The Agony & Ecstasy of Building and Scaling Inside Sales
Question Based Selling
1. Question Based Selling
How the most powerful tool in
business can double your sales!
Presented by:
Jeremi Bauer
2. Telling
• What most of us do!
• Why we do it!
• What the customer thinks!
• What is the problem with it?
• How do we do it differently?
3. Selling
• What we should be doing
• Why it is different
• What the customer thinks
• What is so good about it
• How do we go about doing it
4. Leading the sale
• More than one way to accomplish an objective
• Asking permission to move forward
• Open vs. closed ended questions
• Mismatching
• Hand-Push analogy
5. Gold Medals &
German Shepard's
• What’s the difference
• How do you motivate the buyer to action
• Two C’s and one E wins every time
6. What makes people curious
• Horse to water
• Curiosity generators
• Voicemail friend or foe?
• Five strategies to make prospects curious
– Provocative questions and statements
– Partial information
– Glimpse of value
– Newness and exclusivity
– Leveraging momentum
7. Establishing credibility in the sale
• Consultants vs. Salespeople
• Starting at Zero
• Manage the scope of your questions
• The narrower the scope the more credibility
8. The scenario!
• Before we get started would you like to here a little
about me and my company? (question 1)
• How important is your __________ to you?
• How many _______ do you currently ____________?
• Is your top category of ______________________?
• How much call do you get for ___________________?
• Why do you think that is?
• Where do you see ____________ in the next two years?
• How do you feel about leading that charge?
• How do you feel about us having the largest selection
of ____________ in the _________________?
9. Strategic questioning is a process
• Four types of questions in ascending order of value
– Status
– Issue
– Implication
– Solution
10. Soliciting more accurate feedback
• Accuracy is the objective
• Do you ask hopeful questions
• Neutralize the disposition of your questions
• Humbling disclaimers
• Asking the hard questions
11. He/She who asks the questions has
the power
• The paradox of control
• Answer a question with a question
• The second law of Thermodynamics in sales
Editor's Notes
Over arching concept here is to eliminate Risk! The greater the risk the greater the reluctancey to act!
Most of us run around from account to account puking on the customer or the potential customer. We spew information about us and how good we are and why they should be with us. We do this because we know without doubt that we are the BEST! The customer in the mean time sits there and thinks, “ BLAH, BLAH, BLAH; same as the last guy, what does all this mean for me and how is it going to help me? ” The problem is that we haven ’ t evaluated the situation. We haven ’ t involved the customer in the selling process and as a result all we are doing is TELLING!
What we should be doing is a brief 30 second commercial about M&M followed by a question. I ’ ll show you what I mean in a minute. This approach is different because it allows us to engage the customer and get them involved in the selling process. This approach separates us from the competition because we ’ re asking penetrating questions as opposed to stating facts that can receive opposition or push back (I ’ ll demonstrate this in a minute.) When doing this the customer is thinking, “ WOW, I am dealing with a competent professional who truly cares about my business! ” What follows is a road map to put you in the correct mindset to go out there an close deals!
You can either push or pull your way to the end Open ended questions: Can you tell me about… What Happened next? How does this happen? How do you plan to get there? Closed Ended questions: Can you make a decision today? What type of fill in the blank is that Where did you get that Where did you hear that Mismatching is not an objection and should not be handled as such Don ’ t be statement based in your approach, all you do is invite mismatching Contradiction I hear it ’ s going to be nice this weekend! “ Yea if you like it hat and humid! ” The celings in this house are very tall! “ Actually they ’ re tpical in this part of the city! ” Unnecessary Clarification I drive 4000 miles a month! “ Actually, you drive 3987 miles per month! ” Our old vendor ’ s fill rates were about 90 percent, can you do better? “ Actually, we know their fill rates are about 84% ” One upmanship The same thing happened to me only worse You think your proposal is great, you should see your competitors! I Know I heard that mills were closing! I know, I heard that last week I saw an articl that caims MDF is the next best thing! “ I know, that ’ s what I been trying to tell you! ” The harder you push the harder your customer will push back. Newton ’ s second law of physics! For the hand push analogy pick one person in the room ask the to stand up and put their right hand up! Place your hand on theirs and push, notice their reaction. Now do your best to push them through the nearest opening in the room. This is what we are doing when we make statements in the sale instead of asking questions. We are trying to push our customers through the opening. There is however another way to get them there and that is to have them follow you through the opening. Now ask them, for every question you ask them, they are to push on your hand. Just keep asking question until you are both through the door. See the difference!
