One of the mistakes that less experienced sales people often make is to allow a sales prospect to control the flow of information during a sales call. While it is important to let the sales prospect do the majority of the talking, the conversation will not help you close more sales if the information is not relevant. All sales people can learn to prevent this from happening and close more sales by asking sales prospects great questions that go beyond the basics.
Naturally, you need to learn about your sales prospect on the way to close more sales. Great questions that prompt your sales prospect to share information with you while building rapport are the best way to navigate the initial sales call. Ask questions that accomplish both aims, such as:
As the sales person, you can walk away from a deal as easily as can the sales prospect. In certain circumstances, if the sales prospect is not qualified or not ready to buy, moving on to the next opportunity may be in your best interest to close more sales. Try asking these great questions to confirm that your sales prospect is qualified to buy.
Features and benefits rarely help sales people close more sales. This is because selling based on features and benefits tends to lead to an offering being viewed as a nice to have product or service rather than a business necessity. To get a sales prospect to sign on the dotted line, ask great questions that help the prospect convince him or herself of the need for your offering, like:
When a sales prospect shows hesitation before moving to the next step, the first instinct may be to avoid the reluctance and forge ahead. However, by doing so many sales people only find that the prospect bows out of the pipeline at a later stage after a great selling opportunity has passed. Ask great questions to help you close more sales at the first sign of hesitation by assuming that the prospect does have concerns, and that there is no concern that you can’t address to close the sale.
Ultimately, the only way for sales people to close more sales is to understand the unique perspectives and needs of their prospects. Unless a sales prospect is exceptionally talkative about his or her business, the only way to do this effectively is to ask great questions. Prepare to contact your next sales prospect with a list of great questions in hand that you can re-use to help close more sales.
Claire has 4+ years of experience in sales and recruitment. As a Director of Client Services, her main objective is to connect great people to great companies by building strong relationships with both top clients and candidates in the sales industry. She specializes in sales roles of all seniority levels for both enterprise and start-up clients North American wide. When Claire isn't networking with top talent, she enjoys being outdoors, traveling and spending time with friends & family.