If you’re like most sales professionals, you’re terrified to ask your clients the simplest of questions: “Do we have your business?”
Even experienced salespeople find asking for the order a gruelling process. They stumble and bumble their way through touchy-feely subject matter – children, hobbies, the weather, their pets or weekend plans – whatever permits them to avoid asking for what they really want.
But being open and honest about what you want from your customer is what lands you the deal at the end of the day. The world would be a better place if window salespeople, for example, were up front about their motives – “We’re selling windows today. Are you buying?”
All sorts of experts will tell you that it’s important to build relationships and listen for buying clues. Marketing trainers advise salespeople to be consultative during the sales process, and to ask probing questions to draw the customer out. But they’ll rarely emphasize the most crucial element of the sales process: the question.
The most successful salespeople just ask for what they want and follow their question with the three best reasons to support what you want that are the most relevant to the buyer.
The straightforward approach offers a number of advantages, including the fact that it shortens the sales cycle. In other words, it either gets you to a yes or no faster which, in turn, allows you to prospect for a qualified client with that time.
You can penetrate difficult accounts, close difficult sales calls, protect price margins, reduce meeting time, speed up Powerpoint presentations, structure personnel reviews, sales letters, company communications with suppliers, corporate memos and even write shorter and more effective e-mail messages. This tactic is also quite helpful in corporate and business personal interactions with personnel, especially with supervisors and staff.
The biggest problem with not being upfront is that it gets in the way of the real progress. Giving your clients the runaround not only wastes and energy, it also lets procrastination seep in. It enables people to avoid rejection. After all, if you are busy probing the needs of the prospect, you don’t have to risk actually doing the sales work.
Can you imaging a hot dog vendor at a ballpark asking: “On a 1 – 10 scale, rate your level of discomfort with your hunger?” “Tell me your main objective with the hot dog?” “When you had a hot dog before, how satisfied were you with the mustard and ketchup ratio?”
Isn’t he much more effective when he yells: “Hot dogs, hot dogs, come and get your hot dogs!”
Special to The Globe and Mail
John Baker has held top leadership positions in sales, client service and operations in Fortune 25 companies for more than 25 years. His new book The Asking Formula – Ask For What You Want And Get It is scheduled for late fall 2011 release.
