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Important Questions To Ask When Selling

Fox — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 17:04:42 +0000

How often do you think about the questions you use in your sales process? Do you spend any time crafting questions that drive your buyer to make up their own mind and buy from you?

When you ask the right questions, you control the conversation. Questions allow you control the direction of their thoughts. Do you realize how important this is to your sales process?

There are basically two types of questions for you to get the information you need: Open or Closed.

Closed-Ended Questions

Closed-ended questions are questions that can be answered either “yes” or “no” by your buyer.

Examples would be:

Would you like fries with that?
Do you think I look fat in these pants?

They can also be questions that ask for a specific piece of information so you can clarify data.

Examples would be:

What is your address?
How do you spell your last name?

Open-Ended Questions

Open-ended questions are the opposite of closed-ended questions. They can’t be answered with a simple “yes” or “no” and require your buyer to expand and give you more information.

For example:

If you were able to buy this today, how would it help you and your family?
What else do you need to solve your problem?

What Type Of Question Is Better?

Both questions have a specific purpose in the sales process. At the beginning of a conversation with your buyer you may need to ask a lot of closed ended questions to get their situation. I also use them as a check to make sure they’re following along with the conversation (“Are you with me?” or “Any questions about what we’ve covered?”).

Open-ended questions are critically important to get your buyer’s needs, wants, desires and motivation to buy what you’re selling. They allow you to arm yourself with the proper tools so you can aim directly to the heart of the buyer. You won’t need to waste time presenting features and benefits that aren’t of any use or importance anymore.

Do You Hear Me?

The important thing is to actually listen and hear what they’re saying. Give your buyer the time to fully answer the question. Comfortably ask your question and wait for their answer in silence.

Recently, I was in a sales meeting and listening to one man role play his customer conversation. He would ask an important open-ended question and then would give them a couple of options to choose from, making it a closed question. He would ask things like, “How would doing this benefit you…(pause about 1 second) more money, allow you to move you up in your career, or greater freedom?”

While the buyer could begin to open up, he was giving them options to choose from so they didn’t have to really think and answer the question. The entire goal is to get your buyer to open up and give you what they need to buy. Don’t feed them what you think will sell them.

Think about the questions you use when selling. Are you happy with the amount and type of questions you use? Do you get enough information that allows the buyer to make their own decision to buy from you? How will you construct your questions differently to become even more effective?

© Fox for PersuasionTheory.com, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments |
Post tags: Covert Persuasion, linguistics, Persuasion Strategies, Presentation Strategies, Questions

Persuasive Power Of Price

Fox — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:28:29 +0000

When you’re selling something have you considered the impact your pricing plays in they buyer’s mind?

Price is a fine line to dance across and it hit me (again) the other day when I was filling up my car with gas. I was a little taken back when I saw the prices for gas. The options were:

Regular Unleaded – $2.19/gallon
Plus Unleaded – $2.29/gallon
Super Unleaded – $2.19/gallon

I normally fill up the car with Plus because it’s generally about $.10 less than Super and, well, it’s the middle option. I don’t simply want the cheap stuff.

On that day however, I filled up with Super (the real good stuff, right?) because it was less expensive than the Plus I normally buy. However, as I was leaning up against my car watching the numbers roll by on the pump, the following thoughts kept playing in my head:

Why are they pricing the premium stuff so low today?
What’s wrong with this batch? Is it filled with the crud at the bottom of the storage tank?
Did they really make a price mistake and I’m getting away with something?
Should I go inside and ask to make it’s not the crud and I don’t hurt my car?
Why isn’t this advertised on the sign, what’s wrong here?
Am I the only one seeing this mistake?

Then I realized what I was doing and stepped back to analyze the situation.

Think about it now. What does pricing play when you’re working to sell something? Does it convey “cheap” or “inferior?” Does it convey there could be a problem compared to the other options available? Does it convey “bargain?” Does a higher price imply “quality?”

As I said, this is a fine line and needs to be handled with care. It’s not so easy as to say, “do you present the low price option first and work to up-sell? Do you present the high price option and down-sell if they don’t buy the first option? Do you present multiple options and let the buyer choose the price?”

Each product and situation is different and careful consideration has to be brought to the table when pricing. Often bringing multiple options will confuse the buyer and put them into a state of indecision.

I wish there was a flat answer to these questions to make it simple. However, I’ll be exploring these more in time.

© Fox for PersuasionTheory.com, 2009. | Permalink | Leave a comment |
Post tags: Marketing, Persuasion Strategies, Pricing Options, Pricing Strategies, Selling

Persuasion Is A Beautiful Art

Fox — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 23:44:30 +0000

Persuasion is a beautiful art. It’s one of those things that not everyone can do well. And, those that do it well often do it by accident. It’s an elegant dance that can be learned when you break the individual pieces down and analyze them.

When you think of persuasion, influencing or selling, you probably think of the manipulative used car sales type. We’ve all seen the stereotypical slick salesperson obviously out to part you from as much of your money as possible without considering your desires or providing real value. That’s not what I like or encourage.

I was at my mother’s house today for her 60^th birthday. While watching my son play Wii, another guest mentioned to me he just bought a brand new large TV and entertainment system for their new home. He said, “After I picked what I wanted, the guy helping me asked if I wanted to buy a Wii. I asked how much they were and he told me about $250. So, I said, ‘when they go on special I’ll get one.’ They guy helping me then told me they never go on special and they’re lucky to have them in stock now so if I want one now would be a good time. So, I bought one.”

I noticed a lot in what he said and how easily he was sold. Here are a couple items I quickly picked out:

This was a “Would you like fries with that?” up sell. McDonalds makes a ton of money every year with that six word question. Once you get a commitment it’s always easier to get just a little bit more.
After purchasing a couple thousand dollar entertainment system a $250 up sell doesn’t seem like as much money. This is a law of contrast. If he was only there buying a $15 music CD a $250 option is a lot of money. Compared to the couple thousand he just spent on the entertainment system a $250 purchase was a very small price.
“The guy helping me.” Whether or not the salesperson’s title was actually “salesperson,” the customer did not perceive him as a salesperson. He was “the guy helping me.” He was trusted and providing help. There are many factors to this and I did not learn enough about the event to find out how “the guy helping me” earned that title.
“The store was lucky to have them in stock.” There are a few things implied here:
1. They can’t keep them in stock because they sell so quickly.
2. You are lucky to be here today so you can buy one. A feeling of good fortune and “specialness” for my friend because he’s there when they’re in stock.
3. Scarcity gives an added illusion this is something special. If he doesn’t act today he will have to wait until a store has one in stock to buy.
4. Social proof this is a “hot” buy because they’re selling out so quickly. It’s the “Everyone wants one so it must be good” mentality.

This is not an exhaustive list of the interaction. I’m sure there were many other factors that attributed to his easily saying “Yes!” But, this is what I thought I’d quickly share from the conversation.

Whenever I hear stuff like this I often start thinking:

What is the strategy or strategies behind what happened?
How can I apply these strategies in my persuasive situations?
Where are the key moments of power where one begins to get or lose control of the situation?
What can I do to prevent or minimize the points where I could have lost the sale?

You can see the persuasive tactics used here were not manipulative or pushy. The salesman simply asked for the sale and quickly answered a couple of questions with some loaded answers.

Persuasion is a beautiful art.

© Fox for PersuasionTheory.com, 2008. | Permalink | Leave a comment |
Post tags: Cialdini, Persuasion Strategies, Scarcity, Selling, Social Proof