Answer with a Question

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Answer with a Question

Lloyd Roach, one of our previous General Managers did a sales training meeting on this subject. This is from an old email sent to me by Art Sobczak:

THIS WEEK'S TIP:
Handling the Questions You Don't
Have Answers For

Greetings,

Here's an example of how I was on my own sales
call, talking with a sales manager at a high-tech
firm that sold a highly specialized, niched product.

Things were progressing smoothly--I thought anyway.

I seemed to have exactly what he was looking for
regarding a telephone prospecting presentation he
wanted at his national sales meeting.

Then he asked a question, that at first, caused
my heart to sink.

"Now, who else have you worked with that sells
a similar product?"

I've done over 1000 training sessions over the past 24
years, and have worked in virtually every industry and
with every sales model there is.

But not in this one.

I didn't know if there WAS a company that sold
a similar product.

But instead of turning into a gurgling, bumbling
fool, trying to sound intelligent, but knowing
that it was futile in response to this question,
my own training kicked in.

I was actually prepared for this moment.

I paused, and realized that might, or might
not have been an important question for him.

So I asked,

"Are you asking if I've worked with a similar
prospecting model, selling to similar decision
makers? And, how much of an issue is that for you?"

He replied, "Oh, I know there aren't many companies
like ours. I was just curious. You seem to have
what we want."

Done deal. Sale made. The question went unanswered.

In similar situations every day, reps get questions
that they are not prepared for, and really aren't that
important anyway, but then throw up all over
themselves in an attempt to answer. And probably
damaging their chance at a sale.

So here's the sales point for this week:

Early in the information-gathering phase with a
prospect, have YOU ever had them ask you extremely
technical questions that were out-of-the-ordinary?

How about outrageous requests regarding capabilities
or service?

I often see reps stumble all over themselves because
they don't know the answer, or because they are
unable to provide the service the prospect asks for.

They apologize and make excuses and in some cases
look like a total doofus because they thought that
what the prospect was asking for was a solid
requirement.

Clearly not the situation you want to find yourself in.

Why do people ask these questions? On occasion, they
might be sincerely concerned and interested in your
ability to provide the service, or to meet a certain
unusual technical requirement. In other cases, they
might be using tactics to belittle your service, or
get you off of the phone.

To determine the precise motivation for the request,
you need to ask "check questions." Check questions
help you to gauge how important the information is
to the inquirer. The response dictates with how much
importance and urgency you should prepare your answer.

For example,

Prospect: "Does it come with a left-handed gold-plated
adapter with an Experience Rating of 99.9%?"

Sales Rep: "Hmmmm. Will that be a major concern of yours
in the decision making process?"

After your "check question," you'll need to be prepared
for the possible answers. In many cases, they'll say,

"Not really, but I was curious," therefore meaning you
could likely gloss over the request. If they answer that
the information will be important, you'll want to ask
more questions to determine just how critical the request
is, and in turn, you'll need to figure out how to answer
their request.

Here are other examples of "check questions."

After an outrageous request for service,

"How often do you run into those type of situations?"

"How often do you need that type of service?"

"Are you getting that service now? How much extra are
you paying for it?"

After nit-picky technical questions,

"Wow! Just out of curiosity, how are you going to use
that information?"

"Hmmmm. What will you be comparing those figures to?"

By using these questions, you'll sort out the sincere
requests from the shoppers, stallers, and people who
are trying to fluster you and make you look inferior.

Action Step
Think of the similar questions or requests that you get.
Then, brainstorm the questions you can respond with to
determine how important their question really is.

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