|
Top Three
Call-Ending Questions
by Ann Barr
Like most sales people, you probably
have a list of prospects to call every day, along with a great
opening statement introducing yourself and your company.
You may also
have a list of two or three questions to ask the prospect, to
qualify her/him and learn how they could benefit from your product.
But, did you
know that there are three questions
being asked by sales people every day that can cause the
prospect to want to end the call?
Getting
Their Attention
We
have about 9 seconds to get the prospect’s interest and earn the
right to proceed with a cold call or a call to a current customer.
If we do anything to create resistance, it’s downhill after that. A
common mistake is asking questions that serve no purpose.
Call-ending Question #1
"Have you heard of our company?"
Think about the
possible answers. If they say "no," you still have to explain who
you are and what you do, but you have now stopped the
momentum of the call by asking a question that got
a negative answer.
If the prospect says "yes," they are familiar with you, ask yourself
this question:
If they
have
heard about your company, why are they not doing business with you?
They probably have a good reason and you have reminded them of that
reason.
State the Benefits
After you introduce yourself, instead of "Have you heard of our
company?" tell them what you can do for them.
Based on what you know about your prospects and customers, you can
use words and phrases that explain how they can benefit.
Think of how you
could customize the following phrases to fit in with what you sell
and what your company could do for them.
For example, you could say,
l
"Ms. Prospect we help companies to increase the amount of toner they
get, for the
same price they're paying now.” Or -
l
"Mr. Prospect we help companies reduce spending on copier supplies .
. .”
Fact, Benefit and
Question
Here is a good example of an opening
statement using facts, a benefit and a question to get the prospect
involved in the conversation –
"Good morning,
Mrs. Prospect, this is John Sellalot from GoodHomes Realty.
"We specialize
in finding buyers for homes within 30 days of the listing date.
"The reason for
my call today is: last month your next-door neighbor's home sold for
$10,000 above the appraised value.
"This would be a
perfect time for you to get a complimentary personalized home
evaluation report. Shall I prepare one for you?"
Call-ending Question #2
"What do you like best about your current supplier?"
This question causes the prospect to sell himself on his
current supplier. It does you no good. The conversation
stops right there.
To get a more accurate answer - after you have established rapport
with the prospect - ask this question:
“On a scale of one to ten, with ten being the highest, how would you
rate your current supplier?”
If their answer is anything less than a 10, ask this question:
“What would it take to make them a
10?”
Their answer to
this question will tell you exactly what you need to do to earn
their business.
Call-ending
Question
#3
When calling a current customer:
"I’m just
calling to check on your supplies. Do you need anything today?"
What a boring question! It requires no thought and no preparation.
And yet, many sales people still ask it on every call to current
customers. The customer’s tendency is to automatically answer
"no."
You will get
better results when you ask a specific question. Think about it.
When you order a
hamburger at McDonald's, they don't ask "Do you want anything
else?" Instead, they ask a specific question related to what you
have purchased:
"Would you like
fries with that?"
So, instead of
saying: I’m just calling to check on your supplies. Do you need
anything today, you will get better results – orders - by
spending a few minutes researching the customer’s ordering history.
Then, be specific. Example:
"I’ve been
studying your account and see that you last ordered the XYZ-3L toner
in January this year and last year you ordered that product every
other month. You are probably running low on that. Shall I send out
your usual order of two cases today or do you need more?"
Why does this
get better results than "do you need anything today?"
a
You sound like you have prepared for this call.
a
You sound credible because you know exactly what products the
customer orders.
a
You sound as though you are concerned about the customer’s
needs.
a
By being specific and naming the exact product your
customer ordered and when they ordered, you will cause him/her to
think about what they need to order.
The best salespeople
in the world prepare a list of questions to be used on every sales
call. In addition to the standard queries, they create specific
questions that relate directly to the prospect being called on.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ann Barr is a
consultant and sales trainer who has
written eight
books on sales and marketing
available on her web site
www.sellingsupplies.com |
