April 14th, 2007 by Cristina Favreau

Ryan posted a comment/question regarding my recent blog post What clients REALLY want that I wish to answer separately. The question is:

As a salesman I have a hard time with what questions I should ask. I know that it is important to ask questions. But what if they want to know more about what you offer. Do you respond with a question? Give them a small response and then a question? or just go into your value proposition?

In my opinion, there is no right or wrong answer to these questions. I guess you can always take a course on the sales process, but I’m sure you already know all that stuff anyways. And besides, no course can teach you how to be sincere, trustworthy and genuine.

I think if you approach the person you’re speaking with in a conversational manner and if you’re truly interested in their needs, the right questions will come to you. You’ll quite naturally flow into a conversation with your client, giving them lots of time to talk, allowing you to know them better. You’ll find in most cases, the conversation will smoothly shift to the sale and your proposition.

You want to avoid being mechanical, going through the motions or appearing like you’re reading from a script — clients will catch on quickly, get turned off and go somewhere else.

As I’ve said in the past, you may want to list the information you need to know about your prospects before entering the proposition part of the conversation. You may even find it helpful to write questions to ask while speaking with potential clients. However, approach this with caution; engage the person you’re speaking with and don’t coldly read off questions like a census taker. Remember: “Show you care about them (not in making the sale), are unattached to the outcome, and be transparent.“

If anyone else has a suggestion for Ryan, please feel free to join the conversation.

Ryan, let us know how it goes!!

Check other blog posts I’ve written regarding using questions:

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Category Relationship-building, Selling Your Services |

Viewing 1 Comment

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    Cristina,

    Thanks for the advice on a question that has been bothering me for some time now. There are a lot of people who tell you how important it is to ask questions but no one ever tells you how.

    I found that when I started writing out my questions to ask people I focused on getting through the questions instead of listening with sincere intent.

    I like the idea of avoiding "being mechanical, going through the motions or appearing like you’re reading from a script — clients will catch on quickly, get turned off and go somewhere else."

    We all hate talking to salesman who are mechanical. When we tell them what we are looking for and they go on with their script and try and push something that you'd never use. We know they are just trying to sell us instead of educating us about how they fulfill our needs.

    Thanks for the advice and I look forward to reading what others have to say.

    Ryan

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