Asking the right questions and keeping it simple can lead to a much bigger and smoother sale.
The question is nothing earth shattering to someone skilled in consultative selling – quite basic really, as I am sure some people will be quick to say. It’s not something I invented – I was taught it when mentored early on in my own learning. Yet, if you are an accidental sales person, it may seem totally counter-intuitive.
When someone asks to buy something or asks about your product, the intuitive thing is to sell it to them or to give them the information they want.
Next time this happens to you – stop yourself and ask the all important question: ‘Why?’
Seems strange when someone comes along and says – can I have one of your products to respond with the question ‘Why?’ Actually, I ask:
- What is motivating you to want this product? or
- What motivated you to email me?’
or something like that……but in effect you are asking Why?
By discovering the other person’s motivation to buy or enquire you will get the full picture. In the case of the guy who turned a £5 sale into a £500 one, the person told him what he was looking to do, and he made some honest recommendations, which were accepted, and there will probably be follow on work too.
The wonderful thing is that this person was struggling to convert interest into a sale let alone up sell!! It was not as big as one client that turned a £75 order into a £8,000 the day after learning about it…..but for this guy it was just as exciting to see its effect.
Of course when you ask ‘Why?’ you could find out that you cannot help your prospect, which may save you time you would otherwise have wasted going through the whole sales process only to discover it later, after you have invested loads of time in the sale.
It just goes to show you do not have to be pushy or manipulative in order to sell with confidence..
So, next time someone asks you about your services remember to thank them for the enquiry and then ask them why they enquired!
Best wishes and happy selling!
Richard White
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on Jan 14th, 2010 at 6:14 pm
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on Jan 21st, 2010 at 10:01 am
A very good tip. Good sales people fulfil a persons wants / needs and sometimes the potential buyer does not fully appreciate what they actually need.
on Feb 9th, 2010 at 10:24 am
yes, this is an age old tactic called problem based selling. I wrote about it several years ago and a version just recently
Basically you are providing solutions to their problems. So if a customer wants a $2 tap washer, you have the opportunity to also sell them a $25 re-seating tool, and maybe even more, if they are doing a large job that the leaking tap is just part of.