For many asking the right question starts the sales process and helps to achieve this goal to increase sales. Yet far too many sales people focus on asking the wrong question or asking the same questions that everyone else has asked and consequently fail to sell more.
Before traveling into the why, one important word in the first paragraph is "asking" or better yet ask. Many people believe they know the meaning of the words. Yet, I have discovered this I know that already (IKTA) resides confusion.
In Webster's New World Dictionary, the word ask is of Anglo Saxon origin. Its first definition is "to use words in seeking the answer to (a question); inquire about." The first intent of this word is further understanding of an existing question.
What this suggests if you do not know the existing question, you will have trouble asking. How many times in the buying/selling process do sales professionals fail to do their research (think homework)? This keeps them from being to seek the real answers from their potential customers (a.k.a. prospects).
Now returning to the question at hand, How do you sell more? What would happen if you asked yourself this question "How can I help my customers buy more?" Does restating this query provide a different perspective? Would your behaviors be a little to dramatically different?
Years ago, there was a small little book called the QBQ! The Question Behind the Question by John G. Miller. Even though this book addressed personal accountability, the author presents three (3) guidelines to better understand the question behind the question.
The first guideline is to begin with the word What or How. Questions starting with Why, When and Who fail because the focus is on someone else or something else and not on you, your decisions or your behaviors. After all to achieve the goal to increase sales begins with you, the decisions you make and the behaviors you demonstrate. How many times have we heard "When is the economy going to get better?" or similar such statements as the reason for not selling more?
Next, remove any of these words, they, them, we or you. Your QBQ needs to have the letter I. Are you beginning to see a pattern here? For sales is all about personal accountability, doing what you need to do to get to where you want to be. So what does personal accountability mean? The definition I use is from Innermetrix Attribute Index and it is:
"The ability to be responsible for the consequences of one's own decisions and actions; taking responsibility for these decisions, and not shifting focus for blame or poor performance somewhere else or on others. This derives from an internal responsibility to one's self to be accountable and this internal willingness to own up will tend to be exhibited outside in one one's actions."
Personal accountability is directly connected to your decision making process and begins from the inside. If the goal is to how to sell more, personal accountability is a definite talent. How many times have you heard sales people blame the customer, the competition even their own organization before they look at their own actions? Sales Coaching Tip: What I have discovered is many engaged in selling do not have a strong talent or strength when it comes to personal accountability.
Finally, the third step is to focus on action. Until action is taken, no change happens. Of course as Alan Deutschman in his book Change or Die revealed that only 1 out of 10 people will change. This statistic is confirmed by ongoing sales research that suggests over 50% of all sales leads are left hanging on the vine and 10-20% of all sales people earn 90-80% of the sales. There is a lot of failed personal accountability within this profession.
Another book that I truly enjoy is the Questions that Sell by Paul Cherry. He provides a very simple process to move the how to sell more along.
Spin Selling Fieldbook is another great resource to help any sales professional sell more. The vignettes that Rackham provides are real examples to help apply the practical advice he offers.
There are many other books that help sales professionals learn to create better asking questions when engaging with their potential customers (a.k.a. qualified prospects). And if you do not like books, you can peruse blogs to numerous websites devoted to "how to sell more." Bottom line is when salespersons learn to ask better questions of themselves then they will realize their goals be it to increase sales, receive more referrals or just getting clients.
