Sales Tip: Asking the Right Questions is the Key!

Whether hunting for large enterprise sales opportunities or smallish deals, I am not convinced that most enterprise salespeople are doing a great job at gathering information early in the sales cycle. I have had discussions regarding several sales cycles recently where we don't have the fundamental information that we should have. 

Not having information about why a prospect is looking for a new supplier, whether there is an established budget, an understanding of the procurement process, identification of the decision maker(s), timing of the decision, etc., early in the sales cycle is hurting our chances of winning the deal! The answer to the question of “will we win the deal?” can’t be “we’ll see.”

Obviously, in initial calls and meetings with prospects, the prospect is trying to gather information on us, and we need to provide them with information on "why us." Similarly, though, initial calls are also our chance to gather information on the customer, the opportunity, and the sales cycle. 

We want to gather as much information as early as possible. This helps us determine whether we want to spend time on an opportunity that may not happen or that we probably won't win. For the opportunities where we want to focus, having more information allows us to build competitive preference and develop a strategy to win the business. 

So how do we get this information? WE ASK MORE AND BETTER QUESTIONS! We should spend as much or more time on understanding the prospect’s situation as we do in presenting the solution. 

This is an area that we must, as individuals, work on and improve! If you aren't already doing this, you must get into the habit of preparing a list of questions for all initial prospect meetings as well as for subsequent meetings, for all opportunities. Some of us did this “back in the day” but either became lazy or too busy, and some of us have never learned to do this.

My suggestion for enterprise salespeople, new or experienced, is to create a master list of questions that you can use and keep it handy so that you can refer to it when in prospect calls.

Take 20 minutes and build this list. Share it with your team and improve it over time. Whether you are a newish seller or a seasoned pro, having this list and using it will help you improve your close rates and MAKE MORE MONEY!

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