I’ve been thinking about photos lately (don’t worry I’ll get to what that has to do with sales shortly). I realized back when it was FILM and you paid to have a picture developed; they were special:
- People thought before taking a shot
- They limited the number of pictures they took (on walks, vacation, at parties)
- Physical albums were created AND people actually looked through them
Why have I been thinking about this?
Maybe it is the fact that I found a really cool picture in the buried depths of my computer.It is from a trip we took in 2007 to Ottawa (it’s at the Canada Science and Technology Museum just in case it would have driven you crazy not knowing).
Well, regardless – I’ve been thinking about what it is in sales that is like pictures: before and after the digital age.
What use to be really, really special that now is taken for granted… snapped, uploaded, shared, and forgotten.
The Questions we ask in sales seem to be more like photos on our phones rather than something special. Winging it the majority of the time instead of planning it out.
My theory is that my side of a sales conversation is the same – every time – what makes the conversation interesting is the parts that come from my prospects & customers.
This means that I can craft valuable & insightful questions. Instead of randomly taking photographs of everything; with complete disregard to light, focus, or composition.
Granted – out of thousands of pictures taken without thought, I’ll get one or two good ones (in sales unfortunately those good ones are all we remember). One question will land well with the person we’re speaking with and that “proves wining it works.”
Instead craft great questions and get into the habit of asking them!