How to move the sale forward

                                                                                         

I must admit I get a little bored every time I hear a trainer or article say "There are two types of questions, open and closed. Only use open questions when xyz and only use closed questions when abc"

This is just bull to be honest and is so old fashioned yet many sales training courses include them!

The point being is that you should not care what type of questions you should ask as long as they are productive questions and that they do one of two things!

Rather than wracking your brains and being scared of asking an open or closed question in the right circumstance, read what I am about to tell you and asking questions will come a lot more natural to you.

When you ask a question, no matter whether it is an open or closed question, it must do one of two things. (or ideally both!)

Your questions should either:

1. Move the sale forward
or
2. Build the relationship with the client

Questions that can build the relationship with the client AND move the sale forward are awesome!

When you think about the combinations above there are four types of questions that you can ask:

(least productive first)

1. Those that do not move the sale forward and do not maintain or enhance the relationship

These are obviously the least productive and you should avoid these because you are just wasting your time.

Examples are if you are talking about yourself on a subject matter that the client has no interest in or if you are asking questions about products and services that the client does not want or need.

2. Those that maintain or enhance the client relationship but do not move the sale forward.

Some clients want small talk so that they feel more comfortable with the whole process.

The objective of these questions are to build liking.

Some examples of these are:

- Would you like some tea and coffee?
- Played much golf recently James?
- How's your new baby settling in?
- How was the holiday? I was reading on the news that there was a heat wave where you were staying?

Try to use these questions early on but do not go overboard with them. Remember, the objective is to ultimately make a sale and not to gossip for an hour!

3. Those that do not maintain or enhance the relationship but move the sale forward.

Some customers like to just "get down to business" with no chit chat or small talk so just get straight on with it if this is the case.

These questions allow you to move the sale forward with no real relationship building.

These type of questions are normally associated with order taking and info gathering:

- What items would you like?
- What are your requirements?
- How much is your budget?

4. The most productive type of question are those that maintain or enhance the relationship AND move the sale forward.

Here are some examples:

- Can you imagine how that kitchen would look in your home?
- Can you see yourself with this phone?
- Would a tailor-made package be more suitable for you?

One that will be built around exactly what your requirements are so that the widgets are of more use to you John?

So, in summing up:

Forget about frying your brain with lists of open and closed questions.

Instead, during your prep think of only two types of questions no matter whether they are open or closed and ask yourself the following question:

DO THEY MOVE THE SALE FORWARD and/or BUILD OR MAINTAIN THE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CLIENT?

If you can do both at the same your sales will rocket.

About the author:
Sean McPheat provides sales coaching, sales consulting and delivers sales training programmes and consultancy assignments across the UK, Europe, US and the Middle East.

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