COMMENTS
Great topic. Often times as sales people we DO have people telling us this is a priority, and we DO get very detailed information regarding the timeline, the desired implementation time, etc. then they don't return your calls for a month. Whats your take on that position?
Matt:
Here are a couple of thoughts on the subject:
It's the responsibility of the salesperson to earn a degree of respect from the customer. It's also the salesperson's responsibility to ask enough thoughtful and relevant questions to determine whether a sales opportunity is worth pursuing.
It's the buyer's repsonsibility to understand that misleading or lying to a salesperson is not only unethical, but directly impacts that salesperson's and their company's success or failure.
It is not the buyer's responsibility if a salesperson draws erroneous conclusions based upon facts stated by that buyer.
With that said, there is nothing wrong with a buyer responding, "I'm not comfortable answering that question at this point."
Hi Matt: great blog, and great to show how questions are perceived. Recently I wrote a paper that covers the importance of understanding assumptions in sales. Assumptions are a selling fact of life, but sometimes we don't know the assumptions we are making. That's why as a salesperson, I'd tackle the questions you posed differently:
[b]Is this project one of your top 3 initiativesfor this quarter?[/b]
[i] Could you share your top priorities over your planning horizon?[/i]
[b]When are you looking to make a purchasing decision? When will you be implementing?[/b]
[i] What forces are driving the biggest changes in your business?[/i] or [i]What's motivating your project?[/i]
[b]What would you like to see happen as a next step?]/b]
[i]When you've solved problems similar to this one in the past, what steps have you taken to vet the alternatives and purchase a solution?[/i]
[b]If you were me, would you forecast this business this month?[/b]
Generally, I haven't had good results asking this question. Customers don't care because forecasting isn't their problem--it's mine. Also, it's often perceived as thinly-veiled pressure. But if you have to ask, [i]In order to help us plan our resources for the coming quarter, what is the earliest date you expect to deploy a solution for problem X?[/i]
If you want to read more, my paper "How to Qualify Prospects--A Powerful Strategy for Managers and Salespeople," can be downloaded from
www.tidwit.com/outsidetechnologies .
@Andrew thanks for sharing your questions.
@Dave great points about responsibilities.
@TC what a great & important question!
"Radio silence" is certainly a loss category for many sales organizations. I really don't think you can 100% "qualify" your way around it. That being said, by DOing the things you mention, you should be able to minimize its impact.
Thanks all for great input!
@TC
I think you have a bigger problem if people don't call you back after you've had conversations with them. You probably don't have repoire, credibility and trust built. But, if I think someone is going to be flaky and hard to reach, I would ask the question like this, "I understand that you are going to make a decision on this next month. When do you think we should plan to talk again, then? Ok. Does Thursday on the 2st at 11AM EST work for you? Should I call you or will you call me? Ok. I will call you at 508 555 1212. Are you sure that you will be available then? In the past, when I've talked to people and then they asked me to talk again in a month, one month turns into 2 months and 3 months turn into 4. A lot of times people are really good at prioritizing and when they say it'll happen, they mean it. However, a lot of people are just good at procrastinating. What kind of person are you? Ok. Do I have permission to hold you accountable to this then? Ok. Then, what happens if I don't reach you at that time? Should I call your cell phone, your partner, your wife? How should I hold you accountable?"
Obviously, you need to react to them as you ask all of these questions. But, if you have speed on bases and time/priorities is the only objection, than you should be ok asking these questions.
Another question, I might ask is something like, "it sounds like you truly have an issue around xyz and that you want to investigate our service as a possible solution. Is there some reason why we won't end up talking in one month?"
I also might go in for the close if I've done everything right. I might say something like, if there's no other objections, "what's stopping you from signing our contract and dating the billing to start in one month?"
This should uncover true priorities and objections.
I learned this all from Rick Roberge, btw.
Although, I've teasingly said that the way you know a prospect is lying is that their lips are moving, it's always the salesperson's fault when a prospect 'gets away with it'. Salespeople tend to have "happy ears". They hear the answer that they want to hear rather than what the prospect really means. They also believe that if they can just show their prospect how awesome their product or service is, the prospect will forget their timeline, budget, decision-making process and their unbridled excitement will cause them to buy on the spot. Long story short: if your prospect hasn't identified compelling reasons and urgency to buy from you, you have no reason to believe that it's time to close.
People hate to spend money, but they sure do like to buy. All we have to do as salesmen is approach our prospects at the most opportune time that they feel so inclined to buying. The majority of salesmen only approach people in relevance to their schedule, and not the other way. For example, if I am on the internet and I am looking to buy a pair of shoes, when I submit my information, I want to be called right away because at that moment I am the most interested in buying a pair of shoes than 30 minutes later, than 1 hour later, than 1 day later, etc.
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