Every day, salespeople receive gobs of well-intentioned advice, including:
“Shut up and listen!”
“Being interested is more important than being interesting.”
"Telling is not selling."
“The Right Sales Questions Will Get the Right Answers.” [1]
But simply asking questions and listening won’t solve our most vexing sales challenges. If only it were that easy. Probing questions followed by patient listening as the magic keys to sales success. But here’s a plain fact that many people ignore: Conversations carry questions. And sales questions minus conversation equals interrogation [2]. I know. When it comes to conversational rapport, some sales meetings go better than others.
Yet, hard-sell hype about the power of questions drives many people to website altars in search of A Better Way. Do you really believe in
“Sales questions that close every deal?” [4]
"The 12 best sales questions to ask?” [5]
We count on the promise of such “hot ideas” and shortcuts to help us become more productive. No doubt, for many people, this is all very confusing. Should we ask open-ended questions? [6] Closed-ended questions? [7] “Facilitative” questions? [8] Who cares! If salespeople can’t embed sales questions into meaningful, rapport-laden dialog, the best sales questions in the world take sales opportunities down a path to nowhere.
Salespeople—it’s time to talk! Questions need the medium of conversations in order to work. It’s what we do! But this time, let’s call it dialog! As our top-producing salesperson, Denise, said in an earlier CustomerThink article, To an Octopus, ‘50’ Means Nothing: Why Empathy Matters [9], “. . . I think about what I’m going to ask and say.” In that order. Denise doesn’t dismiss the importance of her contribution to the conversation.
From her desk in the depths of the call center cube farm, Denise has a key insight. With all the attention we heap on asking good questions, do we honestly believe prospects will spontaneously open up? Is “ask a Really Good Question, get an answer,” a simple, straight line? Or, is there more to it than that? How do we create what author Jim Collins described as an environment where the truth is heard?
Here are a few ideas:
Make your intentions and motivations clear from the outset. As Mahan Khalsa wrote in Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play,"you will communicate your intent whether you want to or not . . . Based on your intent, people will decide to trust you or not.”
Share your expertise throughout the discussion. No one likes a know-it-all, but as a prospect, would you rather share your answers with an expert or a greenhorn? As Jill Konrath, author of Selling to Big Companies, [10] said, “the best sales questions have your expertise in them.”
Demonstrate that you are connecting the dots. Sharing your insights throughout the conversation not only makes it clear that you’re listening, but also helps to ensure understanding.
Be transparent, not opaque. It’s hard to ask for a prospect’s candor without being similarly forthcoming about your enthusiasm and concerns. Being open with both enables reciprocal dialog.
Above all, don’t be afraid to talk. Sales discovery works best in a conversation.