A sales-pro was walking along a California beach and stumbled across an old lamp. He picked it up, rubbed it, and out popped a genie.
The genie said, “You only get one wish; and no wishing for more wishes!”
The Sales-pro replied, “I wish there was a bridge to Hawaii so I could drive over there to visit.”
The genie laughed and said, “That is logistically impossible! No. Think of another wish.”
The sales-pro then said, “I wish I knew everything about my customers, knew their business goals, knew what they really wanted before they ask, and knew how to make them truly successful before even meeting them.”
The genie replied, “Do you want that bridge to be two lanes or four?” (HaHa)
Wouldn’t it be great if our products or services were exactly what our customers needed to achieve their business goals?
One of the biggest challenges in sales is to convince the customers that what we have to offer is what they need to be successful. Over the 40 years of my career, I have asked hundreds of buyers dozens of questions to determine how our products or services could help them achieve their goals.
For the past ten years, customers’ answers to these nine magic questions have provided me most of the information needed to develop a fact-based proposal buyers have enthusiastically accepted.
The first three questions provide understanding of their goals:
What do you want? Why do you want it? Why is that important to you?
The next question encourages the buyer to think differently to understand the obstacles they face: Why don’t you have it now?
Questions five and six help determine the buyers’ feelings: When would you like to have it; why then? How will you feel when you have it?
The last three questions require the sales-pro and buyer to work together to uncover several options resulting in the solution to meet or exceed the goals: What do you need to do to get it? Are you willing to do what it takes to get it? What is the Plan of Action to get it? (The buyer must be willing to do what it takes.)
There is nothing more thrilling than closing the big sale and helping the customer achieve their business goals. Asking these Nine Magic Questions throughout the selling process will Heat Up Your Sales.
