Sales professionals depend on knowing how to ask the right questions to discover the real needs of our clients. Often our clients tell us what they would like us to do, such as, "I need a solution on change management," but without telling us the ultimate result they want to achieve.
To be truly effective we must be able to help our clients articulate the cause of the problem and to be able to identify what would be different if the solution is successful. Armed with this additional information we can then design the most effective solution for the problem at hand.
So what are some examples of questions and statements you can use to open up the prospect to discussing their problems.
Help me understand. How do you measure your key performance indicators?
I’d like to learn a little more about. What do you do when that happens?
Where do you find are the bottlenecks?
How high is the absentee rate?
What are the biggest challenges you are currently facing?
What are your top priorities over the next three months?
Tell me more about that…
Give me an idea how you currently process that specific type of data?
Please describe how you use spreadsheets?
What do you do when your system goes down?
Please explain your funding process?
Compare for me how your test scores went down last year and up this year?
In what way do you measure your production?
To what extent has this been a problem?
Go through the steps when your production line goes down?
What happens when a system outage occurs?
These questions are designed to root out the problems, needs or challenges your prospect is incurring right now. The next question is one you need to ask yourself. Can you fix the problem with your solution?
If the answer is “yes” or even a partial “yes” then you have the basis for closing for an appointment. If the answer is “no”, you’re better off letting the prospect know up front rather than wasting their valuable time or yours.
If you would like information on Live Cold Calling Sales Training please call Ron at 818-991-6487 PST. © 2005 by Accelerated Sales Training, Inc.
What is their problem? - To learn more about this author, visit Ron La Vine's Website.
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Ron La Vine
(Visit Ron's Website)
Ron holds Accelerated Sales Training,
Inc.’s Cold Calling System for Sales
Success - Live Cold Call Sales Training
Workshops worldwide.
Ron has trained thousands of sales reps
using live cold calling for clients such
as Agilent Asia Pacific, ASG, CA, EDS,
IBI, Informix, iWAY, LRS, MeadWestvaco,
Merant, Micro Focus, NCTI, Platinum,
Serena, Software AG, SAS, Sterling
Software's ADD, DID, OMD, SMD, VMD
Divisions, plus over 60 more technology &
non-technology related firms.
Ron has delivered live cold calling
hands-on workshops in Australia, Canada,
England, France, Hong Kong, Ireland and
the USA.
Cultures trained included sales reps from
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada,
China, Denmark, England, Finland, France,
Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Korea,
Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands,
Norway, Philippines, Singapore, Sweden,
Switzerland, Thailand and all across the
USA.
For more details about LIVE Cold Calling
training contact Ron personally at www.ast-incorp.com/contact.htm.
Also sign up for the Free Sales Tips ezine
at www.ast-incorp.com/free_tips
_signup.htm.
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