Who's Asking The
Questions Here Anyway?
Turn the meeting around so you're in control
What often happens on an initial sales call is the
prospect asks the sales rep to justify themselves.
Well, not actually in
those words, but they ask the rep questions such
as -- Describe what you do. What do you sell? Why
should I buy from you? And other probing questions
that not only put the sales rep in a defensive
position, but puts the prospect in control of the
meeting.
Now you could go ahead and answer her questions.
You could spend the next 20 minutes telling her
what your company does, what products or services
it offers that you are trying to sell her, and why
she should buy from you. But the truth of the
matter is that you probably don't know why
she should buy from you, at least not at this
point. Another problem with this approach is that
the meeting is now being controlled by your
prospect. Once you've answered her questions, your
prospect will make the sole determination as to
whether she needs your product or not. You lost
total control.
The conversation goes something like this:
Prospect: "So what is it you're selling
today?"
Sales Rep: "Well, I have this really great
widget that makes your systems run a lot faster?"
Prospect: "And what makes your widget
better than the one we're using now?"
Sales Rep: "We offer quality products with
very reliable service. We provide expertise in
your industry and the value we offer is
demonstrated by the great performance you'll get
with our widgets."
Prospect: "Well, thanks anyway, but we're
happy with the quality, reliability, and
performance we are already getting with our
current widget supplier. But thanks for stopping
by."
Sound familiar? What happened here was the
prospect was in total control of the meeting. What
also happened was the sales rep made his product
and company sound like a commodity. What was
missing was an open dialogue that allowed both
parties to share their concerns, issues and
possible solutions. In other words, a partnership
that could result in a fair exchange of goods and
services.
An alternative to this otherwise waste of valuable
time is to turn the conversation around to where
you, as the sales rep, are asking questions of the
prospect to find out if you, in fact, actually
have a solution for her. When this happens to me,
I usually say something like, "Actually, I'm not
sure why, or even if, you should buy from me at
all until I learn more about your business and any
challenges you might be having. I'll be happy to
answer your questions, but in order to do the best
job I can, would you mind if I find out a little
more about you?" When you present it this way,
they always agree and let you ask any questions
you want.
At this point, it's critical that you ask the
right kind of questions, especially open-ended
questions, to find out everything you can about
their business so you can start considering how
you might be able to help them. (Click
HERE to read my article on listening skills).
Your goal is to learn what problems and challenges
your prospect may be experiencing so you can fit
the right solution to their precise problem. After
you asked all your questions and listened
carefully to the answers, you can then explain
what your company does, what you are selling, and
why the prospect should buy from you. And I can
guarantee that at this point, you will have a very
good reason why they should buy from you because
you will now know exactly what problems you can
solve.
Sometimes the problem you can solve doesn't exist,
or isn't very apparent. Recently, I was meeting
with the president of a very large mortgage
company. I quickly positioned myself as simply
trying to explore the possibilities of working
together instead of trying to sell something.
Honestly, I did not know if the CRM product I
offered would be a good fit. I did know that
several of his loan officers were already using
it, but it was not their company standard. He
ended up giving ME a demo of the internal product
his IT group developed, which actually looked very
good. But I did notice some major areas it didn't
cover. He asked me if I saw any problems or
omissions with his product. He was clearly proud
of what they developed.
I complimented the work they had done and the
thoroughness of the product for what it was
designed to do. But instead of answering his
question about what I thought was omitted, I said,
"You know, that's a really nice product that will
do a lot of what your loan officers need to manage
their accounts. I'm not really sure if you even need my
product. Can you explain what some of your other
business goals are and how you'd like to achieve
them?" I was thinking about some areas they
may not have addressed when he said, "Well I know your product
does a whole lot more and I'm sure we can use it
somewhere here." So he set the stage for me to ask
about their requirements for marketing campaigns,
developing long-term customer relationships with
their borrowers, and other related areas. He
jumped all over that and said they are the areas
in which his product was lacking and wanted my product to fill
the gap. He then invited me back to do a demo
where he will have other members of his management
team to explore the many areas in which
I and my product could help. How's that for
turning a meeting around?
So next time the prospect puts you on the spot and
treats you like the average loser sales rep, turn
the table and start asking the questions. Who's in
charge here anyway?
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ Lombardo | 
which helps
position your company. This statement is
typically referred to as an “Elevator
Pitch” because it should be short enough
to tell someone exactly what you do in the
time it takes them to get
on and off an elevator. Here’s the drill –
You’re in an elevator and someone enters
with you. They say, “Hi. What do you do?”
You have about 4 floors to get them to
understand what you do before they walk out.
Can you do it? Possibly not. 