While some people run fast toward gold medals, many others run even faster from German Shepherd's. Dale Carnegie, “ Personally I am fond of strawberries and crème, but I find that for some strange reason fish prefer worms. So when I go fishing, I don ’ t think about what I want. I think about what they want. I dangle a worm in front of a fish and say, ‘ Wouldn ’ t you like to have that? ’” The key is to position your benefits to what they want not what you want! Competence and Credibility coupled with Expertise will win every time. Vs. Happy Gas over energetic types
Our job is not to make the horse drink, our job is to make the horse thirsty !!! The more curious the prospect becomes, the more opportunity we will have to add value and provide solutions Easiest Way to generate curiosity Guess what? Can I ask you a question? The more curious they become the sooner they ’ ll call back Something made me think of you! I have a question that only you can answer. Make people wonder why you said (or asked) what you did! Leave some meat on the bone! Generate curiosity don ’ t satisfy it! Scenario Today ’ s market is making it tough to generate sales and it appears that customers loyalties are tough to break Yea we ’ re running into that I know Moulding and Millwork can help you combat this Really, How? I ’ ll get to that in a minute, but first I would like to ask you another question! GET IT? People always want to be in the KNOW! Our Competitive Advantages
Our Number One Job Is To Establish CREDIBILITY in every account. Why? We all inherit the negative biases from the other reps Both are salespeople but consultants have more credibility why? Because they ask questions that analyze the situation and the deliver their recommendations. They don ’ t puke on the customer about their FAB ’ s Sales people start at near zero credibility Broad or narrow. Next five years or right now. Use the doctor example, new doc asking broad questions????? Remember, Prospects and Customer will form impressions quickly based on the statements you make and the questions you ask
In QBS, asking questions is not a random process. It is a multi faceted strategy! Status, relevant to uncover the status of the current opportunity Same as my situation questions, the idea is to uncover information Issue questions facilitate the first stage of problem solving What is the most significant business issue you currently face What would you like to accomplish with your moulding department To what extent is service/deliveries/growth/margin a factor in your business What other challenges do you foresee? Implication, once an issue has been acknowledged as important we need to probe to see why it is important. What would happen if your supplier left a special order off the truck Have you ever calculated how much money you throw away every year in unusable product What would you do with the money if you didn ’ t have to write that fall-down off Use global questions to develop further needs How do you mean Can you elaborate What else How did that turn out Like what The BIGGEST thing is focus on our areas of strength! Solution questions are the most valuable closing tools. This is where the conversation changes from one of issues and problems to one of benefits that will come from having the right solution. US!!!!!!!!!!!! Mr. Prospect, if I could show you how to solve each of these issues we just discussed would you be willing to take the next step? Mr. Prospect, in your mind, what would be the ideal solution to this problem you face?
Hopeful questions: Mr. Prospect, are we still in good shape to complete this deal by the end of the month? Our solution looks really good doesn ’ t it? Are you happy with the information we ’ ve provided thus far Are you as excited as we are about entering into a business relationship? Neutralize the disposition questions: Mr. Prospect, are we still in good shape to complete this deal by the end of the month, or do you think something might cause it to be delayed? From what I can tell our solution looks really good, what are your thoughts? Excuse me but am I interrupting Did I catch you at a bad time Humbling disclaimers: I am not sure how to ask this, but … Without being too forward, can I ask you about … At the risk of getting myself in trouble, would you mind if …. I don ’ t want to ask the wrong thing, but …. The hard questions: Isn ’ t it a fair question to ask your impression? Mr. Customer, are we at the risk of losing your business? If you were the sales person in this account what would you be doing differently? Something is holding you back isn ’ t it? Is it just me or is something bothering you about this proposal? What other concerns do you have?
The paradox of control is, “ he who appears to have given control away is actually the controller ” Every question should be answered with a question. Example 1: Prospect: How does your product/service compare to the competition? Seller: How much do you know about our product/service. Example 2: Prospect: How much does your product/service cost? Seller: Which product/service are you referring to? You get the point! In the second law of thermodynamics heat flows from hot to cold. Just open a window in the middle of winter. Same is true for sales when you use question as opposed to statements in your presentation. Information flows from the prospect to you allowing you to close more deals because you ’ ll be able to solve more problems and appear as a more competent and credible expert!