Posts tagged ‘Questioning skills’

Today’s tip is for sales people and leaders. It’s a simple concept that works its magic with no pain or ill feelings. It’s all about focusing on the other person. Here how it works.

Ask a question of a customer or employee, listen to the response and then ask another question for clarity on the topic answer. You use a simple phrase:

“Help me understand…(fill in the blank based upon the previous answer).”

This three little words will open up the flood gates of information flow. Your responsibility is to continue to listen to the flow of information and possibly new ideas. There are three things you need to do:

  1. Listen with an open mind. This is not the time to argue a point or detail. It’s time to listen and acknowledge the other person.
  2. Continue to ask questions when you are uncertain of the direction or flow of information – especially to gain clarity regarding a point. A major opportunity for sales people is to learn more about the impact of problems, especially the problems that you or your company can fix.
  3. Assuming you understand the definition of general or specific words or terms can be a fatal mistake. Here’s a new flash – your definition of a word or term could be materially different from the customer or employee! The only way to know for sure what they mean is to ask a question looking for meaning. A simple yet mostly overlooked method for gaining understanding about your customer or employee.

Asking questions and listening to the complete answers, then asking follow-up questions without bias or assumptions facilitates real understanding. And, a greater benefit of these methods is the customer or employee becomes committed to helping you – because they feel respected.

To learn more tips for sales or leadership, contact us at InnerActive Consulting Group – 901-757-4434. We look forward to hearing from you.

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Posted by Voss Graham on May 7, 2009 at 5:30 am under Leadership, Sales.
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Listening a core skill. Do you listen to people? More importantly, do you really hear what they are saying?

My experience says that most people are not really listening to what is being said without some type of filter system. Yes, a filter system is what I said. There are four types of filter systems being used by individuals as part of their natural behavioral style.

The four filtering systems are: Continue reading ‘Are You Listening? It’s a Core Skill.’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on April 28, 2009 at 5:30 am under Effective Communication.
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The next Myth is that sales people must be “showing and telling” customers about their product or service.  Canned scripted presentations abound.  This activity usually leads to a price driven buying decision!  Some consider presentation ability to be the key sales success factor.  They think that sales people should present their product whenever customer shows even a glimmer of interest.

This show and tell mentality comes internal focused people. Its all about the product or service and therefore has nothing to do with the customer’s wants or needs. This method leads directly to the previous myth that you needed to be excellent at handling objections. Well, the only reason for handling objections is the lack of customer engagement and involvement. When the customer has no interest in a product or service, the old school sales person would attempt to trick or pressure a “yes” just to make one sale. The downside to this approach was no repeat business and a high return rate or order cancellation.

Today’s Truth is that sales people must focus first and foremost on the customer.  They have to master questioning and listening skills to be successful.  Customers demand that you totally understand their unique situation (even if its not really unique – they believe it is unique.).  Customers want salespeople to know the customer’s industry and the company’s specific issues.  This requires sales people to utilize value added selling of customer specific solutions.  At the same time this yields the benefit of higher profitability than can be achieved using the bidding method or generic open bid packages.

Customers want to deal with people who care about the customer’s success. The customer needs to feel that the sales person will support the customer – even in difficult times like today’s economic environment. Take the time to build relationships within an organization. Go wide and deep to insure that everyone is supporting your product or service. These people will override the blockers within the organization that want your competitors to win. Take the external point of view – know your customer’s situation, support their growth and needs and help them win using ROI and creative results.

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Posted by Voss Graham on February 20, 2009 at 5:17 am under Sales.
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To join the ranks of Sales Superstar, You must learn to ask Questions – early, often and late. I realize that some of you believe the early, often and late is about closing the sales – sorry, that is old school selling! Today’s superstar sales person masters this skill and uses it to gain a competitive advantage.

The big issue is this – the average sales person has a tendency to talk too much in a sales situation. Yes, they talk too much and actually bore or confuse the customer. Why? Because the customer also has an opinion about how things are going and what is important to them. Remember this:

“The Customer Will Believe Their Thoughts over Your Statements!” Continue reading ‘Becoming a Sales Superstar – Step 5 – Questioning Skills’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on January 12, 2009 at 11:30 am under Sales.
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