If I had a pound for the number of times someone has asked me that question, I’d be quite a bit richer! Naturally, we answer in terms of what we actually DO, as the questioner is normally edging in that direction.

Many of us have been taught to answer with an ‘elevator speech’, a few succinct words that encapsulate our service or offering in the time it takes to travel a few floors in an elevator. If you’ve tried this, it isn’t too long before most people’s eyes glaze over and you have to wake them up from their hypnotic trance.

Most elevator speeches are as exciting as watching my grass grow, but they don’t have to be. How about something different? How about asking the person a couple of questions that will show your interest in understanding their business pains and opportunities?

This will help them see you as someone who can offer real help and value instead of simply another salesperson up against all your competition.

When someone asks me what I do, I reply with something like: “Well, I’m glad you asked. May I ask you, What would happen if you lost two of your biggest customers?” That’s a hard-hitting question that gets the customer thinking about his business while he’s looking at me.

Then I follow up with another hard-hitting question: “What’s your business plan to keep those customers loyal to you?”

I’ve got the prospect thinking again, and he’s probably stalling while he thinks of the answer.

So I carry on with a quick resumé of what we could do for him: “We are in the business of helping businesses like yours answer questions like these”

It certainly grabs attention, creates desire to know more and piques their interest in what I have to offer.

Most clients have heard elevator speeches that are too generic. Think about how your services would affect your prospect’s business and then think up two or more hard-hitting questions that would make them stop and think about themselves. Interestingly, while their conscious brain is thinking of answers, their unconscious brain is associating the answers with you, as you’re the one standing there in front of them!

So think up at least ten questions that would show your prospects you are someone worth talking to. Then add some more, so you have a toolkit of ideas in your armoury to assist you in any meeting.

Questions get your prospects thinking. Make sure they think about you.

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling
MTD Sales Training

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Here are three critical questions you need to confirm with your customer before you have a hope in progressing the sale:

Who is going to make the decision?

That’s pretty obvious, but do you know who the key influencers are, too? Who are the people the decision-maker is going to take counsel from, ask approval of, or commit the product and services to? If you know who the influencers are, you may be in a position to present at their level, too

What criteria do your customers use to make decisions?

Each decision-maker will have their own way of deciding on how the decision will be made. If you haven’t sorted out what those ways are, you’re toast.

They might want a particular ROI, or completion within a certain time frame. They may wish to follow a certain process that they followed the last time they chose. Or they may have a certain budget that they have decided to stick to, no matter what. Find out the criteria they are going to use to judge whether they will use you, and you’re firing on all cylinders.

Thirdly, Why are those criteria so important?

Ask your customer why that particular reason is so important to them. It may be that other projects are running parallel to the use of your product or service. You can then make sure your services can assist the customer achieve their goals.

The answer to these questions will assist you in developing a closer partnership with the customer and put you in prime position in their considerations.

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling
MTD Sales Training

Have you downloaded my latest report “The Sales Person’s Crisis”? Over 10,000 sales pros have.

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If ever there was a key skill that you need to study and improve upon it’s asking the right sales questions.

You need to unearth the pain, the desire and the motivations that will get your prospect to take action.

Now in an ideal world your prospect will answer your questions EXACTLY the way that you want them to so that your product/service benefits match them like fitting a hand into a glove!

But we live in the real world!

Having said that here’s a technique that will enable you to work out what questions to ask so that you get the answers you need!

Here’s how:

Write down the top 5 benefits that your product/service has.

Then, you need to reverse engineer those benefits. Write down what the prospect would be experiencing now because they are not taking advantage of those benefits because they are not using your product/service.

Let me give you an example:

Let’s say that you sell software that enables you to fax documents from your desktop.

One of the benefits is that it saves you time and money. There’s no standing at a fax machine and because it’s internet based there are no costs to fax each document after the initial purchase of the software.

So that’s the benefit. We now need to reverse engineer that benefit.

Now because the prospect does not use the software at the moment a lot of time must be wasted when people are sending faxes because it takes a couple of minutes for them to go through. Plus, it costs 30p to send a fax from the machine.

So now you can construct some questions around this:

How many faxes does your company send in an average month?
How long does it take to send a fax at the machine?
How much is it currently costing you to send the faxes each month?

So if you get something like 1,000 faxes, 5 minutes per fax and 30p per fax and your software costs £250 then you’ve really got something to work on!

Because after you’ve completed the document to fax all you need to do is enter one screen, put in the number and press send so it takes 1 minute as opposed to 5 – SAVING 4000 minutes per month

Currently it costs your company 1,000 faxes x 30p per fax each month – £300 per month

So in month 1 the payback is actually £50 saving (£300 fax fees – cost of software £250) and then £300 per month savings thereafter and it saves 66 hours worth of time which at £10 per hour equates to £660.

I hope you get the picture?

Construct your questions in this way and it will really help you.

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling
MTD Sales Training
MTD Sales Blog

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

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I need to lose some weight but I don’t want to!

My doctor tells me that I need to shed a few pounds because of my hectic lifestyle but I don’t really want to.

So what will I do?

I’ll probably not do it because the pain of actually shedding the weight is far greater than the “pain” I would suffer by cutting out all of the client lunches, the party food and overall, the “naughty food”!

And here’s a lesson for you.

Your clients will only buy what they want. They might not even need it! But they will only purchase something if it’s a must have, want.

Don’t believe me?

Look in your company car park and you will notice 4 x 4’s, posh cars, bangers – all types!

