No matter what industry you’re in, you’re probably going to find yourself selling. And truthfully, a lot of us aren’t good at it.
Kory offers the idea that perhaps we sell too much, so we’ve trained our customers to immediately put up a sales wall.
No skillset
So why do salespeople immediately ask, “How can I help you today?”
We don’t have a skillset. We aren’t aware of the different tools we can use at different times.
Most sellers don’t even have an effective elevator pitch in which they can build interest in their product within about 10 seconds. We don’t know how to distinguish ourselves from everyone else.
If we can’t distinguish ourselves, we’ll sound pretty average.
Instead, salespeople should learn to ask great questions.
Great questions
If it’s truly a great question, it should be able to do three things:
1. Plant seeds
You should be able to plant a seed without selling because once you’ve moved into selling, you’ve crossed the line. Since a sale is a transaction of money, it should only happen at the end.
Discuss price at the end. Planting a seed is understanding their needs and wants.
2. Overcome an objection.
A great question overcomes objections before they even come up; common objections like, “I’ll think about it.”
A great question is this: “Other than yesterday, when would you really want to start using this product or service?” If your customer says, “Now,” you’ve already overcome an objection.
3. Activate emotion.
The emotional part of the brain makes decisions. Tap into that part of the brain using really great questions that are intentional and that tap into our feelings.
Developing great questions?
Compare these two scenarios:
If I ask a customer to rate his commitment to buying a new product on a scale of 1-10, and then I ask him why he isn’t a 10, I’m going to get negative answers.
If I ask a customer to rate his commitment to buying a new product on a scale of 1-10, and then I ask him why he isn’t a 2, I’m going to get positive answers.
You’ve flipped the script and asked him for positive answers. It’s a philosophy.
You have to be relatable. Relate why you do what you do. Don’t forget to tell why you do what you do because it levels the playing field and makes you more personable.
Build an experience
1. Build rapport with your customer.
Use great questions to accomplish the three objectives above.
2. Talk about goals.
The goal is the most important thing. You have to understand why your customer is looking to buy software.
Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action teaches that people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. The goal should always be to get the customer to believe in what you believe in.
Understand why the customer walked in the door that day.
One-minute drill
Kory uses an active listening drill that pairs two people up for 60 seconds.
One person talks for 60 seconds about something she’s really passionate about. The speaker can’t stop talking and it has to be something she is truly passionate about.
The partner is encouraged to do everything but listen. He can get on Instagram, take a selfie, browse on his phone. He isn’t allowed to listen.
That one minute teaches how bad it feels to speak to someone who isn’t actively listening.
Closing
Kory realized the key to selling when he asked a waitress in a restaurant for a recommendation. When she suggested a certain menu item, he asked her why, and then he went with her choice based upon her answer.
The key to asking for a sale is to give a recommendation and then share why you think it’s the right one.
We do it when we try to encourage a friend to try our favorite restaurant or when we try to convince him to see a movie with us.
At the end of the experience, you’re the subject matter expert. Recommend a product that you want to sell that meets the customers’ needs and then back it up with a reason.
Then close with, “Can you see how that would work for you?” and let the customer answer.
You must have a skillset and you must practice. There’s a lot of good material out there, and you can’t just show up on gameday and expect to succeed.
Practice every day until you feel really comfortable and confident.
“The Right Questions” episode resources
Connect with Kory at KoryAngelin.com and grab a copy of his book #Sellout: How a Great Experience Can Help You #Sellout of Your Product. You can also find him on Instagram.
This episode is brought to you in part by Maximizer CRM, personalized CRM that gives you the confidence to improve your business and increase profits. To get a demonstration of maximizer, go to the sales evangelists.com/maximizer.
Click on the link to get a free demo of what Maximizer CRM can do for you. Maximizer is intuitive, simple, and personable. Maximizer integrates your marketing campaign as well as your CRM, and it works whether you’re a small organization or a large one. It works throughout the whole organization and it’s customizable to the way you sell.
This episode is also brought to you in part by prospect.io, a powerful sales automation platform that allows you to build highly personalized, cold email campaigns. To learn more, go to prospect.io/tse. It will help you with your outbound to expand your outreach and it allows you to set it and forget it. Your prospecting will never ever be the same.
We’ll use prospect.io in the upcoming semester of TSE Hustler’s League to focus on prospecting. We’ll give you insights and tools that will help you gain new customers and provide training and strategies that you can implement today to ensure constant flow in your pipeline.
Check out TSE Hustler’s League and apply to see if it’s a good fit.
Leave us a review on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or wherever you consume this content, and share it with someone else who might benefit from our message. It helps others find our message and improves our visibility.
If you haven’t already done so, subscribe to the podcast so you won’t miss a single episode, and share it with someone else you think might benefit.
Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS