A good salesperson knows to ask questions during a sales call. But which questions is less well known.
The pitfall of a sales pitch
Selling during the sales pitch, that seems obvious right? Yes, but... selling too early, without any kind of introduction, without attention or interest in the customer is a common mistake. Starting the presentation, throwing brochures or samples on the table and immediately starting the argument, as salespeople we have all torn our trousers off at one time or another. As a result, you are basically saying to your prospect in a non-verbal way "your situation, needs or what you might actually want do not interest me. I am here to sell."
This, of course, is not the signal you want to send. A sales conversation is give and take. Let me give you the following, you want the customer to show interest in your proposal? Then show interest in the customer first!
How? Quite simply, ask pointed questions!
5 questions for every sales call
Ask about the customer's situation and how he wishes to improve it, pulse on the problems and challenges he is struggling with. Everyone likes to talk about themselves, as well as your customer. Below are questions that may come up during any sales conversation:
1. "What is the reason why you agreed to have this conversation?"
The first step of a successful sales conversation has been taken. By asking this question, people admit that you might be able to help them with their problem. Very interesting, because this way you immediately know what your potential customer's problem is.
2. "What does the ideal solution look like for you?"
By listening to what the prospect is looking for, you can understand exactly what result he expects. But perhaps more importantly, now you know exactly how to describe the product or service and how it can deliver the desired results the prospect has just raised.
3. What have you already tried to solve this? What was the result?
Asking customers what they have done to solve their problem is a good way to find out what their options are. Even if they have taken other actions, if they are talking to you, it means that these have not worked and the problem still exists. Ask them what they have already done and why it hasn't worked. If they haven't done anything yet, it means they can't find a saviour other than you, so the customer is 'desperate' and he/she lets you know through this question that he/she really needs your help.
4. How badly do you want to solve your problem?
Understanding a customer's motivation is crucial for success. If you do not find out the desire to buy your product/service, it means you are not approaching the real pain point well enough. As a result, you have no guarantee that the customer is actually interested in the proposed solution. Therefore, this control question is useful to determine whether the customer is actually interested.
5. Would you like our solution to solve your problem?
However, be careful not to enter the so-called "grey zone" after that. I hear you thinking, "grey zone"? Your sales pitch enters this zone when the customer is not forced to make a choice. For the customer, this is the ideal situation but, as a salesperson, you consequently don't know where you stand. The conversation then "hovers" somewhere between a sales conversation and an ordinary social contact.
To avoid this, we can give the following tip: ask for commitment from your customer. At the end of the conversation, ask a concluding question or give a lead to make a next appointment, to the next step in the sales process. Closing the conversation in this way, albeit in a gentle and elegant way, obliges the customer to make a statement about his (dis)interest.
Want a good valve? Let your customers know that you are ready to solve their problems when they join your services. After you have explained what you can offer them and they have understood what it entails, you can go to the close. Ask them the question, listen to their 'yes', mention the investment and ask if they can start on this or another date.
Tips on asking good questions in a sales call
So in a sales conversation, it is very important to find out exactly what your customer needs. After all, you want to avoid the conversation starting to look more like a cross-examination. From experience, we know that the following five tips work well:
- Don't go straight from one question to another, as if you were going down a list. When you ask good questions, you will get answers to unasked questions as well.
- Dig deeper into the answer of the initial question. A useful way to do an analysis naturally is to ask further about a specific item: "May I ask what was the specific reason you replaced this machine last year?"
- Repeat in your own words what your customer has just said. Do this not only at the end of the analysis, but also during. That way, the customer will feel heard.
- Feel free to include a tip or relevant story, as long as it ties in with what your interlocutor has just said. After all, this adds authenticity.
- Change your mindset. Not only do you ask questions to look for the customer's challenges, you also ask questions to show interest. Selling is a seduction game. Don't think: what can I sell here? Think: how can I get to know the prospect as well as possible and understand his or her lifestyle.
Here are some bonus tips:
We are confident that these targeted questions will help you better assess and increase your future sales opportunities! Want to know more about this, feel free to contact us.
