Results are precise and accurate recommendations that buyers take seriously. Sellers who unearth buyer needs and problems and then incorporate them into sales presentations become respected consultants instead of product pushers. As Stephen R. Covey says, “When you can present your own ideas clearly, specifically, visually, and most important, contextually—in the context of a deep understanding of [a buyer’s] paradigms and concerns—you significantly increase the credibility of your idea… You’re not wrapped up in your ‘own thing,’ delivering grandiose rhetoric from a soapbox.”1
My neighbor shared with me a story that illustrates the importance of asking need-problem questions. Years ago his parents lived in the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains in Utah, and during the winter the snow was so deep that they needed a snow blower to remove the snow from their driveway. When their snow blower broke, his father went to a local hardware store to buy a new one. As he was evaluating the snow blowers on display, a salesperson approached him and said, “We’ve got a terrific sale on this model right here (pointing to a particular snow blower).” His father bought the snow blower and later told his son, “I was prepared to spend up to $5,000 on a heavy duty snow blower. Instead, I bought the one on sale for $799.”
The hardware store salesman sold a $799 product to a buyer who was willing to spend up to $5,000 on a high quality snow blower, leaving money on the table because he failed to ask a few simple need related questions. Had he simply asked, “Mr. Buyer, what kind of a snow blower are you looking for?” or, “How much snow do you normally have to remove?” he could have recommended a snow blower that matched the needs and wants of the buyer, rather than making a recommendation based on a sales price or spiff. Had the hardware salesman asked the buyer questions about the depth of snow, the slope of their driveway, or whether or not his wife would also be operating the snow blower, he could have confirmed the need to purchase a higher quality, more heavy-duty snow blower. He lost commissionable dollars and failed to fully meet the needs of his customer because he neglected to ask need-related questions.
A shopper searching for kitchen knives in the house wares department of a retail store asked a salesperson “Are these kitchen knives sharp?” The salesperson answered, “Oh yes. They have been honed with laser technology. They cut deeply, leaving no rough edge.” The shopper replied, “Oh. My mother loves to cook but has arthritis. I’d be afraid she would get a nasty cut.”
The intent of the shopper’s question was not to gain information about the technology of the knives. The intent was to introduce the issue of safety. Before rushing in with an answer a cerebral salesperson would have responded with a need related question, “Are sharp knives important to you?”
Need-problem questions help sales professionals sell with greater accuracy and greater integrity. Equipped with information about the needs, problems, difficulties, and dissatisfactions of buyers, sellers are better prepared to make substantive recommendations, deliver meaningful presentations, and become respected consultants rather than biased product pushers.
There is another benefit of using need-problem questions. The process of identifying needs has a positive affect on the psyche of buyers. When sellers provide buyers with an opportunity to participate in defining the problems, buyers develop a sense of ownership in the sale. When buyers help define the problem, they are more easily persuaded to purchase the solution.
The Point? No problem = no sale. Needs and problems are to a sale what oxygen is to a fire. People only buy if they have needs to fill or problems to resolve.
Sample Need-Problem Questions
Rationale: “Mr. Prospect, as a [business] consultant for [Patrick Henry International], it’s my job to understand and analyze any current needs you face with regard to [sales performance] and then do my best to come up with solutions to address those problems.”
• As you evaluate________, what are your primary objectives/priorities?
• As you look at________, what are your most critical needs/capabilities?
• What motivated you to speak with us (today)?
• What’s the most significant issue you currently face with regard to________?
• What is it you’re looking for in a________?
• What are your key initiatives/requirements for________?
• What would you like to accomplish with________?
• What benefits are you most interested in when evaluating________?
• What would help you do a better job________?
• What are three things you would like to see improved with________?
• Is your primary interest ( growth ) or are you more interested in ( cost reduction )?
• What are the most pressing challenges you would like to resolve with________?
• Are there any blatant or obvious deficiencies you are experiencing with________?
• What are the most important problems you would like to resolve?
• What problems, if any, are you currently experiencing with________?
• What are the most critical challenges you currently face?
• Help me understand what area is giving you the most problems.
• What problems do you face with your current________?
• Are you experiencing any dissatisfaction with________?
• What can you share with me that would help me understand________?
• Is there anything about________you don’t like?
• Where do you see a need for improvement with________?
• Is there anything holding you back from reaching/achieving________?
• Are there any issues that we have not discussed that are relevant to________?
• After products are installed/implemented, what would need to happen to consider it a success?
Of course, the point is not to ask endless questions or gather infinite information. Each question should clarify the prospect’s needs and problems so that informed proposals, customized presentations, and accurate recommendations can be made. (To assist sellers implement The DNA Selling Method, a sample DNA Selling Call Sheet has been included at the end of this chapter to help sellers plan and execute call strategies, and focus on the critical components of a sales call).
