SALES
- April 2004
by Jeffrey Gitomer
What You Ask Determines What You Sell
It's all about asking the 'value questions'
In my 30 years of sales training experience, nothing continues to frustrate me more than the pathetic questions salespeople ask. Questions like:
“Who are you using right now?”
“How are they treating you?”
“Do you have a contract?”
“When does your contract expire?”
“Can we place a bid? I think we can save you some money.”
“What kind of budget do you have?”
“Are you the decision maker?”
All of these questions fall under the category of pathetic.
But the three most pathetic questions are:
“Have you ever heard of us?”
“Tell me a little bit about your company.”
And the granddaddy of all dumb questions: “What would it take to get your business?”
Ask yourself this question: What questions are you asking your customers and prospects that your competition is not asking? If you can’t think of one, then your questions are in jeopardy.
So, what makes a great question? A question about the prospect that makes him or her stop and think, consider new information, and respond to your terms. That’s what I call a value question.
Here are five reasons that thought-provoking questions will drive sales your way, regardless of your price:
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Asking powerful questions will make prospects think in new ways. You ask questions to get prospects to give you information that will lead you closer to the sale. You want information that affected prospects in the past, so you want to find out about their past experiences. You want to understand their motives for buying. And you want to find out what criteria they used in selecting you. To get prospects to think in new ways, you have to ask thought-provoking questions. Here’s a good example: “Mr. Jones, what would you do if you lost two of your top 10 customers?” That question is followed with, “What’s your plan to keep them loyal?” Now, those are questions that don’t have a specific product or service behind them. They may not fit everyone’s business, but baby, they are thought-provoking.
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What you ask sets the tone and the perception of the buyers. When you begin a question with the phrase “What’s been your experience with (blank)?” prospects turn into wisdom providers instead of information providers. Salespeople think they have to “educate” buyers. Nothing could be further from the truth. Buyers don’t want an education. Buyers want answers. Your job is to set the buying tone by engaging the prospect intellectually and emotionally.
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What you ask determines the response. If you’re looking to get into a battle about why your product is different from the competition’s product – or why your price is higher – just ask a dumb question about how the competition is treating the customer. But if you ask value questions – questions about productivity and profit – you’re going to get answers that lead to your prospects’ motives for buying.
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What you ask makes or breaks the sale. The more thought-provoking your questions, the more your prospective buyers will respect you. The higher that respect level is, the more likely they are to be truthful with you and give you insight into the key factors that will determine the sale. They will also begin to share the truth about how the decision is made.
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Your questions are a critical factor in the way customers perceive you. If they’re intelligent and engaging, they consider you a person of value. If your questions are dumb, they consider you a salesperson of price.
The sale is yours for the asking; all you gotta do is ask for it in the right way.
Jeffrey Gitomer
is the author of The Sales Bible, and Customer Satisfaction
is Worthless, Customer Loyalty is Priceless. He can be reached at
704/333-1112 or e-mail to salesman@gitomer.com.
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