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Questions to Help You Close
Sure you'd like help closing the deal. But did you ever think
you could simply ask your prospect for it? Find out how from sales
trainer Linda Richardson.
Knowing all you can about the client's decision-making process can
give you an edge in winning the business. Effective questioning
can uncover the information you need. Let's look at some useful
questions you can ask to ascertain the decision-making process.
Finding out the decision criteria
Most clients expect to be asked about decision criteria, and most
salespeople do ask these questions. However, the real value comes
when you drill down after you get an answer. Start broad by asking:
"So I can understand what is important to you, what factors
will you consider in making your decision?" Now, start to narrow
it down: "Which are the priorities?"
Or, try this: "So I can put a solution together that meets
your needs, can you tell me the criteria you will look at in making
the decision? What are the priorities? Why
is X so important"?
Probing for the decision-makers
It is critical to understand who will make or influence the decision
so you can get to those people. To determine the decision-makers,
utilize these questions:
"Who will participate with you in making the decision?"
Once you have resolved this, ask: "Who else will you involve
in the decision?"
"What are their perspectives?"
"What are their roles?"
"Who is championing this?"
"Who is not supporting this?"
"What obstacles might there be?" (You
must know what can stop the deal.)
Probing for the decision process
Ask, "What steps are you taking in making this decision?"
If anything seems unusual or specific, probe to find out why.
Probing for time frames
Pose direct questions like, "What is the time frame? Why is that?"
Find out about competitors
In order to plan a competitive strategy and best position your solution,
you will need to know about your competition. Here are some questions
to help you broach this sometimes awkward subject:
"What other organizations are you considering?"
"What about their offering do you like?"
"What about their offering is of concern?"
"How far are they in the process?"
"With whom have they met?"
There will be times when clients will change their criteria midstream.
If this happens, be sure to ask why. Find out who changed the criteria.
Probe and discuss this with your internal coach or ally at the company
(hopefully you have one!).
When clients say they do not know their criteria, suggest ideas from
other similar clients and then check for feedback: "We often
see clients who consider …" or "How do these sound
relative to what is important to you?"
Before you close, probe, probe, probe so you will be poised to win!
Linda Richardson is President and founder of Richardson (www.Richardson.com),
a leading sales training and consulting firm. She is a recognized
leader in the sales training industry and is credited with the movement
to consultative selling, which is the corner stone of Richardson's
methodology. |
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