Silo/Drill Down Questions, Surveys & Spam

Last week will, perhaps, be remembered as the week that it all came together for our 164th Floor joint venture. It wasn't one thing. It was a series of seemingly unrelated events.

I think it started on Wednesday when James Robert Lay posted the most amazing and heartfelt public review on my profile that I have ever received. Please understand that I've been told that kind of stuff privately, but I've never had anyone share so openly before.

Thank you, James Robert.

I was in a really good mood when I spoke with Fedor ?imi? on Friday because Fedor is the one that introduced me to James Robert. This was huge. James Robert was using Fedor's stuff and our stuff to develop more and better relationships and engagements with more and better clients.

I asked Fedor how others were doing compared to James Robert. He told me about one Databox Survey user that had 20+ campaigns going, each with 5-7 steps in the workflow and each with 20-250 emails on the list. I asked what the steps in the workflow were and he said that it depended on the emails on the list, but typically it was an email that said something like, Were asking 5 experts for their opinion on _______ and potentially to be featured when we publish our results. Link below. There were 4-5 more steps in the workflow that encouraged them to participate, asked for their opinion on the results, etc. The final question asked if they'd like to chat. This particular user had a very low percentage of people that wanted to chat. Do the math. He was sending thousands of emails for minimal results.I asked if he remembered Peter Caputa saying that (even though he was very busy) he sometimes leads with offering a conversation. Something like, "Were asking 5 experts for their opinion on _______ and potentially to be featured when we publish our results. Would you like to grab some time when you and I can have a 15 minute conversation to answer 3 questions to get your opinion?" Then I asked, "They might not feel comfortable doing what Pete does as the first step, but why not do it as the second if they don't complete the survey?" Eliminate spam, get results quicker, clarify and personalize questions, begin to develop relationships, etc. Apparently, the issue is that the people sending the surveys aren't capable of starting conversations and/or making them worthwhile.

The Aha! moment...

Christopher Rocas tells me to Hold on. as were wrapping up a coaching call with a client. He says, "These guys don't know how to start a conversation. They don't understand how to create silo questions. They don't know how to ask good 'drill down' questions. They don't know how to ask tough, meaty questions that prospects WANT to answer. They need us to fill in the blanks between the sales process that their buyer needs and our process to double sales. Then he sends me this Notion page.

Notice that the top level bullets are the 8 questions that your buyer needs you to answer.

Know that the first 3 second level bullets under the 'problem' question are my standard first 3 Silo questions. You need 3 silo questions for each of the 8 top level questions. Notice that we suggest at least two personalized silo questions that could help you develop the right type of relationship with your prospect.

Your mastery of the components of the 4th Selling Competency will determine how well you listen and whether you can listen long enough to ask enough good and sometimes tough questions (without pitching) to allow the prospect to learn that you are the one.

Example: Our first 3 silo questions will sometimes get "Why don't YOU tell ME how you help?"

Listen and Ask..."Typically when we talk with sales leaders like yourself, they tell me that they're struggling with demand, conversion or implementation. Any of those resonate?"

As you practice, you will include these listen/ask questions as sub-bullets. You'll start with our 8 high level questions and finish with hundreds of questions in the drop downs.

This morning, I told Chris that this was perfect and agreed that our process to double sales would now include helping with the creation of our client's personalized process page.

So, talk to James Robert, Fedor, Pete, Chris or me if you want to learn about the program.

We have room for 22 in the near term, then we can start a waiting list.