Research indicates that four out of five salespeople ask the wrong questions when meeting with prospects. The problem is that most salespeople have been taught to ask ammunition questions. These are questions that lead your prospect down a path to “yes” by finding out the buyer’s hot buttons.
The dilemma with ammunition questions is that savvy prospects, and most of them are these days, know what you’re up to. They know that if they share too much information, you’ll use their words as ammunition against them later. Consequently, they are reticent to share concerns with you, because they know that their words will come back to pin them in a corner. Let me give you some examples:
• What do like best about your current vendor? What do you like least?
• Do you think that saving money is important?
Some are even more direct like:
• If I could save you money, would you buy my product?
• Do you know anyone else that could use my services?
• Is there any reason why you won’t do business with my company?
The cold, hard truth is that people don’t like to be sold and they don’t like sales pressure. Instead of asking presumptive or leading questions to be used as ammunition, you should consider changing your approach. The reasons for this are simple. By taking the sales pressure out of the sales process, you will distinguish yourself from your competition and get out of Vendorville. You will also be able to truly engage your prospects and gain a deeper understanding of what’s important to them. By seeking information, not ammunition, you establish credibility and trust which are fundamental for developing long-term relationships.
Let’s do some comparisons:
Ammunition Question: What do you like most about your current vendor?
Information Question: What is critical to your satisfaction with _____ service?
Ammunition Question: What do you like least about your current vendor?
Information Question: Do you currently have areas of concern that are not being handled to your satisfaction?
Ammunition Question: Do you think saving money is important?
Information Question: If you had to make a choice between getting better results or buying a less expensive product, which would you choose?
As you can see, the differences are subtle but important. The proper use of information questions will catapult your sales success. Prospects will open up to you and share vital information because they want to. The bottom-line question you need to answer is “Do I want to be a trusted advisor to my prospects and clients or just another salesperson hawking his or her wares?”
Information Versus Ammunition - Are You Asking The Right Questions? - To learn more about this author, visit Will Turner's Website.
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Will Turner
(Visit Will's Website)
As President of Dancing Elephants
Achievement Group, Will feels he has the
best job in the galaxy. He loves working
with salespeople and entrepreneurs to
"unblock" themselves and "unlock"
their potential. Will is the first to
admit that he was a reluctant salesperson
for many years. He thought most
salespeople had to be pushy, and he just
wasn't comfortable in that role. He later
discovered that you don't have to act
like a typical salesperson to be a great
salesperson so he created a company to
teach others what he had learned.
Will transitioned a twenty year career in
sales and sales management into his
current position as President of Dancing
Elephants. In addition to facilitating and
presenting, Will is the author of Impact!,
the company's monthly e-newsletter on
sales performance. He is also the
co-creator of the Sales Magnetism program
and the co-author of Six Secrets of Sales
Magnets.
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