Question Types
What was God doing before he created heaven and earth? He was preparing hell for people who ask awkward questions.
—St. Augustine
There are three general types of sales questions:
1. Yes-No Questions: Yes-No questions can only be answered with a “Yes” or a “No” and are sometimes called clarifying or fact finding questions. For example, “Are you insured?”
2. Closed-Ended Questions: Closed-ended questions result in single word answers. They are sometimes called confirming or targeted questions. For example, “Is it an individual or group policy?”
3. Open-Ended Questions: Open-ended questions usually result in multi worded answers and are sometimes called exploratory or thought provoking questions. For example, “Why did you choose policy X?”
Using Closed-ended Questions in the Initial Sales Call
Closed-ended questions have become a dirty word in the selling industry. Many sales and marketing courses teach that closed-ended questions have no place in a salesperson’s vernacular. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Instructing sellers to never use closed-ended questions is “throwing the baby out with the bath water” because each question type has its appropriate time and place.
That is not to say that in certain situations one question type is not better than another. When you are seeking quantitative (quantity related) information, open-ended questions provide precise information; whereas, when you are seeking qualitative (clear and definitive) information, closed-ended and yes-no questions are more effective.
Yes-No (and most
closed-ended questions) generally start with the phrases:
Can you________?
Do you________?
Have you________?
Does it________?
Is it________?
Are you________?
Has it________?
In the initial stages of the sale, closed-ended questions are appropriate because they solicit clear and definitive answers.
Note: Don’t be afraid to use closed-ended questions early in the sales call to obtain specific account information.
Open Ended Questions
Although closed-ended questions are effective sales tools, they should not be over used. Closed-ended questions are excellent tools for obtaining clear and definitive information, but are not particularly effective for building long-term relationships.
Open-ended questions are less direct, more conversational, and solicit more information from buyers. Open-ended questions overcome the “clam” effect by encouraging buyers to offer information that can be used to advance the sale.
Open-ended questions are often referred to as the “Five W’s” and begin with the words:
Who________?
What________?
When________?
Where________?
Why________?
Of course, unless you ask questions that have a direct correlation to the needs, pains, and interests of the client, it won’t make any difference what type of question you ask. The power of a question lies in whether or not it relates to an area of importance to the buyer, not whether it is yes-no, open, or closed ended.
Seasoned sellers use the following guidelines to determine which question types to use:
• Ask yes-no questions to clarify specific facts
• Ask closed-ended questions for targeted and focused answers
• Ask open-ended questions to gather quantitative information
The Point? Striking an appropriate balance between the three question types is the signature of a professional sales person.
In Summary
In selling situations, talking in terms of the other person’s interest is the foundation for effective information gathering. When people see how sellers meet their needs and eliminate their problems, they readily agree to recommended solutions, which is what makes The DNA Selling Method so effective. It is a logical questioning methodology that guides sellers through the investigation stage of the sales cycle and helps sellers focus their attention on the interests of their prospects. It is a proven, systematic questioning methodology and a refreshing problem-solving approach to selling.
The DNA Selling Call Sheet
Figure 15.1
1. Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1989) 257.
Chapter 16
Dynamic vs. Passive Listening
Learn to listen. Opportunity could be knocking at your door very softly.
—Frank Tyger
The saying “Silence is golden,” illustrates a fundamental principle observed by all successful businesses. Coca Cola has kept its four-page recipe of the world’s best selling soft drink in a guarded bank vault in downtown Atlanta for over one hundred years, and only two executives are allowed access to the recipe. Likewise, the original recipe of Kentucky Fried Chicken is maintained in a time capsule in an undisclosed, guarded area.
Knowing when to be silent has always been an important part of business success. Take, for example, the recent revelations concerning the 1930’s film star, Hedy Lamarr, an extremely successful actress in Germany during the rise of the Third Reich. She was renowned for her beauty and talent and was married to a successful Austrian munitions expert who was sympathetic toward the Nazi movement. Unbeknownst to him, his wife was an underground anti-Nazi spy.
Just prior to the outbreak of World War II, when Hedy’s husband was summoned to Berlin to meet with scientists to find a way to use radio signals to guide torpedoes to their target, the actress insisted on accompanying her husband in his travels. She sat side by side with him as he met with German scientists and Nazi naval officers to identify a way to send a radio signal that could only be received by a designated receiver. They eventually invented a technology called “frequency hopping” that prevented outside listeners from deciphering a message. Mrs. Lamarr absorbed every detail.
