In 2022, let’s all commit to asking more intelligent questions of buyers. For those who don’t ask questions, because they are too busy delving into the micro details of the solution, this will be a major change for the better. How on earth can you know if the solution you are promoting is the right fit for the client’s problems, if you haven’t clearly established what the real problems are? Rather than going through the charade of guessing what the best solution should be, we take the time to find out precisely what they need. In Japan, if the leap straight into solution provision is because you are afraid of the buyer’s reaction to questions, then we need to work on how to get around that issue.
The answer is question design. Just jumping into detailed questions can be an abrupt turn of events for a buyer, who is meeting the salesperson for the first time. If some stranger started asking detailed questions about the inner workings and problems in your marriage, you would be aghast. Keep this metaphor in mind, because this is close to what we are doing in sales. We are trying to ask questions to find out what are the problems facing this buyer. Probing questions about the firm’s failings may trigger an alarm in their mind about the danger of sharing confidential information with a stranger. They may become reluctant to do so, because the trust is not there yet. Suddenly we are only getting to the tip of the iceberg issues. Even if we think we have solutions for those problems, we still are not addressing the more important hidden concerns of the buyer.
The first question we need to design is how to get permission to access very sensitive insider company information. We need to set this up early in the sales conversation. The 3WBigMaybe structure works well in this stage of the conversation. The first “W” is to explain WHO we are. For example, in my case, I would say, “we are softs skills training experts specialising in deep learning sustainment techniques, so that the training sticks”. I have packed a lot into that short sentence, including a strong USP or Unique Selling Proposition, about the training not fading away after the classes are over. The next “W” is WHAT we have done for a similar company in the same business and market. We need to pick another client very similar to this one, so that they feel the success will also be relevant for them too. The third “W” is WHEN we did it. If the example was ten years ago or five years ago, this client may feel that so much has changed in that time, that the example is broken and not relevant.
The BigMaybe comes immediately after the Who, What, When structure. We haven’t asked any detailed questions yet about the client’s situation, so we actually have no idea if what we are offering will fix their issues or not. So the next step is to be very strategic in what we say. After having outlined what we did for another client, very similar to them, we say, “Maybe we can do the same thing for you. I am not sure. But in order for me to know if it is possible or not, would you mind if I asked you a few questions?”. Clients are cautious about big talking, pushy salespeople. By using a very soft word like “maybe’, we are signaling we are not like those other aggressive, thrusting salespeople and instead are focused on the client’s needs.
One key thing to always keep in mind though is, that once you have asked for their permission to ask questions, do not say one more word. Let it hang there forever if necessary. Don’t be tempted by the tension in the air to add more explanation or say any more about it. You have been succinct and clear, so let them answer you.
This asking for permission to ask questions isn’t 100% percent guaranteed to get a “yes” and maybe the buyer forces us to go into our pitch. That is almost guaranteed to lead nowhere and we will do it knowing that the chances of a sale are much reduced. The percentage of clients who force this upon us though, will be very small in the big scheme of things, so we should always start with getting permission to ask questions.
Now that we have their permission to ask questions, we can investigate where they would like to be, why they haven’t gotten there already and what would success look like for them. These are very straightforward questions, however the key is to wrap them up in the implications of not taking action right now. Having a need and doing something about it are not the same thing. This is where we have to ask questions in a very intelligent way, helping them to understand the opportunity cost of leaving things as they are now. The latter is always the easiest choice for buyers and the worst result for salespeople. Preparing for the opportunity cost discussion takes good planning and good data, in order to make the case appear overwhelming for taking action right now.
Intelligent questions build trust with buyers and leads them to willingly provide the information we need, in order to be able to help them. Making no permission request to ask questions says, we are not smart. No questions at all and just moving straight in the pitch says, we are not smart. Having no well designed implication questions says, we are not smart. Buyers don’t want to deal with dumb salespeople, so we have to get busy on the basics again, as we start 2022.
