You might ask, “Could it actually be that simple? Is it scalable? Can anyone do it?” Well, I’m not saying its foolproof because of our friend Murphy:
Murphy's
Eighth Corollary:
It
is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.
Unknown Sage
Nonetheless, IMHO it is a good approach. It’s certainly worth trying, don’t you think? Do you believe your customers and prospects will notice when you’re asking; inviting; deferring vs. telling; selling; pushing like so many other salespeople?
Originality
consists of trying to be like everybody else - and failing.
Raymond Radiguet
What am I asking about? I’m asking about asking. Asking is a wonderful skill for life in general but especially in the sales profession. Just ask my friend and super star, salesperson, Matt. If you did he might share this recent experience…
He
asked, “Shall we meet and review your evaluation team’s questions and
concerns?” She thought that might be a
good idea. He asked, “How about a 3pm
Zoom for 30 minutes?” She agreed.
Matt’s
prospect arrived on time but she was obviously disheveled. He could tell by the tone in her voice that
the meeting was not going to go as planned.
(It
was awkward but Matt was fearless, because he knew from experience:
One
can either face reality at the outset or one can disseminate the bad news on
the installment plan.
Norman Augustine)
She
said she had the feedback from her team but hadn’t had the time to review
it. She was “fighting fires” all day
(and losing!). He asked, “Do you want to
take 15 minutes for a bio-break and collect your thoughts on your team’s
notes? After all, we both had 30 minutes
blocked out on our calendars for the meeting.”
Matt offered to simply wait on the Zoom session until she returned. She expressed appreciation for his
thoughtfulness and agreed.
When
his prospect returned to the Zoom session, she was much more relaxed. Matt asked, “Shall we simply go through your
list with the remaining time we have?”
and they did. It only took 10
minutes; no real “road blocks”; Matt was able to answer a few open items. Before their scheduled time was up Matt
asked, “Do you think we’re good?” His
prospect said, “Yes, I think we’re good.”
Ahead of reaching the bottom of the hour he asked, “Will you be at your desk for a little while?” She said she would be. He asked, “Shall I send over the agreement for your signature?” and she said, “OK”.
Prior to the close-of-business that day; after what started as a meeting that might not have continued; Matt received a signed order. Are those the questions you would have asked at that meeting?
… customers place a great deal of importance on a smooth, uncomplicated purchase. No one wants to work with a supplier that makes any purchase more complicated…
I asked questions throughout my sales career, too. Not because I was good at it but because I was comfortable letting my prospects take the lead.
My comfort with asking questions started over 52 years ago. Back then I asked perhaps the most important question of my entire life to my most important “prospect”. She said, “Yes!”. We’ve been married ever since.
GAP
When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or…
we
could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.
No comments:
Post a Comment