Questioning (the seven steps of the sale - 3)

· while questioning is a vital aspect of selling, the principles and techniques of questioning are mostly transferable to other situations where questioning is essential for effective cooperation and relationships - these questioning guidelines therefore extend to applications beyond sales and selling

· empathy and listening are crucial in questioning - understanding body language is useful too

· a major purpose of questioning in the traditional selling process is to identify the strongest need or benefit perceived by the prospect relating to the product/service being offered by the seller

· as the questioner you need also to understand very clearly what you are seeking from the relationship - questioning should aim to identify a mutual fit - relationship work when theer is a good fit for both sides

· buyers commonly have one main need or benefit, and a number of supporting needs/benefits

· needs and benefits may be obvious to seller and buyer, or not obvious to either, in which case questioning expertise is critical in selling, as it is an all other relationships where motives and change are involved

· questioning must also discover how best to develop the relationship and the sale with the organization - how the organization decides: timings, authority levels, the people and procedures involved, competitor pressures, etc.

· good empathic questioning also builds relationships, trust and rapport - nobody wants to buy anything from a sales person who's only interested in their own product or company - we all want to buy from somebody who gives the time and skill to interpreting and properly meeting our own personal needs

· to be professional in your approach you should prepare a list of questions or headings before the discussion

· aside from complex variations, there are two main sorts of questions: open questions and closed questions

· broadly open questions gather information and build rapport; closed questions filter, qualify and seek commitment

· open questions invite the other person to give long answers; closed questions invite the other person to say yes or no, or to select from (usually two) options, for example red or blue, or mornings or afternoons, etc

· use open questions to gather information - typically for example, questions beginning with Who? What? Why? Where? When? and How?

· when training or learning the skills of using open questions it helps to refer to the Rudyard Kipling rhyme: "I keep six honest serving men, They taught me all I knew; Their names are What and Why and When, And How and Where and Who.." This is from Just So Stories, 1902, The Elephant's Child - see other useful and amusing training quotes and maxims.)

· use "Can you tell me about how..." if you are questioning a senior-level contact - generally the more senior the contact, the bigger the open questions you can ask, and the more the other person will be comfortable and able to give you the information you need in a big explanation

· 'what...? and 'how...?' are the best words to use in open questions because they provoke thinking and responses about facts and feelings in a non-threatening way

· use 'why?' to find out reasons and motives beneath the initial answers given, but be very careful and sparing in using 'why' because the word 'why?' is threatening to many people - it causes the other person to feel they have to defend or justify themselves, and as such will not bring out the true situation and feelings, especially in early discussions with people when trust and rapport is at a low level

· listen carefully and empathically, maintain good eye-contact, understand, and show that you understand - especially understand what is meant and felt, not just what is said, particularly when you probe motives and personal aspects

· interpret and reflect back and confirm you have understood what is being explained, and if relevant the feelings behind it

· use closed questions to qualify and confirm your interpretation - a closed question is one that can be answered with a yes or no, eg., "Do you mean that when this type of equipment goes down then all production ceases?", or "Are you saying that if a new contract is not put in place by end-March then the existing one automatically renews for another year?"

· when you've asked a question, you must then be quiet - do not interrupt - allow the other person time and freedom to answer

· the other person (your 'prospect' in selling language) should be doing 80-99% of the talking during this stage of the sales discussion; if you are talking for a third or half of the time you are not asking the right sort of questions

· do not jump onto an opportunity and start explaining how you can solve the problem until you have asked all your questions and gathered all the information you need (in any event you should never be seen to 'jump' onto any issue)

· all the time try to find out the strategic issues affected or implicated by the product/service in question - these are where the ultimate decision-making and buying motives lie

· if during the questioning you think of a new important question to ask note it down or you'll probably forget it

· when you have all the information you need, acknowledge the fact and say thanks, then take a few moments to think about, discuss and summarise the key issues/requirements/priorities from your prospect's organizational (and personal if applicable) perspective

· questioning is traditionally treated by conventional sales people and conventional sales training as a process to gather information to assist the sales person's process, and this is how it is typically positioned in the old-style 'Seven Steps of the Sale'; however, modern sales methodology treats questioning in a radically different way - as an essential part of a facilitative process whose purpose is to help the buyer decide (see the information about collaborative selling and buying facilitation for more explanation)

· questioning is a fundamentally important part of selling - techniques being increasingly developed and refined far beyond early selling techniques - transferable to and from other disciplines (notably coaching, counselling, therapy, etc)

· see for example Sharon Drew Morgen's excellent facilitative questioning methodology and the Clean Language concept

Date: 2015-01-11; view: 923