Recently, somebody asked about my early sales experience. When I was new to sales, one company gave me a card with questions reminding me of what to do before, during and after a sale. Here's a list of questions similar to the ones on that card to take you through the sales cycle:
During the introduction, did
you:
- Learn about the company, the person you're calling on and
the industry he or she is in before the meeting?
- Observe the prospect's office, décor, awards and
pictures on his or her desk to find something you both have in
common?
- Find out anything about the prospect's personal interests,
hobbies or family?
- Bridge to the business topic smoothly?
- Listen 80 percent of the time and talk only 20 percent of the
time?
- Ask the customer questions about his or her goals, challenges, and personal and business philosophies?
When qualifying, did you
ask:
- "Is there anybody else besides yourself who might be
involved in the decision-making process?"
- "What does a vendor need to do to earn your
business?"
- "If you could change anything about your present vendor's product or service, what would it be?"
And did you
also:
- Determine how and why the prospect made the decision to
purchase his or her present product or service?
- Find out what his or her time frame is?
- Discover whether funds have been allocated?
- Uncover the prospect's specific needs?
When surveying, did
you:
- Ask a lot of open-ended questions?
- Find out who, what, where, why, when, how and how
much?
- Have the prospect go into depth by
using phrases such as "Tell me about . . .", "Describe for me . . ." and "Can you elaborate on . . ."? - Ask the broad questions first, then get more specific to
uncover key needs?
- Ask about your prospect's roles, what's important to him or her, what his or her hot buttons are, and how industry trends or situations are affecting the prospect?
When handling objections, did
you:
- Listen to the entire objection?
- Pause before responding, remain calm and not get
defensive?
- Answer the objection with a question to find out more
specifically what the objection was?
- Restate the objection to make sure you both agreed?
- Answer the objection?
During the presentation or
demonstration, did you:
- Re-establish rapport?
- Ask if anything had changed since your last meeting?
- Precommit the prospect? Example: "If I can show you how
this can make a difference in what we talked about, can we go ahead
with this?"
- Prioritize the prospect's needs?
- Talk about the benefits of your product or service to the
customer?
- Link the benefits to the prospect's needs?
- Verify each need before moving on?
- Summarize the prospect's needs and how your product or
service meets those needs?
- Involve the customer in the presentation?
When closing, did
you:
- Ask for the order?
- Ask "What's our next step?"
- Get the customer to identify all possible problems that might
be solved by your product or service?
- Get the customer to identify the value of solving the
identified problems?
- Get agreement that the proposed solution provided the values identified?
For customer maintenance and
follow-up, did you:
- Send a thank-you letter for the appointment, presentation or
order?
- Earn the right to ask for reference letters and
referrals?
- Maintain communications for future consideration?
- Establish a schedule for follow-up calls and customer visits?
Of course, don't just ask these questions by rote. It's not a script that could, or should, be followed for every sale, but it gives you a great structure to keep in mind. Refer to it whenever you're puzzled by why you didn't make a sale. Maybe there's something you forgot to do that you should have remembered!
This story appears in the March 2003 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
