Sales Questions To Ask Prospects That Get Through To Their Bosses
Sales Questions To Ask Prospects That Get Through To Their Bosses
Have you ever been in a situation where your sales prospect is interested, yet he won’t move forward because, he has to answer to a colleague, a higher authority, or his boss? As time goes on, you stay in touch, calling periodically. Before long, it hits you that your sales prospect’s just leading you down a path of non-commitment with phrases like:
• Let me talk it over with my boss.
• Let me run it by my team.
• I’ll share your ideas with the committee.
How do you handle a situation where things seem to be going well, yet your sales prospect continues to stall, unable or unwilling to commit because they are not the only decision-maker?
STEP 1: ESTABLISHING WHO’S THE DECISION-MAKER
Suppose your sales prospect says, “What you’re presenting really sounds interesting. Let me run this by my boss (partner/peer/cohort/associate/ manager, etc.)”
You reply, “You’ll be running this by your boss? Great! Can we help you present? Can we set up a meeting with your boss?”
These are important sales questions, but most likely, the response will be “No.” At this early stage, your sales prospects can be a little guarded about giving you access to their internal relationships, like their boss. Not sure where to go next, you might ask, “When can I follow up?” Oops, not a good sales question to ask just yet!
Don’t let your sales prospect off-the-hook by telling you, “Give me a call next week.” That response is not good if the sales prospect is procrastinating or lying about telling his boss about you. It’s not fair to you or him. That’s why it’s so important to qualify the opportunity before asking when to follow up.
STEP 2: PROBING SALES QUESTIONS TO ESTABLISH POTENTIAL OPPORTUNITIES
These crucial sales questions will help qualify whether you have a legitimate sales opportunity to pursue with a new prospect:
1. “From a scale of 1 to 10 — 1 being poor, 10 being outstanding — where would our discussion rank concerning your level of interest?”
2. Suppose your sales prospect ranks the discussion as a 6. You ask: “What haven’t I addressed or shared with you that would move it up from a 6 to a 10?”
3. “Let me understand something prior to meeting with your boss: what is it you like most about what we’ve discussed so far?” The purpose of this sales question is to lend clarity or depth to a key element that sparks the prospect’s interest.
4. On the other end of the spectrum, if we sense hesitation from the prospect, it’s important to ask sales questions such as “What is it that seems to be causing you concern?” or “What’s making you hesitate?” Before your sales prospect shares your ideas with his boss, you must understand his thought processes, find out his true level of commitment.
STEP 3: UNCOVER YOUR SALES PROSPECT’S TRUE LEVEL OF COMMITMENT
Are your sales prospects really going to “run it by their boss,” or just trying to brush you off as courteously as possible to avoid offending you? Maybe they don’t need you today but want to hedge their bets, putting you in their back pocket for the future when they can use what you’re offering. That’s not to say your sales prospects are deliberately deceiving you. It’s just that they have their own motivations and priorities. Investigate and flush this information out of them.
Bring up potential objections now rather than later. This allows you to understand what the next step is. When a sales prospect responds, “Give me a call next week after I’ve had a chance to talk with others here,” there’s no commitment on their part — this can sure be aggravating for you. Before you know it, a week turns into a month, and months become years. When we try to reestablish contact with that person, the trail grows cold. Asking the right sales questions in the beginning allows you to bring up potential objections now rather than later — to find out the next step. And if there is a next step, what action is your sales prospect willing to commit to?
STEP 4: QUALIFYING SALES PROSPECT OPPORTUNITIES
Let’s look at an example of when a sales prospect says he’ll run your ideas by his boss. Your response could be: “Great, I’m glad to hear you’ll be sharing our conversation with him — let’s pretend for a moment that during a meeting with your boss — you present this information — and your boss reacts positively. What do you see as our next step?”
Listen closely for what actions may occur. For example, the prospect response’s could be:
• We’ll bring you in to meet with…
• We’ll have you do a presentation to the executive committee…
• We’ll give you a P.O…
But why not test things out to determine if the conversation with his boss hasn’t gone well? After all, that’s what the real world of selling is all about. So go ahead and ask, in an innocent way, “What if your boss says he’s not interested?” That will lead into the sales questions that will help you gauge this person’s level of commitment and sincerity. Listen closely and they may be able to give you insight into their decision-making process, or any potential hurdles in the way, or the extent of the boss’s sense of urgency in moving forward.
Finally, imagine your sales prospect says, “If my boss says ‘no’ to this, we’re not doing anything.” That tells me this person is too risk-averse to be your champion when he discusses your proposal with his boss. Or maybe the boss is the one who’s risk-averse or has his own agenda. Asking such sales questions up front to qualify the opportunity will help avoid rejection and disappointment. Plus, you will save time for yourself, your sales prospect and close more sales.
Sales Questions To Ask Prospects That Get Through To Their Bosses - To learn more about this author, visit Paul Cherry's Website.