Acquiring the frequency information was only the first step in her intelligence efforts and perhaps the easiest. She had to deliver her stolen data to London. Suspicions of her anti-Nazi sentiments had begun to surface, she knew she needed to act quickly. On a scheduled night, she drugged her maid, slipped out of her home, and followed a pre-determined route from Austria to London. Once in London, however, she was careful not to reveal too much. After experiencing the nature of espionage and the inherent risks of double agents, she maintained a cautious relationship with her London contacts.
While in London, she happened to meet a Hollywood studio executive she recognized from her acting career and informed him of her espionage activities. She was taken to Washington D.C. to deliver a debriefing to U.S. officials on Nazi intentions. Interestingly, after the debriefing, she filed a secret patent on frequency hopping for wartime communication. Mrs. Lamarr realized that it was technology ahead of its time. Today it is referred to as “spread spectrum technology” and is used in cell phone systems, satellite encryption, and other marvels of modern technology.
Hedy Lamarr’s instinct to keep silent and not reveal too much, too soon, to too many people paid off. Neither her patent, nor her espionage activities were publicly revealed until 1990 when a Forbes magazine article reported the entire affair.
The Importance of Listening
Hedy Lamarr’s experience in espionage can teach us much that is applicable in business and sales today. The first and foremost lesson is that successful salespeople know when to listen and when to talk. The key to Hedy’s success, obviously, was knowing when to keep silent.
As fundamental as listening sounds, it seems to be one of the most difficult disciplines to follow, especially for salespeople. This is why the last step of the power benefit statement is to be quiet and listen. Asking effective questions is just one part of the information-gathering process. Listening and understanding the answers is another.
Based on research and observation, I have concluded that the top three problems in sales are:
1. Inadequate questioning and listening skills
2. Engaging in premature presentations
3. Inadequate account qualification
I have also concluded that all three problems can be improved when sellers enhance their listening skills. As fundamental as listening sounds, it seems to be one of the most difficult disciplines to follow, especially for salespeople.
More is not Necessarily Better
The soldiers on the Lewis and Clark expedition (1803-1806) were a sensation to most Indian tribes. William Clark’s slave, York, was a special spectacle. His massive size was impressive enough, but the Indians had never seen a black man, and they couldn’t make out if he was man, beast, or spirit being.
Because of their inherent novelty, the soldiers enjoyed the favors of the women from most of the Indian tribes, often encouraged to do so by the husbands, who believed that they would catch some of the power of the white men from such intercourse, transmitted to them through their wives. One warrior invited York to his lodge, offered him his wife, and guarded the entrance during the act. York was said to be “the big medicine.”
Whether or not the Indian men received power from the intercourse cannot be alleged. It is evident, however, that disease was transmitted. Because of the tribes’ hospitality with previous French traders and trappers, venereal diseases were rampant in the villages and passed on to the men of the expedition. It is possible that eve
ry man on the expedition suffered from syphilis.
Meriwether Lewis was the only person on the expedition with any medical experience and treated the disease by having his men ingest mercury in the form of a pill called calomel (mercurous chloride). The mercury pills were sovereign for syphilis, and Lewis knew this and administered it routinely.
Unfortunately, unbeknownst to Lewis, the side effects of ingesting mercury is dangerous; the phrase “mad as a hatter” referred to hat makers who used mercury in the process of their work and became a bit crazy from breathing in the fumes. Compounding the problem was the amount of mercury Lewis was prescribing. He applied all treatments on the principle of more was better. How his men survived his treatments is a mystery to modern medical professionals.
Like the primitive medical notion that more is better, many salespeople adhere to the mistaken perception that the more information they provide buyers the better. Average sellers believe they should dominate and control conversations by describing and explaining how wonderful their products or services are, but nothing could be further from the truth. The fastest way to turn off a buyer is to talk, talk, talk. Successful sellers don’t dominate conversations with talk; instead, they dominate conversations with good questioning and listening skills.
Contrary to popular belief, the best sales professionals are not the best talkers, but the best listeners. As Stephen R. Covey puts it in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, highly effective people “Listen with the intent to understand, not to respond.” It’s no different for successful sellers because great sellers are great communicators, and great communicators are great listeners.
Note: Great sellers dominate listening, not talking.
The Listen-to-Talk Ratio
A frequently asked question I receive during sales training is, “If you don’t talk about product or service capabilities, how will the client know what you do?” I’m not suggesting product or service capabilities should not be discussed in the initial sales call. Obviously, product or service capabilities and benefits need to be explained and promoted. What I’m recommending, however, is balance. Since most sellers talk too much and listen too little, their listen-to-talk ratio is out of balance.
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