Stop acting like a salesperson; start acting like a consultant - St. Louis Business Journal:

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Why do we ask questions? Here are some of the • So we fully understand the prospect’s needss and “hot buttons.” • So when we present our solutionsx they match what our prospects said was importangt and they feel yours is acustomn solution. • To get beyond the initia reason why they needthe product. • To make prospectxs feel like they are a part of thebuyiny decision. When they are they are beginning tosell themselves. So what questionsd should we ask? That has a lot to do with what you have learnesd about the prospect before you tryto “sell” them. You need to learnn something aboutthe company, the etc.
before calling on That’s pretty easy. Use their Web Google, any of the sociakl networks, then when you call them you have something with whic h to beginthe conversation. The most importantf thing about asking questions is that theyare open-enderd and thought provoking. Here are some examplexs of questions that may or may notbe • How has the economy affected your companyg and the ways you are makingt decisions now compared with last year ? • I noticed on your Web site that you will be launchinhg a new product. Can you tell me about that? • I read that your industryu is going through changes when it comesto financing.
Can you sharwe with me how that will affecgtyour organization? • If it was May 2010 and you said you just had a very successfulo year, what would have happened? Let’s pretend we workex together this past year. A year later you said the relationshipl was apositive one. What does that look like? • What do the next five years look like for yourorganization ? • What differentiates you from your competitors? What are you most prous of? I wouldn’t ask all of these questions all of the time. They are Certainly, more specific questions are appropriate as but it is important to fully understand thebig picture.
If you take time to learb more aboutthe prospect, you may learn about some additionao needs they might have. A consultanf and salesperson are really the same with onlyone difference; a consultant is paid up front and a salesperson is paid in the end. So act like a consultanty and you will selllots more.