I don’t know about you, but if I feel like I’m sitting on an uncomfortable metal chair, in a concrete block room, with a bright white spotlight shining on me – I’m not very comfortable.
And comfortable is what I want to be in order to put me in a buying frame of mind.
Step 1 to making someone comfortable is to ask open ended questions, a few of my favorites include:
my five favorite people prospecting questions:
- Tell me a little about how what you do every day relates to ___….
- Most people I talk with have more than a few priorities – what are the Top 3 you’re working on right now?
- When looking at __, what result would you like to have that’s currently missing?
- Why is that important to you?
- What criteria do you use to choose your _ vendors?
Now my five favorite deal qualifying questions:
- What is your role in all this?
- What are you hoping to accomplish?
- After we create a solution together, how will you decide if it is the best one?
- How does the process work once you’ve decided on a solution?
- What happens next?
BONUS QUESTION = Is there anything else I can do for you today?
Step 2 is to remember the only reason to ask questions is to have the opportunity to listen to their answers!
There are two barriers to listening that I want to share with you today:
* The first is our preconceptions – as we go into every conversation there are assumptions we have on how we expect the other person to react.
REMEMBER – many times you don’t get what you want you get what you expect.
* On a cold call, most people – no matter how good they are in sales – go in with an expectation of resistance or DISinterest; not surprising that ends up what we hear that on the call.
Instead – go in w/the idea people need what you do! Now our brains are tuned into that idea.
You will be amazed at how many business opportunities you will hear!