Getting To “Yes”: Asking The Right Questions

See how many of the following questions you can adapt to your own sales efforts.

Situation : Despite making a good sales presentation, the customer remains uninvolved.

Your Question: "Based on the data, it looks like you can save $90,000 a year with this solution.
What needs to be done before you are completely comfortable with this?"

Situation: The client agrees that there are still a number of items that need to be cleared up
before he can make a commitment.

Your Question: "Before we get into this in any depth, can I get your agreement on the data results?
Will you look at the facts and decide for yourself if they make sense?"

Situation : The customer says he is considering one of your competitors.

Your Question: "Yes, that is a good company. But we are different.
Would you like to know why?"

Now, before you move on to pricing, you must have a commitment from your client that there is nothing other than affordability that would prevent them from saying YES. Never omit this step.
I realize that this is the scariest thing to say to a client because you are often unsure of the answer.

You are nearing the end of your presentation now and it's time to tie everything together. This process begins with reiterating the client main issues.

Ask yourself:

1. What have you found throughout the presentation that excites your client the most?
2. What is their most painful problem you can solve?
3. What are their deepest desires?

The answers to those questions are what you will cover here. If you have done a thorough presentation. You should have the answers to all of those questions

Get Agreement

Once the client is fully engaged, it's time to get the final agreement. Once again, we reach this agreement with commitment questions. Here the questions may be more open ended where you allow the client to give a fuller answer than just agreeing with you.

Open-ended questions give the client a chance to fully express why they feel that your product is right for them. They will be saying to you many of the things you have said to them during the presentation if you have done a good presentation.

When you ask these questions it will either be time to finish the sale or the client will come up with an objection you will need to address. Either way, this is another time where you need to be very conscious of the personality type of your client.

Situation : You have come to the end of the sales presentation.

Your Question: "What question should I be asking that I'm not asking?"

Any Objections?

Depending on the way your company markets, you may have clients that are already predisposed to wanting your product. Even with this high degree of interest, you may still encounter objections.

Doing an in-depth investigation of your client's needs and desires in the beginning of your presentation is key to not having objections at the end of your presentation.

The better you know your client the more likely it is that you will cover any potential objections
before they even come to the mind of your client.

Don't forget to continually ask ‘why” when you get an initial answer to a question. That one word can make a world of difference in you getting to the real needs of your client.

Objections decrease as you become more proficient at covering possible objections in the body of your presentation so they never come up at all.

Situation: The sales presentation is over. It is time to ask for the sale with one last question.

Your Question: "Why don't you give it a try?"

YES, they want to move forward with your product. Congratulate them on taking the one action that will improve their life this year.

They should thank you for taking your time to show them exactly how your product will work for them.

You have provided a valuable service to your client and that should make you proud.

Be Prepared--Not every client will say YES.

Situation: Client declines your product or service.

Your Question: “What is there that we can do to make it work for you?”

Now it's their turn to brainstorm your solution to their own problem.