Do you go to meetings with potential customers and come away thinking … great meeting, but what next? That’s because many people don’t want to come across as being pushy, so they don’t have an agenda. The truth is that clients WANT you to lead them down the sales pathway. Here is your foolproof guide to the things you need to know about your client, so you know if and when people will say yes to you.
Essential Sales Question 1: Who is the decision maker?
You need to be speaking to the decision maker in order for them to say yes to you. From the beginning of the sales process you need to be crystal clear on who the decision maker is and what they want to say yes to. Then your job is to work with them to build a proposal you both know they will say yes to. The rest of the questions below will have greater weight and meaning if you are getting it from the horse’s mouth.
Essential Sales Question 2: Why are they buying?
This might sound obvious, but you need to understand exactly what the problem is that they are trying to solve and why it exists in the first place. Think of yourself as an investigative journalist. Your job is to ask lots of question and to get the client talking. Find out what they have tried in the past; what has worked and what hasn’t. Here’s the tricky bit… there are two sides you have to find out the things that want to tell you … and the things that they are reticent to. The reasons that people buy are part logical and part emotional. So be sure to be on the lookout for both. If you want to know a bit more about asking and getting to the bottom on why … check out this article .
Essential Sales Question 3: Timeframe
Knowing the timeframe and when they want the solution is imperative. Knowing the answer to this question helps you set the tempo for the rest of the sales relationship. For example, if you know they are in a hurry, then you can think about how you can speed things up. This is one of the areas where people feel pushy … so I thought I’d give you a few examples of how I ask this question:
“Given that you find the right thing, when are you looking to go ahead?” “Is there a particular timetable you have in mind for this…?”
Essential Sales Question 4: Budget
Okay, I know you have all been holding your breath until we get to this one. The money question! Let me tell you firstly why it is important that you ask this, and then how to do it ‘nicely’. This is important because you want to know if they have a budget set aside, what it is and their expectation of the price. If you leave this question out, then you are trying to win a race with your legs tied together! Here’s some ways that I introduce the money question:
“So, I think we have understood your problem and found a possible solution. Now I would like to discuss your budget. What are your thoughts on this?” “Thank you, I am going to put together some information and pricing for you. Just so I can put the right solution together for you, can you please let me know an indication of your budget for this?”
Essential Sales Question 5: Next step
You have been a stellar question asker – woo hoo. Now don’t leave this last step out. Remember I said that your clients want you to be in charge. Well, here’s your chance. This is the stage where I recap on the meeting and then summarise what each party has to do and by when. At the end of the meeting I know exactly what is next and when each person is to do it by. Then you can go ahead and do that. I know this sounds simple, but just by being clear on this with your client you are building reliability and trust. Now get out there and have some fun with sales…
