Asking Deeper Questions
As the decade advances, business gets more complicated and it also gets faster. One of my favourite videos to share, that demonstrates this, is a comparison of a 30-second pit-stop tyre-change in 1981 vs the Red Bull 2019 record breaking 1.91sec. The pressures this puts on your business is felt across every department. Looking at your sales process and culture, the reality is that the requirements to succeed in sales keep increasing. How can you leverage this element to create a win-win for you and your clients?
We have discussed the importance of preparing well and setting yourself up into the best position to serve clients well. The ‘fruit’ of this is best seen in the questioning stage, as you seek to understand what the client wants. A saying I often quote is, “The better you know a customer, the better you can serve them”. In a simple sales process, we ask questions to understand things such as what a client wants, why they want it, where they hope to be, when they want it, who the key decision makers are, which options/solutions appeal the most and how they will measure results. These are often referred to as the “7 W’s” from Rudyard Kipling's famous “7 Faithful Servants” poem.
Preparing your questions well allows you to be fully present and “listening-to-understand” rather than “listening-to-answer.” When we listen well and are fully present it shows that we respect our clients’ time. This respect of time has become more of a requirement as people become increasingly time-poor. Does your sales process demonstrate how much you value the time your clients give you? Do you make it easy to deal with you? Does every point add value to your customer?
Experienced sales reps understand that they will ask the same questions repeatedly through their career. This allows them to refine their questions and work out which questions return the fullest answers. (As a side note - Don’t get bored of your questions or rush through them because you’ve asked them a million times and know all the likely answers! Remember, for your customer this might be their first time going through this process and you want to build trust and confidence.)
As you develop great questions and understand your customers well, it becomes possible to explore the impacts of problems that are common for your clients. This can show the depth of your knowledge of the industry and help you to empathise and connect deeply from a point of understanding. Exploring through impact questions and sharing the potential flow-on repercussions can help customers make the right decision sooner.
What questions could you be asking?
