Top Customer Sales Questions to Increase Profits in 2009
Top Customer Sales Questions to Increase Profits in 2009
The pressure is on for increasing customer sales in the new year. Plus, how will you and your company make up for the sales accounts you lost in 2008? “By making our sales customers happy and keeping them happy,” you say. Sure, but where will you start?
Maybe you think the way to keep your sales customers happy is by avoiding ruffling their feathers with tough, uncomfortable sales questions. Think again! Your sales customers can’t solve their problems if they don’t acknowledge them. Or maybe they’ve had too many fires to put out this year. As a result, they’ve had little if any time to constructively think through their challenges and what steps need to be taken to achieve next year’s goals. And that’s where you come in, by helping them to see the bigger picture.
You can use the business version of “tough love,” in the form of probing sales questions that’ll help your sales customers recognize problems. And you’ll create some urgency so they’re more likely to take action. Best of all, because you dare to ask the sales questions that are critical to their success in 2009, you’ve positioned yourself as part of the solution.
You know these tough sales questions are important, but maybe you’ve been holding back from asking them because they can:
• Be imposing.
• Be intrusive.
• Be uncomfortable.
• Take away your selling time.
You may even be a little afraid to hear your sales customer’s answers. What if she says she hasn’t exactly been elated with your work on her behalf, and she’s already shopping around among your competitors? Don’t let this possibility intimidate you! If those issues or anything else are a thorn in your sales customer’s side, you need to hear it from her and remove that thorn before it tears a gaping wound — perhaps a fatal one — into your business relationship. Instead of fearing negative answers, embrace them as tools that can help you give your sales customer the intensive care her business requires — and put money in your pocket instead of your rival’s.
BUILDING UP TO ASKING PROBING SALES QUESTIONS
Asking probing sales questions can be the BUILDING blocks to providing your sales customers with the best solutions to their problems, because these sales questions will help you to:
• Build rapport with your sales customers.
• Understand your sales customers’ needs.
• Illuminate your sales customers’ hidden needs and wants.
• Look for information from your sales customers.
• Direct the conversation with your sales customer.
• Increase your sales customer’s comfort zone.
• Name your sales customers’ fears to help conquer them.
• Galvanize sales customers’ emotions so they’ll take action, with your help.
Honey attracts more flies than vinegar, so start off your questioning by capitalizing on what’s going right with your sales customers, then ease into problem areas. When you and your sales customer begin this discussion, it’s important to concentrate on “you” — that is, your sales customer — before going into what “we” — you and your sales customer — can do as a team. The key is to make sure your sales customer realizes she has ownership in this process, while validating your own role in your sales customer’s success.
ASKING THE TOP PROBING SALES QUESTIONS
Note that the following sales questions get more complex as you go along.
1. “What are your goals for next year compared with this year?”
2. “In what ways are you going to capitalize on this year’s success to ensure even greater success next year?”
3. “With 2009 around the corner, what do you think you’ll do more of/less of/just plain differently?”
4. “In what ways can we ensure/change/do more of _____________ to ensure your continuing success?”
5. “What is it that you value most about doing business with us (me)?”
6. “What do you feel we are (I am) doing right to sustain our business relationship?”
7. “In what ways are we (am I) helping you to achieve your goals?”
8. “In what ways can we (I) improve?”
9. “What changes do we (I) need to make to ensure greater success?”
10. “If you could change one thing about our relationship, what would it be?”
11. “What goals would you like to see us (me) accomplish with you in the next 12 months?”
12. “How can we (I) make your job easier?”
13. “Would you be willing to serve as a reference for my product or company? If so, can you elaborate on what you would say about us? If not, why not?”
14. “What will it take on our (my) part to win that portion of the business you are currently giving to our competition?”
Be sensitive to your sales customer’s concerns and issues; keep your antennae up for the potential speed bumps and barriers ahead. The time to address those small potential issues is now, before they magnify into overwhelming problems.
ESTABLISH INSTANT RAPPORT SO YOU’LL ASK THE RIGHT SALES QUESTIONS
Your prospective sales customer has one of these four concerns on her mind:
• “How are you going to minimize my fears?”
• “How are you going to enhance my standing in my organization?”
• “How are you going to save me money? Or make me money?”
• “How are you going to make my life easier?”
Asking these tough sales questions will get your sales customers to start divulging critical info that they never shared before, because you probably never asked. You can only position yourself and your product as better solutions to your sales customer’s problems when you understand her true needs and desires. Digging into the dirt with tough but crucial sales questions is the best way to unearth the answers that will help you help your sales customer solve her problems, and lead to increased sales and a happy, profitable 2009.
Top Customer Sales Questions to Increase Profits in 2009 - To learn more about this author, visit Paul Cherry's Website.
