I find it mind boggling how many sales representatives get an opportunity to really communicate with a prospect and talk their ear off. I find it even more tremendous how many sales managers coach their people to ask only enough questions to find the pitching point. Finally it completely leaves me huddled in the corner of my cube wondering how you could enter this critical phase without an objective list for information gathering.
To begin, the qualification stage of the sale, or the discovery/interviewing phase, should be thorough and thought out. The initial goal of this meeting or call should be to UNDERSTAND THE CONTACT! Learn about their role and responsibilities. Learn the hierarchy and how they fit into the mix. What are their personal goals for today and tomorrow, and where did they come from? If you start with some simple questions, you can learn an amazing amount of information. The key at the beginning of the discovery phase is to be vague, and let people pick the path for information. You will continue to guide them towards your objectives, but if you can steer them with the right questions, it will give them a sense of control.
Some examples of questions and flow:
“So, Ms./Mr. prospect, tell me what do you do?”
People laugh at me when I suggest this, and I assure you the question sometimes gets met with, “What do you mean?” and we will address that response in a moment. You can learn an immense amount about a person from which way they take this conversation. Usually the response is a trigger of one of three things:
1. What the person does in their day to day, especially focused on how it relates to your offering – A tactical mind that is only looking at the basics. The details will be important and objections will come without the authority to make them.
2. What the department does and how they fit in – A more strategic mind, but still looking at only their team’s level of responsibility. Probably a pleaser and will buy into anything that makes them looks good.
3. What the company does, how their department assists, and perhaps finally how they fit into the equation – Keep an eye on this person, they are going far. You want to think of this person as an executive. R.O.I. will eventually be your course of action.
Listen for cues of disdain within each answer. This too is a trigger point on how happy they are with their job, their department, or the company as a whole. It might also end up as a selling point if you can eliminate that disdain.
This answer will also provide you with the ability to choose your next set of questions. If they want to talk about themselves, ask questions specific to how they do their job. If they get into department, ask about hierarchy and departmental initiatives. If you get into the strategic thinker, ask their opinions on how the company functions and get them to give you a strength and weakness analysis on how they do what they do. This course is not as hard as you think, as people love to talk, especially about their passions. Even if we do not like our jobs, most of us are passionate about them. If there is no passion in your contact, and you cannot instill any, they probably are not going to be too great an asset. That is, unless they are the decision maker.
Now, if I get that rebuttal I mentioned earlier, or for some reason I be a bit more specific:
“Help me understand your role (or your department’s role) at the company?”
I can count on one hand the number of times I have asked this question and received a response that was less than a minute long. I have asked this question THOUSANDS OF TIMES! If you think that is not a big deal, stop reading and count to 60 RIGHT NOW!
People love the sound of their name, and to talk about themselves, even shy people get in the groove when they feel someone really cares about them. If you are a true salesperson, looking to make a career out of taking care of people, you should care about them. That said, your job now is to get them to reveal the inner workings of the company in relation to you, your competitors, their core processes, products and problems. Treat every contact as someone you want to get to know; not just professionally, but personally. If you can build this habit into your initial phase of qualifying, you are taking a huge step towards building a long term bond. People buy from people they like, and everyone tends to like people if they know they are going to listen.
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