Let’s assume that you have already gone through Steps #1 (Prepare) and
#2 (Respect and Trust) of the PRECISE Actions. You have prepared for the sales call and have all your materials out and ready. You have a set objective, and as a result, a way to measure your success in the call. The warm prospect has entered the room and the game has begun. You thanked her for her time and told her that you will save her time by asking a couple of quick questions. Warm prospects usually already have an idea about whom you are and what you sell. And there are usually reasons they let you through the door and have given you a chance at providing a solution.
Because this is the case, it makes sense for you to find out why they agreed to meet with you. While I don’t expect you to say, “Why have you given me a shot at the title, oh Great Prospect?” there is an equally effective way of asking. We will lead with a Barbara Walters Question (see chapter 4). Once again, this question should be worded almost the same way each time. The only thing that will change is the product or service you fill in the______. I like to ask my BW Question somewhat informally, and I ask it the same way each time regardless of the product or the customer.
Salesperson: “What got you interested in taking a look at the ______?”
It is impressive how much information comes out of this one question.
Your goal in asking any question is to find out what your customer is thinking and feeling and to gauge their interest in making a change or a new investment. Most often your warm prospect will tell you exactly why you are there. While they are telling you, grab that trusty pen and notepad and begin writing down as much as you can. What you write down are what I call BULLETS.
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Look for Bullets
Bullets can be one, two, or perhaps three short words. In short, they are bullet points about the important things your customer has said.
The paragraph below is an example of a response that a customer might make to your BW Question. While you are reading, I would like you to write down in the space provided only the important information that you get from what you read. Write down no more than three connected words for each bullet. Remember, you are writing down only the bullets that will create your PRECISE presentation outline that will come later.
Engage Salesperson: “Nurse Mary, what got you interested in taking a look at the new PRECISE oral thermometer?”
Warm Prospect: “Currently, we are using glass thermometers. They take way too long to get a temperature. Our patients’ jaws and teeth hurt after biting down on those things for two minutes, and on top of that, they are a pain to clean. I know we need something different, but I just don’t know what. I saw one of your competitors yesterday, and that unit seemed easy to use, but it was pretty pricey.”
Place your BULLETS here:
How many BULLETS did you write down? If I had heard this from a prospect my BULLET notepad would have looked like this:
• Glass Thermometer
• Too Long
• Jaws/Teeth Hurt
• Pain to Clean
• (c) Easy Use
• (c) Pricey
*Quick hint—Notice how I put a (c) next to the bullets that related to a competitive product.
This might seem like a lot to put on paper, but believe me it is doable. Your only challenge might be reading your own writing, as is the case with me.
So you might ask, “Do I need to write all the bullets down?” It all goes back to the photographic memory thing. If you have a good memory, then maybe you only have to write down a couple of bullets. If you are like me, and would rather not take the chance of not addressing something that is of concern to your prospect, then write down as much as you can. In either case, just be careful not to bury your head in your notepad so much that you become disengaged from your prospect.
Now I know you might be saying, “Sullivan, I don’t think my prospects will spew bullets like the example above.” If this is the case, it’s okay, because the fun is just beginning. This was only our first try at engaging our customer with the hopes of gaining bullets.
Are They Spending Money Today?
It’s good to know early on in a sales call if your prospect has already decided that they are going to make a change or an investment in a new solution. So when calling on a warm prospect make your second question a Fact-Finding Question like the ones listed.
Salesperson: “So Mrs. Prospect, have you decided . . .
• …on the need for a product like this?”
• …that you will definitely be making a change in the way you are doing things?”
• …on investing in a newer system?”
• …on changing suppliers?”
• …on spending huge amounts of cash with my company?” (Maybe that’s a bit overboard, but I think you get my point.)
In my seminars, I often hear from one or two audience members, “Oh boy, that seems awfully direct. It feels as if I am asking my prospect if they are ready to spend some money with me.”
Guess what, you are. There is no W-I-M-P in the word PRECISE (okay, so there is an I and a P). If you hope to say as little as possible, waste nobody’s time, and find the perfect solution for them, what’s the risk in asking if they’re serious about investing in a new solution? And when you ask the “if they plan to invest” question, you will often learn “when” they
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plan to invest. And if neither applies, they will tell you that they are just researching or “just looking around.” Any one of these answers is great information.
Another one of my favorite seminar comments is “But Sullivan, that direct approach might work in New York City, but not where I live.” My response to that is, “My friend, I have asked this PRECISE Question in the deepest parts of Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota and have lived to tell about it. We are not asking for their firstborn, we just want to know if they are kicking the tires or if the tire jack is already propped up.”
Selling Need vs. Selling Your Solution
Customers will not buy your product or service unless you sell them on:
First—The need for a product or service like yours Second—The benefits of your product or service
Therefore, it is important that you do not begin selling your solution until you convince them there is even a need for a product like yours. If they are already sold on the need and plan to make a change or a new investment, only then does it make sense to focus on your specific prod- uct or service offering.
The main reason you ask if they have already decided to make a change is because their answer dictates the direction of your next question and, in fact, your whole presentation.
You ask, “Have you decided that you are definitely making a change?”
The customer responds, “No, we have not decided if we need to spend the money. We are just looking at our options right now.”
If this is the response you get, don’t begin telling them how great your product is. Your product can be the greatest in its class, but it won’t mat- ter if they don’t see a need. Selling the need for your product is entirely different than selling your product itself. At this point, you must sell the need before selling the specifics of your solution. Regardless of selling need or selling the product, it’s necessary to use the questioning skills we discussed earlier in the book. The when, where and in what order do you use these questions will be discussed shortly.
Make sure they are sold on their need before they are sold on your product.
In the next chapter, I will give you a questioning sequence that will not insult or bore your customer. It also won’t look like a blueprint to a com- puter microchip. Instead, you’ll find it easy to remember and versatile enough to use in most every selling situation. Chapter 14 is worth $10,000 to you.
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