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How will you get your sales customers to increase sales in 2009? The answer is for them to ask the right sales questions.
The pressure is on for increasing customer sales in the new year. Plus, how will you and your company make up for the sales accounts you lost in 2008? “By making our sales customers happy and keeping them happy,” you say. Sure, but where will you start?
Maybe you think the way to keep your sales customers happy is by avoiding ruffling their feathers with tough, uncomfortable sales questions. Think again! Your sales customers can’t solve their problems if they don’t acknowledge them. Or maybe they’ve had too many fires to put out this year. As a result, they’ve had little if any time to constructively think through their challenges and what steps need to be taken to achieve next year’s goals. And that’s where you come in, by helping them to see the bigger picture.
You can use the business version of “tough love,” in the form of probing sales questions that’ll help your sales customers recognize problems. And you’ll create some urgency so they’re more likely to take action. Best of all, because you dare to ask the sales questions that are critical to their success in 2009, you’ve positioned yourself as part of the solution.
You know these tough sales questions are important, but maybe you’ve been holding back from asking them because they can:
• Be imposing.
• Be intrusive.
• Be uncomfortable.
• Take away your selling time.
You may even be a little afraid to hear your sales customer’s answers. What if she says she hasn’t exactly been elated with your work on her behalf, and she’s already shopping around among your competitors? Don’t let this possibility intimidate you! If those issues or anything else are a thorn in your sales customer’s side, you need to hear it from her and remove that thorn before it tears a gaping wound — perhaps a fatal one — into your business relationship. Instead of fearing negative answers, embrace them as tools that can help you give your sales customer the intensive care her business requires — and put money in your pocket instead of your rival’s.
BUILDING UP TO ASKING PROBING SALES QUESTIONS
Asking probing sales questions can be the BUILDING blocks to providing your sales customers with the best solutions to their problems, because these sales questions will help you to:
• Build rapport with your sales customers.
• Understand your sales customers’ needs.
• Illuminate your sales customers’ hidden needs and wants.
• Look for information from your sales customers.
• Direct the conversation with your sales customer.
• Increase your sales customer’s comfort zone.
• Name your sales customers’ fears to help conquer them.
• Galvanize sales customers’ emotions so they’ll take action, with your help.
Honey attracts more flies than vinegar, so start off your questioning by capitalizing on what’s going right with your sales customers, then ease into problem areas. When you and your sales customer begin this discussion, it’s important to concentrate on “you” — that is, your sales customer — before going into what “we” — you and your sales customer — can do as a team. The key is to make sure your sales customer realizes she has ownership in this process, while validating your own role in your sales customer’s success.
ASKING THE TOP PROBING SALES QUESTIONS
Note that the following sales questions get more complex as you go along.
1. “What are your goals for next year compared with this year?”
2. “In what ways are you going to capitalize on this year’s success to ensure even greater success next year?”
3. “With 2009 around the corner, what do you think you’ll do more of/less of/just plain differently?”
4. “In what ways can we ensure/change/do more of _____________ to ensure your continuing success?”
5. “What is it that you value most about doing business with us (me)?”
6. “What do you feel we are (I am) doing right to sustain our business relationship?”
7. “In what ways are we (am I) helping you to achieve your goals?”
8. “In what ways can we (I) improve?”
9. “What changes do we (I) need to make to ensure greater success?”
10. “If you could change one thing about our relationship, what would it be?”
11. “What goals would you like to see us (me) accomplish with you in the next 12 months?”
12. “How can we (I) make your job easier?”
13. “Would you be willing to serve as a reference for my product or company? If so, can you elaborate on what you would say about us? If not, why not?”
14. “What will it take on our (my) part to win that portion of the business you are currently giving to our competition?”
Be sensitive to your sales customer’s concerns and issues; keep your antennae up for the potential speed bumps and barriers ahead. The time to address those small potential issues is now, before they magnify into overwhelming problems.
ESTABLISH INSTANT RAPPORT SO YOU’LL ASK THE RIGHT SALES QUESTIONS
Your prospective sales customer has one of these four concerns on her mind:
• “How are you going to minimize my fears?”
• “How are you going to enhance my standing in my organization?”
• “How are you going to save me money? Or make me money?”
• “How are you going to make my life easier?”
Asking these tough sales questions will get your sales customers to start divulging critical info that they never shared before, because you probably never asked. You can only position yourself and your product as better solutions to your sales customer’s problems when you understand her true needs and desires. Digging into the dirt with tough but crucial sales questions is the best way to unearth the answers that will help you help your sales customer solve her problems, and lead to increased sales and a happy, profitable 2009.
Top Customer Sales Questions to Increase Profits in 2009 - 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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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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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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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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