Are all your meetings with potential customers not getting the results you want?
Discover what could be the real issue.
Many sales professionals go into a prospect meeting armed with a pitch and a smile and think that’s enough. And in some cases it might be – but for a long term, effective sales process with repeat sales there’s more to this picture. There’s a really simple way to drive sales and create long term relationships with your prospects to have them not only coming back for more, but preaching about you to everyone else too! The ultimate win, right?
In this blog I want to share three very simple questions that I usually ask my potential customers in a meeting that create a conversation…after all that’s how you start any relationship.
Start to think of yourself as Sherlock Holmes and your role is to discover as much as you can about the person or people in front of you. The more clues you uncover the more likely you are to match their needs/wants perfectly so that they absolutely wnat to buy from you.
So your first question is…
“What attracted you to this xxxx?”
Don’t suggest any answers, “was it X, or X?”, just stay silent and let the prospect share their thoughts. The answer will give you a massive amount of information, the results of which will help you to tailor your offering during the process or offer a viable alternative if this has just made you realise that the reason you thought they came to you actually wasn’t that reason at all! In sales our job is to try our best to understand the other person’s ‘map of the world’. That means that all of the assumptions and decisions you may have made prior to the meeting taking place could all be completely wrong. That’s your ‘map of the world’. They are your perceptions and what you really need to be clear about is are THEIRS.
“What are your biggest challenges or frustrations right now?”
Firstly, by asking this question it shows your prospect that you actually care about what they are going through! It reassures them that you aren’t just there to sell to them but also have a vested interest in getting rid of their frustrations and challenges. Secondly, the answer to this question is gold dust. You’re finding out exactly what the pain points are and hopefully your product or service can be exact remedy to these issues. Make sure to address how your service or product solves these pain points for them. You don’t need to be completely explicit here, instead keep a mental note and be sure to tell them about what you do that will resolve their challenge.
“As well as price, what else is important to you with this product/service?”
Asking this question helps to steer your customer away from price being the main deciding factor as to whether they buy from you. Whether we like it or not, price will often be a factor, but don’t let that put you off or send you on an endless quest to beat your competition on price. The answer to this will tell you the most important other influencing factors when making a sales decision and can be highlighted later down the line if price is an issue.
So, instead of galloping into your next meeting with a potential customer ready to pith away about how great your product or service is, take a moment to get inside their heads and let them know they are valued by asking some or all of these three questions.
I’d love to hear how you get on.
Until next time
Leigh 🙂
