Control Your Sales Calls From the beginning
Sales calls that you control are what all salespeople want. I am a big believer that questioning is the most important skill for sales professionals. In order to stay in control of your sales calls, whether by phone or in person, you must be a question most of the time. Be a question most of the time, you should get the question from the beginning of your sales calls. Tip The issue is how to make this transition quickly with the finesse, if you are calling by phone or in person. To achieve this, you will need to start eliminating your sales calls, long-winded “presentations” for your company. This may seem counter-intuitive. You may have reasoned that the prospect does not know who you are, and the needs of “presentation” as your introductory background for a discussion of sales.
Although this is the way many of us are used to, the reality is different. If you politely give your client a valid business reason for you to ask questions from the beginning, you will find that almost all your clients will allow you to do this. You will then be able to spend most of your valuable time investigating what your customer wants and needs. OK so here is how to do this. Once your sales calls have started and you have established, you say something like the following:
“Mr. Jones, I’m with XYZ company, and help companies to [insert your benefit here]. What I would like to do today is ask you some questions to see if it makes sense for our companies to do business together. How does that sound to you? ” You can change the above to your style, but first let me tell you what makes this job opening. In contrast, you are seeking permission to ask questions, you are stating that your goal is to see if it makes sense to do business together, and you’re suggesting a common benefit of doing business with your company.
Seeking permission to ask questions, create forms of your sales calls, and put himself firmly in charge. In stating that you want to see if it makes sense to do business together, you’re saying that this is a joint decision, and you’re not just selling them something that they might need. Suggesting a common benefit of doing business with you, you are giving a prospect who may not know much about you, a reason to continue with the sales call. Until a prospect has decided that you understand their business problems, a simple benefit of doing business with you enough to get your sales calls started. If your company is a known quantity in your market or your prospects, you can switch to fully benefit from the prospect already has a reason and context for discussion. No need for long-winded openers in your sales calls.