Questioning skills are fundamental to a Salesperson’s success – we should all know that. But what about the type of questions you should ask? Yes, we know that ‘open’ questions are best. They are questions which require more thought and provide more information than just a yes or no answer, or a number or amount.
Open questions start with: why, what, why, who, who – but also could start even more, which will spark and develop more of a conversation..
Try using:
- Tell me more…
- Please explain the detail….
- How could I present more information…
- Please help me understand…
- If you were to….
When you first meet a customer, your job is to establish what they want andwhat they need, but there are often ‘needs’ behind their apparent needs and a situation that has led to them deciding to buy today.Your job as a salesperson is to use your questioning skills to uncover all the information you need to make a suitable recommendation and help your customer be fulfilled and satisfied and lead to repeat business or referrals.
For example:
WANT: I want to buy a new car
NEED: Transport to and from work and take kids to school
NEED(s)Behind the NEED:
My family has outgrown my current car.
My work trip is 1.5 hrs each way.
On weekends, we like to go ‘out bush’.
SITUATION: My current car is 15 years’ old and has been unreliable
All too often I hear of salespeople who fail to uncover the real needs behind the needs. This leads to dissatisfied customers where they’ve bought a product or service that they don’t really need or want. It can also limit the extent of the salesperson’s success when they haven’t delved deep enough to realise the bigger situation or motivating factor which led their customer to decide that today is the day to buy.
What if a customer has walked in to your car showroom in their dirtiest work clothes and you can see the ‘rust-bucket’ parked outside. As a Salesperson, do you straight away assume that this person is on a tight budget and point them in the direction of used cars? Without asking those open questions, you may not realise that this person has just inherited a bunch of money and is ready to spend big with you!