I was flying to Dallas last night and had picked up a copy of Power Questions by Andrew Sobel. After reading most of it, I decided that it was a must-read for anyone in sales - so please pick up a copy and check it out.
Why am I such a fan?
Most of you realize that I am a real believer in the power of questions anyway. The role-plays that we conduct at Kurlan & Associates, Inc., as part of a training kick-off, always result in my hearing, "I need to ask better questions of my prospects." This book assists with filling that need.
The author spends much time speaking with CEO's from major corporations and gets their thoughts on the types of questions which either help fuel or kill a deal. I was won over when Mr. Sobel relates how one CEO kicks salespeople out of his office if they ask one of two questions in particular. He said that all CEO's hate these questions and they demonstrate extreme laziness on the part of salespeople. Although they may not all kick you out physically, does that really matter? Here are those ominous questions:
What keeps you up at night?
What should I be asking that I haven't asked yet?
I personally never liked these questions either but I never knew why. The book and the experience of this CEO helped me understand why I too hate them. His reasons were:
They are cliché, predictable and overused.
They are lazy because you ask the prospect to do the work for you rather than you asking better questions to draw them out.
They often don't know the answers - there are many possibilities.
The answers, if they do know them, may not be the best ones to which you should speak.
So which questions might you or your salespeople be asking that take you down the wrong road? Do you know if they are ineffective? Will it take a CEO kicking you out of his office for the light bulb to go off or will you work it out ahead of time? Are you or your staff asking "killer" (kill-the-deal) sales questions?
In a month, we will be holding our 3rd Annual SALES LEADERSHIP INTENSIVE in Boston and if you are a sales leader, why not join us for two days? We will be helping you learn how to coach and mentor your salespeople more effectively and to ask the right questions.
If you would like to know more or need help registering please let me know.