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Asking a prospect the right sales questions is vital when their boss is part of the decision-making process. Becoming skillful at asking these questions will save time and streamline the sales prospecting process. The end result — more closed sales.
Have you ever been in a situation where your sales prospect is interested, yet he won’t move forward because, he has to answer to a colleague, a higher authority, or his boss? As time goes on, you stay in touch, calling periodically. Before long, it hits you that your sales prospect’s just leading you down a path of non-commitment with phrases like:
• Let me talk it over with my boss.
• Let me run it by my team.
• I’ll share your ideas with the committee.
How do you handle a situation where things seem to be going well, yet your sales prospect continues to stall, unable or unwilling to commit because they are not the only decision-maker?
STEP 1: ESTABLISHING WHO’S THE DECISION-MAKER
Suppose your sales prospect says, “What you’re presenting really sounds interesting. Let me run this by my boss (partner/peer/cohort/associate/ manager, etc.)”
You reply, “You’ll be running this by your boss? Great! Can we help you present? Can we set up a meeting with your boss?”
These are important sales questions, but most likely, the response will be “No.” At this early stage, your sales prospects can be a little guarded about giving you access to their internal relationships, like their boss. Not sure where to go next, you might ask, “When can I follow up?” Oops, not a good sales question to ask just yet!
Don’t let your sales prospect off-the-hook by telling you, “Give me a call next week.” That response is not good if the sales prospect is procrastinating or lying about telling his boss about you. It’s not fair to you or him. That’s why it’s so important to qualify the opportunity before asking when to follow up.
STEP 2: PROBING SALES QUESTIONS TO ESTABLISH POTENTIAL OPPORTUNITIES
These crucial sales questions will help qualify whether you have a legitimate sales opportunity to pursue with a new prospect:
1. “From a scale of 1 to 10 — 1 being poor, 10 being outstanding — where would our discussion rank concerning your level of interest?”
2. Suppose your sales prospect ranks the discussion as a 6. You ask: “What haven’t I addressed or shared with you that would move it up from a 6 to a 10?”
3. “Let me understand something prior to meeting with your boss: what is it you like most about what we’ve discussed so far?” The purpose of this sales question is to lend clarity or depth to a key element that sparks the prospect’s interest.
4. On the other end of the spectrum, if we sense hesitation from the prospect, it’s important to ask sales questions such as “What is it that seems to be causing you concern?” or “What’s making you hesitate?” Before your sales prospect shares your ideas with his boss, you must understand his thought processes, find out his true level of commitment.
STEP 3: UNCOVER YOUR SALES PROSPECT’S TRUE LEVEL OF COMMITMENT
Are your sales prospects really going to “run it by their boss,” or just trying to brush you off as courteously as possible to avoid offending you? Maybe they don’t need you today but want to hedge their bets, putting you in their back pocket for the future when they can use what you’re offering. That’s not to say your sales prospects are deliberately deceiving you. It’s just that they have their own motivations and priorities. Investigate and flush this information out of them.
Bring up potential objections now rather than later. This allows you to understand what the next step is. When a sales prospect responds, “Give me a call next week after I’ve had a chance to talk with others here,” there’s no commitment on their part — this can sure be aggravating for you. Before you know it, a week turns into a month, and months become years. When we try to reestablish contact with that person, the trail grows cold. Asking the right sales questions in the beginning allows you to bring up potential objections now rather than later — to find out the next step. And if there is a next step, what action is your sales prospect willing to commit to?
STEP 4: QUALIFYING SALES PROSPECT OPPORTUNITIES
Let’s look at an example of when a sales prospect says he’ll run your ideas by his boss. Your response could be: “Great, I’m glad to hear you’ll be sharing our conversation with him — let’s pretend for a moment that during a meeting with your boss — you present this information — and your boss reacts positively. What do you see as our next step?”
Listen closely for what actions may occur. For example, the prospect response’s could be:
• We’ll bring you in to meet with…
• We’ll have you do a presentation to the executive committee…
• We’ll give you a P.O…
But why not test things out to determine if the conversation with his boss hasn’t gone well? After all, that’s what the real world of selling is all about. So go ahead and ask, in an innocent way, “What if your boss says he’s not interested?” That will lead into the sales questions that will help you gauge this person’s level of commitment and sincerity. Listen closely and they may be able to give you insight into their decision-making process, or any potential hurdles in the way, or the extent of the boss’s sense of urgency in moving forward.
Finally, imagine your sales prospect says, “If my boss says ‘no’ to this, we’re not doing anything.” That tells me this person is too risk-averse to be your champion when he discusses your proposal with his boss. Or maybe the boss is the one who’s risk-averse or has his own agenda. Asking such sales questions up front to qualify the opportunity will help avoid rejection and disappointment. Plus, you will save time for yourself, your sales prospect and close more sales.
Sales Questions To Ask Prospects That Get Through To Their Bosses - To learn more about this author, visit Paul Cherry's Website.
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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