Experience teaches us a lot, but sometimes we need to be reminded of those lessons. Recently I got one such reminder in an email from Russ Davis of The Sandler Sales Institute. The email was loaded with questions. Questions like: Is my close rate as good as it should be? Am I making the right number of contacts per day? Are my sales skills up to date?
The email reminded me that questions are at the heart of good sales, at the heart of good relationships for that matter. In fact, in a sales book that I co-authored in 2006 entitled The Selling Machine, the chapter on qualifying explores the issue in detail.
Here’s why the technique works. Questions shift the focus of the conversation from you (the asker) to the other person (the client). We need that focus to be on our clients because we need to hear directly from them about their wants, needs and aspirations. They need to speak it and we need to hear it. Questions get us there!