When I had a Porsche, I didn’t really need it. I just wanted to look good and feel important – and it worked! I wanted it badly so I purchased it.

Your prospects and clients will only say YES when they want it.

So make sure you do everything in your power to make the purchase a must have. What do they want to feel and experience from making the purchasing?

Is it importance? Security? What is?

You need to ask questions to reveal these inner motivations and then you need to present your wares in light of this.

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling
MTD Sales Training

Download the FREE REPORT that everyone is talking about:

I’m asked a lot about the value of asking the right sales questions, so much so that I put a free report together on the homepage of the blog on the top 23 sales questions to use with your prospects!

You see, in any sales interaction you need to adopt the PULL rather PUSH mentality.

What I mean by this is that you don’t just PUSH benefits down the throat of your prospect. Instead, you pull out the problems and pain from your prospect and then you SOLVE the problem with what you offer.

So when you go into your next sales interaction remember to PULL out the problems and pain by asking effective questions. You need to assume the position of a doctor!

Now a doctor will perform a thorough examination before writing out a prescription and so should you.

And just like a doctor remember this:

“Prescription before diagnosis is malpractice!”

So, in summary: Pull out the problems first and then solve them. Ask questions, listen and make sure you unearth what EXACTLY the issues, problems and pain is before you SOLVE them!

Happy Selling

Sean

Sean McPheat
MTD Sales Blog

Telephone: 0800 849 6732

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

Your prospects will always do more to avoid pain then they will to gain pleasure.

It’s just human nature to act that way.

And in this “bad news” economy that we are sick to the back teeth of hearing of, a lot of companies are battening down the hatches and are going into survival mode (i.e avoid pain at all costs) as opposed to going into thrive mode (i.e gain pleasure)

So this provides an opportunity for you.

Here’s a quick exercise for you to complete:

1. Write down all of the benefits that your product or service solves

2. Next, re-engineer those benefits into pain! What I mean by this is that you should write down what your prospect’s situation would be if they don’t use your product or service

3. Next, write down 5-10 pain inducing questions that you can ask to elicit pain and problems during your sales interactions

4. After they expose their pain you can then solve their problem!

An example;

You sell a fax machine that is integrated onto your prospect’s desktop.

Benefits:
- You don’t have to leave your desk when sending a fax

- It costs as much as sending an email

- It’s kinder to the environment

Reverse Engineer The Benefits:
- By leaving your desk you spend 5-15 minutes at the fax machine and this wastes time, effort and focus

- It costs 40p per fax

- It wastes paper

Questions You Could Ask To Induce Pain:
- Do you know how many faxes are sent in your office each week?

- Do you know how long it roughly takes to send a fax?

- (then you’d discuss the 5-15 minutes x the number of faxes sent each week to get a ball park figure in terms of time lost)

- (you can also do the same with the volume x cost)

- I noticed that you are a “green employer” – do you know how much paper is being wasted with the 544 faxes you said you send each week? On average it’s a minimum of 3 pages per fax etc

I hope you get the idea?

It’s just a neat little tip to get you to reverse engineer the benefits into pain inducing questions to elicit the pain.

And then of course, we all know what will provide a solution to the pain don’t we!!!????

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone: 0800 849 6732

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

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What do you do and say when the prospect says:

“I want to think about it”?

Well, I know that if a client says that to me I haven’t really unearthed what the true objections could be.

“I want to think about it” is not really an objection.

Instead, it’s a way to buy some time and is a stalling tactic.

As a salesperson you need to know why your prospect is stalling and then help them to make their decision.

Here’s a way to unearth what I mean:

(Use your own words and style here)

PROSPECT:
I want to think about it

YOU:
Ok, great. So you are interested Mr Prospect? Is that what you mean?

PROSPECT:
Yes we are

YOU:
I hope you’re not just saying that to get rid of me Mr Prospect!! (say it in a joking way and create some rapport with some laughter and banter)

PROSPECT:
No, far from it. I just need to weigh up all of our options.

YOU:
Sure thing. Investing in XYZ is a big/important decision. (then talk about why etc) Do you have to run what I’ve covered by anyone else? (this tells you whether or not they are the decision maker!)

PROSPECT:
(If he says yes, then you need to meet/talk with the “other people” for a fair hearing!)

No, I will be making the final decision.

YOU:
No problem. I bet you’ve got a lot of questions in your mind to think through and reflect on?

PROSPECT:
Yes, I have. (They will then tell you why or you respond with..)

YOU:
Which question would you say are the most important for you?

(Whatever the prospect now says will be the major objections)

Please remember that objections can come in many shapes and guises, it’s your job to find out what they really are and respond accordingly.

Here are some objections that they could come out with when they say “I want to think it over”

- The prospect is not the decision maker and needs others to help them decide

- You are too expensive

- They don’t have the budget

- They were just investigating the possibility of your product/service

- The other two businesses that they saw were both cheaper than you but you had the better products

- They are not ready to buy right now

- They do not like you

- Your product/service does not do what they want

- They want a more reputable/established company

- They always use XYZ for this type of work in the past

Keep it simple, be yourself and until next time, happy selling!

Sean Mc

PS
By the way, we have got some 2-day Essential Selling Skills workshops coming up at the Crowne Plaza, Heathrow.

** IMPROVE YOUR SALES PERFORMANCE **

We can come to you to help you close more sales and overcome those objections! Check out in-house sales courses

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…