a winner. Believing that you have to close every sale to be a success places an unnecessary and impossible burden on your shoulders. Expand your customer list-if your success hinges on getting an order from every prospect you call on, you aren't calling on enough prospects.

2. Yes, a prospect can refuse to give you an order. Yes, a shipper's foul-up can create a temporary customer relations problem. Yes, some of your colleagues and customers might rub you the wrong way. But, none of these individuals-not even all of them together can make you fail. Take Control-like success, failure is within your own power. The only person who can throw a monkey wrench into your sales achievements is the one you face in the mirror.

3. Avoid putting all your emotional eggs in one basket. Instead work on a large number of prospects simultaneously. Then, if a big order never reaches the closing stage, you'll still have a nice crop of medium to smaller successes to fall back on.

4. Sometimes you just know that the account you've been working on so long is going to say NO if you come right out and ask for the order. So instead of making that last call to get the buyers verdict, you avoid contact. Even if you do call on the prospect, you discuss everything except the buying decision. If bad news is coming, it's better to get it over with, close the sale. In fact it may be advisable to call a day or two early to expedite the process. Who knows, maybe a positive attitude vs. a negative will have an influence on your prospect/customer. Don't let your sale slip away. While you're procrastinating a competitor could slip in and get the sale. Besides, the customer/prospect might be willing to say Yes, if you ever get around to asking for the order.

5. Everything changes, including products, markets, and customers. If any of these factors changes and you don't, you will get left behind. Top pros know how to adapt their basic selling strategy to various buyers. Even the best selling approach can use a little fine tuning from time to time. Grow your career - If you stop growing and experimenting you'll fall behind the competition.

Bob Rada, C.I.S.

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