Historically, when I traveled with a lot of salespeople, they frequently ask some variation of this question: “What is the one thing I need to do to become a great sales rep?”
At first, my answers were mainly off the top of mind. I would relate some ideas from an article I just read or a best practice I picked up the previous week from another salesperson.
But after a while, being a researcher at heart, I decided a more thoughtful answer was needed. Fortunately, at the time, I was working with my colleague Neil Rackham, the creator of SPIN® selling.
So, as we were trying out his new official croquet lawn, I suggested to Neil that I might spend time with the star performers at some of our key accounts like Apple, McKinsey, and Microsoft. To see what the best were doing on a good day. Neil, who was always looking for more data, replied – “sure.”
That was some time ago. So let’s fast forward to the present. The interesting point is – what I learned back then holds up extremely well today. If someone were to ask that question today, I would answer “if you want to be a great salesperson, adopt the idea and learn the skills to – ask, listen, and then talk.”
Since this idea is absolutely fundamental for becoming a superior salesperson, let’s dissect the meme and explore each component.
Ask. If salespeople are going to bring value, new ideas, and insight, they must comprehensively understand the business issues and the challenges their customers face. Questions are a primary tool for getting that done.
For example, if the customer seems to be thinking about a business strategy that involves risks, asking questions about how they plan to manage the risks shows you understand their situation and enables you to offer a more thoughtful solution later in the discussion.
Let’s look at four specific payoffs for getting good at asking questions:
Establishing credibility. Well-planned questions go a long way in establishing your credibility when framed around issues and challenges relevant to the customer.
Avoiding the temptation to jump in too soon with a solution. A common scenario is for the salesperson to start the conversation by asking some opening questions … the customer says something about an issue or concern … and then the salesperson immediately jumps into a pitch about a product that can solve all that. Equally often, that is a trap since the definition of the problem is incomplete.
Understanding the problem more effectively and exploring possible strategic, operational, and financial ripple effects. Follow-up questions help salespeople drill down to gain a better understanding of the problems facing the customer, as well as assisting the customer in exploring new insights about the nature and extent of the problem. For example: ” Sally, you said you were concerned about service capability – do you see your new product adding to that problem?”
Developing a shared view of the potential value of the solution. Questions are not only valuable for exploring the scope of the problem; they are also useful for exploring the potential value of a solution. By asking questions, you can obtain insight into the customer’s view of how their situation would be better if the problem was resolved by the solution you are proposing. For example, a question like: “So Bob if you were able to integrate those two components, what do you see as the payoffs?”
Becoming skillful at asking questions is and will continue to be a very key skillset for achieving sales excellence. So, what are some straightforward ways you can do just that? Here’s a short list:
Up your background research game. Today there are numerous company resources and public databases for finding out almost anything about almost everything. In times past, salespeople had to ask questions in the sales calls to find out situational information about the industry, company, or person – that is no longer the case. And, if you do ask in the call, that lack of preparation is immediately apparent to the customer, and the impression is not a good one.
Get serious about pre-call planning. Using questions skillfully in a business conversation is something hard to do in real-time. It makes sense in your pre-call planning to write down the three or four key questions you want to integrate into your conversation. Think about what you want to ask and how you are going to ask it.
Leverage your observational opportunities. From time to time, you go on calls with your sales manager or a team call with a colleague. Take the opportunity to observe the questioning strategy and type of questions used by your sales manager or team member. After the call, spend a few minutes in a review to better understand their questioning strategy.
Solicit feedback. Practice does not make perfect – it’s practice plus feedback. Search out opportunities to get feedback on your questioning skills from your manager on coaching calls and your team members on joint calls. Optimize your opportunities for getting better.
Listen. It’s necessary to not only hear what the customer says but also actually listen to what’s been said. And, the customer must know you are listening. This means listening isn’t a passive activity – it’s an active sport. So how do we do this active listening thing? Here are some ideas.
Test Understanding. “That’s a need I haven’t heard you mention. Before we move on, could you tell me more about …?” Testing Understanding invites the customer to continue to discuss or explain so you can achieve a more comprehensive understanding of their needs and opportunities.
Summarize. Summarizing is an excellent way for salespeople to demonstrate they understand what the customer’s saying. “From what you have said, it sounds like your major concern with the existing support could be summarized this way …” Summarizing restates what the customer said in a way that demonstrates understanding. Here, it’s crucial to distinguish summarizing from parroting – the latter being a bad idea. Summarizing paraphrases only the essentials and is stated in your words.
Build Value. “That’s an interesting point – might there be other reasons for building that into the equation? For example, we’ve found in a similar case that …” Building support reinforces or extends the customer’s support or agreement by applying what you’ve learned from a previous experience or by suggesting its application to a new situation. In a business development conversation, it can provide answers to the question -Why us?
Take Notes. You can listen four to five times faster than someone can talk, so use the time to evaluate what is being said and take notes. Be transparent when note-taking because it indicates you are interested in what the customer is saying.
Evaluate the Entire Conversation. It’s important to not only listen to what is being said, but also to listen to how it is being said, and to what is not being said. Qualifiers or evasive language are informative, and the absence of information about a particular issue can be an important signal for future action.
Tune Into High Fidelity Situations. Sometimes it’s important to turn up the volume. When topics enter the conversation, such as new challenges, high-risk issues, or key decision criteria, it is time to up your game. Plus, it’s a good time to pay attention to nonverbals.
Then Talk. Once you have a shared vision of what the customer needs, you can’t win by your pitching products; you have to sell value. You must, compellingly, make the connection between your solution and the outcomes that are important to the customer. You cannot leave making those connections to the customer because sometimes the customer will, and sometimes they won’t make the connections.
Let’s take a quick review of a few traps when one reaches this “talk” stage:
Slipping into a product pitch versus engaging in a business conversation.
Not avoiding the periodical assumptive close – the “if I could show you the way…” trial close is a particularly bad idea. Good alternative: propose an advance that moves the sales cycle forward at the end of the call.
Failure to ask clarifying questions once you start to talk about your solution.
In the end, it is well to remember that in successful calls, buyers talk more than the sellers, and the sellers ask more questions. The reason all that works is because statements tend to inform, but questions persuade, and great selling is about the skillful application of the art and science of persuasion.