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| How To Sell - Question Technique |
Open Ended Questions, you can't sell without them - in fact, don't leave home without them! Who are the best people I know at asking open ended questions? Four year old children and policemen. But if you want to be successful in selling, this is a skill to master.
Any Sales Presentation is just a conversation but one with a structure and a desired outcome. Selling is all about the customer or prospect, it's not about you. That's why good question technique is so important. The old adage "you have two ears and one mouth, you should use them in that propertion in a sales call" is as true now as it ever was.
There is no point having great questions if you don't listen to the answers.
So let's get into it. How To Sell Coach thoughts on Question Technique.
What is an Open Ended Question?
An open ended question is one that when asked can't be replied to with a 'yes' or 'no' answer. There are many uses for open ended questions:
Establishing the need
Gathering information
Developing rapport
Qualifiying information
We use them every day in many situations and therefore the opportunity always exist to practice you question technique before you get into a sales presentation.
The important thing is that you work on and have a list of questions ready before the sales meeting. I can't say that you will have the same thre opening questions that will fit every situation because all potential customers are different. But, as you make more calls, it will become clear that there are some that work better for you than others and therefore you will use them more often.
Here are some examples, just to get your thought process moving. (Just as a bad example before we get into some bettter ones from a telephone call I had earlier this week. "How's the weather with you." Oh, man. This is bad sales training. Yes, someone had told the salesperson what an open ended question was but if you're cold calling busy people who you've never met - they won't have time for idle chit chat about the weather, trust me.)
How To Sell Coach - Examples of Open Ended Questions
Finding out (part of establishing the need)
Another technique is the Tell Me About question which is just another form of an open ended question.
How to find your Killer Open Ended Questions. (How To Sell Coach Top Tip)
This is a key part of how to sell, and something that some sales people struggle with. Remembering that any sales presentation is about the customer, your open ended questions should be structured round the Personal Benefits to the customer, the 'what's in it for me.'
We'll cover Feature and Benefits in another section and in more detail but for every F and B you have for your product, there must be a Personal Benefit for your customer. It is you customers key Personal Benefits that you need to find out and establish to help you structure your open ended questions. Here's an example:
So lets say you are a Letting Agent who manages properties and find's tenants for Landlords. Therefore:
The Product is your Property Management Service.
A Feature of this is undertake all repairs on the property on behalf of the landlord.
The Benefit is that you can negotiate better rates with the contractors you use and manage the whole process.
The Personal Benefit to the landlord is that he saves time and money on the repairs undertaken on his property.
So the open ended questions from this are:
How important is it for you to save money on the outgoings for your property?
How difficult have you found it finding trusted contractors in the past?
Tell me how you have managed repairs on your property?
What kind of repairs have you found most costly for your property?
So here, the questions are structure round what's important to the customer. To help narrow this down a cover all opener may be something like:
When looking for an Agent to manage you property, what are the key services that are most important to you?
Any Sales Presentation is just a conversation but one with a structure and a desired outcome. Selling is all about the customer or prospect, it's not about you. That's why good question technique is so important. The old adage "you have two ears and one mouth, you should use them in that propertion in a sales call" is as true now as it ever was.
There is no point having great questions if you don't listen to the answers.
So let's get into it. How To Sell Coach thoughts on Question Technique.
What is an Open Ended Question?
An open ended question is one that when asked can't be replied to with a 'yes' or 'no' answer. There are many uses for open ended questions:
Establishing the need
Gathering information
Developing rapport
Qualifiying information
We use them every day in many situations and therefore the opportunity always exist to practice you question technique before you get into a sales presentation.
The important thing is that you work on and have a list of questions ready before the sales meeting. I can't say that you will have the same thre opening questions that will fit every situation because all potential customers are different. But, as you make more calls, it will become clear that there are some that work better for you than others and therefore you will use them more often.
Here are some examples, just to get your thought process moving. (Just as a bad example before we get into some bettter ones from a telephone call I had earlier this week. "How's the weather with you." Oh, man. This is bad sales training. Yes, someone had told the salesperson what an open ended question was but if you're cold calling busy people who you've never met - they won't have time for idle chit chat about the weather, trust me.)
How To Sell Coach - Examples of Open Ended Questions
Finding out (part of establishing the need)
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| How To Sell - Question Technique |
- When you are considering a product / supplier / service, what are the key benefits you look for?
- What do you want this product / service to achieve for you / your business?
- What have been your experiences in the past?
- What difficulties have you had in the past?
- What challenges has this presented in the past?
- What are the best thing about the product / service you use now?
- How would you improve this?
- What is the decision making process in deciding upon this product / service?
- How do you see this working in the future?
- What would you like to see improved?
- How do you currently deal with that?
Another technique is the Tell Me About question which is just another form of an open ended question.
- Tell me about the issues that are important to your business.
- Tell me about the challenges you face.
- Tell me about how market conditions are effecting your business.
- Tell me about the difficulties you have had in the past.
- Tell me about the successes you have had in the past.
How to find your Killer Open Ended Questions. (How To Sell Coach Top Tip)
This is a key part of how to sell, and something that some sales people struggle with. Remembering that any sales presentation is about the customer, your open ended questions should be structured round the Personal Benefits to the customer, the 'what's in it for me.'
We'll cover Feature and Benefits in another section and in more detail but for every F and B you have for your product, there must be a Personal Benefit for your customer. It is you customers key Personal Benefits that you need to find out and establish to help you structure your open ended questions. Here's an example:
So lets say you are a Letting Agent who manages properties and find's tenants for Landlords. Therefore:
The Product is your Property Management Service.
A Feature of this is undertake all repairs on the property on behalf of the landlord.
The Benefit is that you can negotiate better rates with the contractors you use and manage the whole process.
The Personal Benefit to the landlord is that he saves time and money on the repairs undertaken on his property.
So the open ended questions from this are:
How important is it for you to save money on the outgoings for your property?
How difficult have you found it finding trusted contractors in the past?
Tell me how you have managed repairs on your property?
What kind of repairs have you found most costly for your property?
So here, the questions are structure round what's important to the customer. To help narrow this down a cover all opener may be something like:
When looking for an Agent to manage you property, what are the key services that are most important to you?
