Your Questions Should Do One Of Three Things
By Sean McPheat
I think life is a series of questions.
After all, what is a thought? It’s a response to a question. Is it? (There you go, two more questions!)
The questions that you ask your prospective clients can make or break the deal.
But I get asked all the time about open and closed questions. Which are best etc.
To me, you can ask open or closed! It doesn’t really matter as long as your questions do one of three things.
Your questions should either:
MOVE THE SALE FORWARD
or
DEVELOP TRUST
or
DEVELOP THE RELATIONSHIP
Give yourself permission to ask a closed question ok? (See, that’s a closed question!)
In terms of MOVING THE SALE FORWARD these are the fact find questions, the benefits and pain questions, finding the hotspots of the prospect and those questions that move the sale to the next stage.
In terms of DEVELOPING TRUST questions these can be questions around what’s important in selecting a supplier, anything related to what you have done in the past, what questions can you ask to make you the safe bet?
In terms of DEVELOPING THE RELATIONSHIP these questions can be on a business or personal level. These are not cheesy “Are those photos of your kids, they’re beautiful” questions – yuk! Instead, how can you help them further? How can you demonstrate that you are a partner? A trusted advisor? Instead of a commodity broker like most of the sales people out there.
Ok, so work on your questions and remember they need to establish an end goal.
Sean McPheat is the managing director and founder of MTD Sales Training. MTD Have trained over 30,000 staff worldwide. Sean is a bestselling author and is regarded as a leading authority in the world of selling and has been featured on CNN, BBC, and ITV. Sign up to receive his free weekly tips at www.mtdsalestraining.com.
