Do you already know that open questions are an important tool for finding out what your prospect is looking for, and his or her motivations? It’s a point to master in order to become a great ‘sales interviewer’.
Two words work significantly better than the ones you usually find listed in sales-training books. Typically what you will see are all the ‘w’ words – that is, ‘what’, ‘which’, ‘where’, ‘who’ and ‘why’. But only two of those are really good and one of them is dangerous if you aren’t careful.
‘What’ is excellent. Here are some typical questions you can use it to begin:
What do you want to do with (this item, equipment, etc.)?
What are your priorities?
What matters to you most?
What time-scale do you have?
What do you like about . . .?
‘Which’ and ‘Where’ got a free ride along with the more powerful words, those two are usable but not outstanding.
‘Why’ has to be used with discretion. Anything more than two or three ‘whys’ in an interview comes across as rather aggressive, that is the last thing that a sales-interview should be. (Leave that to Jeremy Paxman and other political journalists).
Powerful use of ‘why’ is a one-off shot in response to a customer saying, ‘I don’t like . . . ‘(some feature or another model, etc.). Just ask, ‘Why?’
‘Who’ has a natural application for discovering the decision-maker(s) involved in buying within the prospect’s company. You can ask, ‘Who else would be involved in the decision?’
I’ve left the other great one to last; ‘How’, a word that works very well together with ‘What’.
An example:
‘What do you want to do with this equipment?’
Customer replies and you continue;
‘How did you handle this issue before?’
‘What happened?’
‘How did you deal with that?’
What do you see as the main problem?
‘How are you planning to tackle it in the future?’
And so on.
‘What’ and ‘How’ give you an almost instant sales interview and find out the buyer’s motivations in an effective, un-pressured way. They have a happy relationship with one another.
I suggest you get acquainted.
It can be a fairly complex process but don’t feel overwhelmed, reach out to PrintArt today, and explain your needs. Their customer service department will put together a cost-effective quote and help your vision come to reality!
PrintArt – Accurate Die Cutting
413 Interchange St.
McKinney, TX 75071
972.562.7921
https://www.printart-adc.com
