It may not always be obvious to the prospect that they can use your products, but let's say your industry experience tells you that they can. In this instance, we are looking for an opportunity to uncover your potential customer's needs. You cannot create needs - but you can uncover them.
The key to uncovering needs lies in good questioning techniques.
Questioning is a skill that requires much practice and concentration, but once mastered serves you well.
Sell, Not Tell
Most emerging salespeople talk too much. "They're good talkers; they must be salespeople," or, "All you need to be a salesperson is the gift of the gab," are often heard misnomers. Most prospects, at the sales stage, even come to expect that a salesperson will probably talk at them, for too long and about very little, especially their needs.
You want to do the unexpected with your prospects and sell, not tell. Do remember that customers and prospects are most comfortable when they are part of the process and not part of the audience.
Listen, Don't Talk
If you are talking, you are not listening! If you do not listen, you will never find out enough information about the prospect or their needs. Apply the 80/20 rule: You should use questioning techniques so that the prospect is doing 80 percent of the talking and you are doing only 20 percent.
Uncover Needs, Painlessly
Rarely do you receive information unless you ask for it. You need information to sell your services or products and look for future sales possibilities. Skillful questioning means that you do not seem to be imposing on the prospect by asking too many questions.
Maintain Control
Using questioning techniques, you can control the prospect in almost any given situation. You can guide the prospect toward acceptance of your solution. Should you need to, you can use questioning techniques to regain control.
Probably the single-most important skill that a salesperson can possess is a good questioning technique, and it is certainly one of the most underestimated and underused selling skills. Several other sales techniques also rely heavily on your ability to ask questions effectively.
Types of Questions
There are basically two types of questions, open and closed (sometimes called indirect and direct). Open questions are used to get people to open up and provide information, while closed questions are used to solicit commitment and will prompt a yes or no answer.
Once again, our 80/20 rule comes into play. You should analyze your questioning so as to make sure that you ask 80 percent open and 20 percent closed questions.
Unfortunately, closed questions are easier to ask, and if we have a compliant client, we lapse into the bad habit of reversing the 80/20 rule and asking mainly closed questions. When you ask closed questions, even with the compliant client, you are doing yourself a great disservice. It will be as much by luck as by judgment that you are getting any information at all, and what you do find out will be limited.
Once the art of asking open questions is mastered, we take the types of questions and expand and define them a little further, so that we can uncover and then develop needs.
God provided us with two ears and only one mouth, and we should use them in that order!
Today's News: As you will have heard over the past five days, the people of Iran have bravely taken to the streets in a continuous effort to demand their right to have their votes fairly counted.
The blogosphere, Twitter, and other social media outlets have served as key organizational tools for the protesters and have been at the forefront of bringing raw news and analysis to the outside world. These outlets have also been overwhelmingly used as a way for the world to show its support and solidarity with the people of Iran in their struggle to defend their rights.
I have now displayed a triangle in the top left corner of my blog in support of the Iranian democratic movement. By clicking on the triangle, you can find a brief description of the events which have so far unfolded as well as some links to useful pages - including blogs - that cover the story.
Yet more importantly - the link will show you how you can show your solidarity with the people of Iran, including putting up a similar triangle on your own blog. You can find all this at http://ir.loadedweb.com/
Please ask other bloggers to sign up and join the cause as well. By just making a small and seemingly superficial gesture in this cause, you give hope to the protesters in Iran and encourage them to continue fighting for their right to have their voice heard. Imagine thousands of bloggers coming together in showing their support.
With all of our support, they can know that we are on their side, and that tomorrow will not be like yesterday.
Tomorrow, my friend and business colleague, Somayeh Bahat, whose office is based in central Tehran, will provide a guest blog post here, and offer her insights on the current situation - do please join us.
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